100 million degrees: Korean thermonuclear reactor sets world record

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Specialists from South Korea managed to keep the plasma heated to more than 100 million degrees Celsius inside the KSTAR tokamak for 20 seconds. This was announced yesterday by representatives of the KSTAR research center located at the Korea Institute of Thermonuclear Energy (KFE).

It should be noted that this indicator is currently an absolute record. For example, it is assumed that the new Chinese tokamak HL-2M will be able to bring the plasma temperature to 150 million degrees, but the device will be able to keep it in this state only for about 10 seconds.



The Korean Experimental Fusion Reactor has been operating since 2008. The KSTAR research center is working on the project in conjunction with Seoul National University and Columbia University (USA).

The KSTAR tokamak is one of the few in the world that has received fully superconducting magnetic coils. The specialists involved in the project are constantly increasing the plasma temperature and its retention time.

So, in 2018, the temperature of plasma ions in the Korean "artificial sun" for the first time reached 100 million degrees. However, it was possible to keep it in this state only for 1,5 seconds. In 2019, scientists achieved an indicator of 8 seconds at a similar temperature.

And so, an absolute record of 20 seconds was set this year. At the same time, all the other thermonuclear reactors that managed to heat the plasma to 100 million degrees Celsius and above could not keep it in this state for more than 10 seconds.

Next year, it is planned to replace the carbon KSTAR in-chamber elements with tungsten ones, and in five years the scientists intend to keep the hot plasma inside the reactor for 5 minutes.
5 comments
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  1. -1
    28 December 2020 11: 40
    Gorgeous! Didn't know that South Caucasus has its own experimental thermonuclear power engineering
  2. Ygm
    -1
    29 December 2020 09: 00
    Allow me! Well, where is the promised energy?
    In the absence of a result, such "achievements" in the form of a certain Temperature look ridiculous!
    Isn't it time to ask these "creators" - "Where is Zin's money?" .......
  3. +2
    30 December 2020 02: 05
    Quote: YGM
    Allow me! Well, where is the promised energy?
    In the absence of a result, such "achievements" in the form of a certain Temperature look ridiculous!
    Isn't it time to ask these "creators" - "Where is Zin's money?" .......

    When the yeroplanes began to fly, the height was only slightly above the ground and the flight distance was a hundred meters.
    Probably, there were also skeptics of the type and what are the indicators of price-tonnage-mileage, where is the commercial transportation of passengers.

    Now the tokamak is also making its test flights. For a long time, but the task from the category of "impossible" is not just the sun in the power plant, but much more difficult. In the sun, the fusion is converted into heat (mostly). Tokamak conversion to electricity.

    Now all the energy is most likely heat, and since the unit works for 20 seconds and it is planned to increase it to 5 minutes and the unit has not melted, it means that effective cooling occurs, i.e. heat is recovered. Those. formally, there is energy production.

    A positive balance has long been achieved, more energy is generated than expended. No one even has a thought to use this energy somehow directing it into the power grid. The short-term power in the power system is rather a problem that must be dealt with. This is an experimental setup.

    Temperature is an indicator that speaks of "efficiency".
  4. Ygm
    0
    30 December 2020 08: 50
    In this "reactor" the "temperature" is the CONSUMPED energy, that is, losses!
    This is the whole point of the problem.
    Time has fully proved it.
    There is NO OUTPUT energy in such "reactors" and it NEVER existed!
    There are only dreams and speculations about Temperature, Time, Coils and other nonsense.
  5. 0
    8 February 2021 12: 55
    What are the fashi tokastelstva?

    Who will check? A gentleman's word?

    It was then that my card went

    (with) ))