2 weeks ago
China Completes Record 582-Tonne Magnet for 'Artificial Sun' Fusion Project
The Sun makes its energy by squishing very hot gases together in a process called fusion.
China is building an 'artificial sun' on Earth that does the same thing.
To help build it, they made a giant magnet that weighs 582 tonnes, the biggest magnet ever made for a fusion machine.
The magnet is shaped like the letter D and is about as long as a big bus.
It will help hold super-hot gas, called plasma, floating inside the machine.
The plasma is so hot, over 100 million degrees, that no material could touch it without melting.
That is why the magnets are so important.
China plans to finish the machine, called BEST, by the end of 2027.
Around 2030, it hopes to use fusion to make electricity.
If it works, fusion could give us lots of clean energy without the long-lived radioactive waste from today's nuclear power plants.
China has completed and tested a 582-tonne superconducting magnet, reportedly the largest fusion reactor magnet ever constructed.
The D-shaped coil, about 21 metres long and 12 metres wide, was built by the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei.
The magnet will be used in the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), China's 'artificial sun'.
Sixteen such coils will surround the tokamak to contain plasma heated above 100 million degrees Celsius.
China aims to complete the BEST reactor by the end of 2027 and demonstrate fusion-based electricity generation around 2030.
- Who
- The Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, China
- What
- Completed and tested a 582-tonne superconducting magnet, the largest fusion reactor magnet ever built, for the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST)
- Where
- Hefei, China
- When
- Recent announcement (no specific date given); the BEST reactor is targeted for completion by the end of 2027 and fusion electricity demonstration around 2030
- Why
- To contain plasma heated above 100 million degrees Celsius and advance China's ambition to lead in clean fusion energy and emerging technologies
Key facts
- Magnet weight
- 582 tonnes
- Coil dimensions
- Roughly 21 metres long and 12 metres wide, D-shaped
- Project
- Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), 'artificial sun'
- Builder
- Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei
- Number of coils
- 16 surrounding the tokamak
- Plasma temperature
- Above 100 million degrees Celsius
- Reactor completion target
- End of 2027
- Fusion electricity target
- Around 2030
Sources
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