South Korean scientists are taking nuclear fusion technology to new heights.
They've developed a so-called artificial sun that reached astonishing temperatures,...marking a milestone in the development of a workable fusion reactor.
Oh Soo-young has more.
In one-point-five seconds of sheer magnetic force,... South Korea's "artificial sun" reached record plasma temperatures,... seven times hotter than the actual sun,... taking us closer to a world that runs on unlimited green energy.
The K-Star tokamak, a magnetic fusion device at the National Fusion Research Institute,... sustained a plasma ion temperature of more than 100 million degrees Celsius for the first time in the world.
Tokamaks aim to create and harness energy from atomic fusion which occur in super-hot plasma,... replicating the natural process that powers the Sun -- billions of times a second.
"A plasma ion temperature of at least 100 million degrees needs to be generated to smoothly run the nuclear fusion process. We've operated K-Star for 10 years, and we've now marked this milestone temperature for about 1.5 seconds, showing we've obtained the technology to maintain this temperature for longer durations hereafter."
"The achievement comes as scientists around the world are looking to develop nuclear fusion devices, in order to create clean and sustainable sources of energy."
Tokamaks are designed to create and control plasma from fuels like deuterium and tritium,... which are considered eco-friendly and readily available... as they're extracted from water and lithium,... and are carbon-free.
Also, nuclear fusion produces almost four million times more energy than burning fossil fuels,... for which they're seen as an ideal source of clean and affordable power for generations to come.
To explore the potential,... Korea's state-of-the-art fusion device has been part of global efforts to build the largest tokamak in the world,... called ITER.
With experiments set to begin in 2025, ITER's plasma temperature needs to reach at least 150 million Celsius,... for meaningful progress on developing commercial fusion reactors.
To contribute to this goal,... K-star developers hope that the Korean tokamak will be able to maintain the 100-million Celsius level for at least ten seconds by the end of this year.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
