China launches into the renewable energy sector and moves towards nuclear fusion

HEFEI (AFP) .-

China,

the
Asian giant, the leader predicts the
the world economy and the nation that could dethrone the United States, has just taken a decisive step: it has generated a temperature of 100 million degrees, a small step forward to nuclear fusion, key in the sector
renewable energy.

The reactor installed in Hefei (in the east of the country) is used to carry out experiments under the Iter project, the international work being created in the south-east of France to control the merger of the project. ;atom. The record temperature reached by the Chinese appliance in November represents six times the heat produced in the heart of the sun.

This "tokamak superconductor advanced experimental" is better known by the acronym "EAST". The tokamak, a magnetic containment chamber initially designed in the USSR, generates incredible heat for the purpose of melting atomic nuclei.

This nuclear "fusion" – the principle of which is already used in the explosion of hydrogen bombs – should not be confused with "fission" – the division of atoms – which is carried out in conventional atomic power plants.

The future

Nuclear fusion is considered the energy of tomorrow because it is infinite, like the sun, and produces no waste or greenhouse gases.

"With this machine, we hope to bring China's contribution to the use of nuclear fusion by humanity," said Song Yuntao, one of the leaders of the experimental reactor project.

But the difficulty lies in the long-term maintenance of these high temperatures and their confinement in resistant materials. All this has a cost: more than 12 years after the launch of the project, the budget of Iter is estimated at nearly 20 000 million euros.

Nuclear fusion research is not new. According to Iter, the Jet project in the UK is the largest and most powerful tokamak ever built. According to Wu Songtao, an engineer at ITER, other magnetic containment chambers, some of which are no longer in service, were built in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

"The EAST only reached 100 million degrees in the center of the machine and the temperature was much lower outside the central core," he said. "These settings are still very far from those expected for the Iter."

The reactor under construction in southeastern France, which will be ten times larger than its predecessors, is expected to reach 150 million degrees. The first tests are planned for 2025.

For its part, China hopes to build another nuclear fusion reactor which, unlike EAST, would be connected to the electricity grid, which could start supplying "by 2040 or 2050" at the end of the 2030 surveys, according to Yuntao.

The budget for this phase is 6 billion yuan (800 million euros).

Although the country is "20 to 30 years behind" the major industrialized nations in nuclear energy, its capacity has grown rapidly over the last 20 years, especially as have been integrated into ITER.