South Korea's quest for clean and limitless energy has helped make a giant leap forward. Their thermonuclear reactor, known as the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), or “artificial sun,” set a new temperature record. The temperature inside this reactor reached seven times higher than the temperature in the core of our Sun.
This historic moment was recorded during experiments from December 2023 to February 2024, when scientists were able to maintain a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds, while the temperature in the Sun's core is about 15 million degrees Celsius.
KSTAR's success goes beyond temperature metrics. The reactor also reached an important mode known as high-efficiency containment mode (H-mode), lasting more than 100 seconds. This regime contributes to the stability of the plasma and increases the efficiency of thermonuclear reactions due to the effective retention of particles. This development continues KSTAR's string of successes, including the 2021 record for holding an ultra-hot plasma for 30 seconds.
Thermonuclear fusion, which imitates the processes occurring in the cores of stars, is considered a promising source of clean and inexhaustible energy. On the way to this goal, the tungsten diverter KSTAR, located in the lower part of the reactor chamber, plays a big role. It not only withstands extreme temperature loads, but also removes waste gases and impurities, which is key to maintaining the stability and efficiency of the process. The replacement of the former carbon diverter with tungsten, a metal with the highest melting point, underlines the significant technological progress and ambitions of South Korea in this area.
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