BEIJING: China has successfully tested the world’s largest fusion magnet, a 582 ton superconducting device designed to support the country’s ambitious effort to create an “artificial sun” and develop a new source of clean energy.
The massive magnet completed a major round of full performance testing at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, marking a key step toward China’s next generation fusion reactor project, scientists say the technology could help control extremely hot plasma needed for nuclear fusion experiments.
The record breaking magnet is being developed for China’s Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), a fusion research project expected to be completed by the end of 2027. The country aims to demonstrate fusion power generation by around 2030.
Unlike traditional nuclear power plants that split atoms, fusion technology works by combining atomic particles, similar to the process that produces energy inside the sun. Scientists believe fusion could become a cleaner energy source because it can generate large amounts of power without producing carbon emissions during operation.
The giant magnet, which looks like a large metal ring, will play a critical role inside the reactor. It will create a powerful magnetic field that keeps plasma suspended and prevents it from touching the reactor walls. The plasma inside fusion reactors must reach temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius, making it impossible to contain through normal materials.
China’s new magnet reportedly stores nearly three times more magnetic energy than the toroidal field magnets being used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a global fusion project under construction in France.
China’s achievement comes as countries worldwide compete to develop practical fusion energy. Researchers have spent decades trying to recreate the same reaction that powers the sun, hoping it could provide a nearly unlimited source of electricity.
