China overtakes Germany to make nuclear fusion breakthrough .

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Chinese engineers have managed to create hydrogen gas that is three times hotter than the sun.
The team were able to maintain 50 million°C for 102 seconds – a breakthrough that could someday make fusion power a reality.
It follows news last week that Germany used 2 megawatts of microwave radiation to heat hydrogen gas to 80 million°C for a quarter of a second.

South China Morning Post.

Pictured is inside the' doughnut' in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) heated hydrogen gas to about 50 million Kelvins (49.999 million°C). For comparison, the interior of the sun is believed to be around 15 million Kelvins

The EAST features a hollow metal chamber in the shape of a donut and twisted into a figure eight. The fuel is heated to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma. Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls




HOW DOES FUSION POWER WORK?
Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms.
When deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse, they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.
This is down by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma.
Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that it doesn't cool down and lose it energy potential.
These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma.
For energy production. plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Forget how it works. The important question is when is the U.S going to wade in their with their big ol' boots and tell China that they cant have the technology because its not made for peaceful purposes no matter how China insists??

China might not be a 'rogue state' like Iran but the U.S likes to have control on who has nukes these days, Apparently even the nukes we Brits use on our Trident submarines (nuclear deterrent) are borrowed from the yanks...

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Forget how it works.

This is a tech site and this thread isnt about politics.

 

[NdMk2o1o]

Forget how it works. The important question is when is the U.S going to wade in their with their big ol' boots and tell China that they cant have the technology because its not made for peaceful purposes no matter how China insists??

China might not be a 'rogue state' like Iran but the U.S likes to have control on who has nukes these days, Apparently even the nukes we Brits use on our Trident submarines (nuclear deterrent) are borrowed from the yanks...

Pretty much sure if that was the case China would politely tell the US where to go... it's not a small state like Iraq, Syria, Libya etc same as the Russians would do and have been doing over the last 12 months with the likes of Ukraine, Crimea, Syria etc.... Not too mention both of those aforementioned have plentiful supplies of nukes as does the US but don't believe everything the state media spoonfeed you

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Tokamaks were ruled out for sustainable fusion which is why most hope lies in the stellarator and high-beta. Wendelstein 7-X is the largest stellarator and it is just now beginning testing (first occured on Februrary 3). High-beta is what Lockheed is working on. My money is on high-beta.

The stellarator figure given in the article was literally the first test the stellerator has ever done. As cited, 2 MW were used when the stellarator is capable of 14 MW. Where China's tokamak is likely at the peak/end of its development, the stellarator is at its beginning. There is a real possibility that the stellarator will be the first fusion reactor to achieve sustainability.

Forget how it works. The important question is when is the U.S going to wade in their with their big ol' boots and tell China that they cant have the technology because its not made for peaceful purposes no matter how China insists??

China might not be a 'rogue state' like Iran but the U.S likes to have control on who has nukes these days, Apparently even the nukes we Brits use on our Trident submarines (nuclear deterrent) are borrowed from the yanks...

[facepalm.jpg]

Fusion power is the antithesis of a weapon.