China’s ‘artificial sun’ tipped to provide electricity in 10 years if Beijing backs it
- China Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor has been designed and a testing facility built – but it awaits government green light
- It could become the first nuclear fusion reactor to generate enough energy for electricity production
Construction of a nuclear fusion reactor could be completed by the early 2030s if Beijing gives its backing, Professor Song Yuntao told local media at a carbon control conference in Beijing on Sunday.
Fusion technology, also known as artificial sun, can provide an endless supply of clean energy by simulating the nuclear fusion process in the sun – although the engineering complexity is considerable and international efforts to develop it have hit delays and spiralling costs.
The government had asked scientists to make preparations for the China Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR), including engineering design and building a large testing facility in the city of Hefei. But Song, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, told Beijing News that final approval was still pending.
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Chinese scientists experiment with gaining limitless clean energy through fusion reactions
The aim is for the CFETR to be the first facility that produces electricity with the heat of fusion. That brings with it the challenge of controlling an extremely hot gas, hydrogen, with temperatures inside the reactor expected to reach or exceed 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million Fahrenheit).