Nuclear scientist predicts China could be using fusion power in 50 years

Head of Chinese research team expects major progress on artificial sun technology by 2023 and says a test reactor will be built, but physicist doubts a power plant will be up and running so soon

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Artist’s impression of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor. Government scientist Song Yuntao said work could begin on the reactor “within a few years”. Image: Science and Technology Daily

Published: 10:30pm, 13 Jul 2017Updated: 10:49pm, 13 Jul 2017

Significant progress could be made on artificial sun technology by 2023 – and it could be used to generate clean energy for China in 50 to 60 years, a senior government nuclear scientist says.

Song Yuntao, a lead scientist on the country’s largest fusion energy project, told the official Science and Technology Daily on Thursday that they expected to double the burn time of man-made sun every 16 to 17 months.

Earlier this month, scientists on the project kept extremely hot plasma at a temperature three times that of the sun’s core for more than 100 seconds during an experiment at their Hefei research facility. It was almost double the record set by the team last year.

Song Yuntao, a lead scientist on the country’s largest fusion energy project, expects significant progress on artificial sun technology by 2023. Photo: David Wong

They’re aiming to sustain the burn for more than 1,000 seconds – using a ring-shaped device known as a tokamak – at which point the scientists expect the plasma to produce a self-sustainable nuclear chain reaction, an important step for power generation.

That milestone would be less than six years away, based on Song’s estimate. “We hope to go into business in 50 to 60 years,” he told the newspaper.

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