On January 23, 2025, China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) achieved a remarkable milestone in fusion energy research by sustaining plasma for 16 minutes, marking a new world record.
This achievement is a pivotal advancement in the quest for clean and limitless energy sources. Scientists emphasize that maintaining active plasma under such conditions is crucial for evaluating the feasibility and safety of fusion energy, despite the inherent risks involved.
The EAST facility, often referred to as the 'artificial sun,' mimics the sun's energy production through nuclear fusion. In this process, atoms are superheated, causing their nuclei to merge. In the sun, hydrogen atoms fuse to form helium, releasing energy in the process. Chinese researchers aim to replicate this phenomenon using deuterium, a hydrogen isotope abundant in ocean water.
The fusion of deuterium and tritium, another isotope used in the experiments, requires temperatures around 150 million degrees Celsius. For fusion to effectively generate energy, it must be sustained for as long as possible, making this recent achievement a critical step forward in harnessing fusion as a viable energy source.