Seoul, South Korea

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A new world record was announced by scientists in South Korea in sustaining temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius in a nuclear fusion experiment. This is seven times hotter than the core of the sun. 

This nuclear fusion aims to replicate the reaction which makes it possible for the sun and other stars to shine. It was carried out by fusing together two atoms so that huge amounts of energy were unleashed. 

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Fusion, generally referred to as the holy grail of climate solutions clean energy, can provide limitless energy without releasing any carbon that pollutes the planet and leads to climate warming. 

How the fusion energy is achieved?

Generally, fusion energy is achieved using a donut-shaped reactor which is known as a tokamak. In this, scientists heat the hydrogen variants at extraordinarily high temperatures to create a plasma.

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Speaking to CNN, KSTAR Research Centre at the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE) director Si-Woo Yoon said that high-density plasmas and high temperatures in which reactions can take place for long durations are important for nuclear fusion reactors' future.

He said that sustaining these high temperatures “has not been easy to demonstrate due to the unstable nature of the high-temperature plasma." 

KFE’s fusion research device - KSTAR - which they call as an “artificial sun,” sustained plasma as well as temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds during tests between December 2023 and February 2024, and broke the previous record of 30 seconds which was achieved in 2021.

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The KFE scientists said the time duration was extended by tweaking the process in which they used tungsten instead of carbon in the “diverters" for extracting impurities and heat produced by the fusion reaction.

KSTAR's ultimate aim is to sustain plasma temperatures to 100 million degrees for at least 300 seconds by 2026, which, as per Si-Woo Yoon is “a critical point” to be able to scale up fusion operations.

The experiments being carried out by the scientists in South Korea will feed into the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor's development in southern France, which is also called ITER, the biggest tokamak in the world.

KSTAR’s work “will be of great help to secure the predicted performance in ITER operation in time and to advance the commercialisation of fusion energy,” said Si-Woo Yoon.

(With inputs from agencies)