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'Artificial Sun' Blazes Past 1,000 Seconds in New Fusion Record
Scientists just set a new record in attempts to create an 'artificial Sun' down here on planet Earth.
"A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is critical for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants," says nuclear physicist Song Yuntao from the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. While China hasn't shared a lot of detail about the conditions for this 1,066-second achievement, the researchers say their heating system has doubled in power through recent innovations – so it can now reach the equivalent of 140,000 microwave ovens being switched on at once. Tokamak (donut-shaped) reactors like this one use plasma and magnetic fields to create the conditions to smash together hydrogen atoms at incredible speeds and under intense pressure, which then releases huge amounts of energy.
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