‘Artificial sun’ sets the new world record of 48-second-long operation at 100 million degrees | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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    ‘Artificial sun’ sets the new world record of 48-second-long operation at 100 million degrees

    Posted 02 Apr 2024

    2 min read

    • Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) fusion reactor reached temperatures seven times that of the Sun's core in latest advancement for nuclear fusion.
    • KSTAR also maintained high confinement mode (H-mode) for over 100 seconds
      • H-mode is a stable plasma state.
      • Plasma is hot, charged gas made of positive ions and free-moving electrons with unique properties distinct from solids, liquids, or gases.

     

    • About Tokamak
      • Scientists generally use donut-shaped reactor called tokamak where hydrogen variants are heated to extraordinarily high temperatures to create a plasma.
      • This is called artificial Sun because it replicates reaction of nuclear fusion taking place in Sun.
      • Nuclear fusion is process by which two light atomic nuclei combine to form single heavier nuclei while releasing massive amounts of energy.

     

    • Significance of Nuclear Fusion
      • Abundant energy: Releases nearly four million times more energy than burning of coal, oil, or gas.
      • Limited risk of proliferation: No enriched materials used that could be exploited to make nuclear weapons.
      • No risk of meltdown: Fusion reactors are considered to be inherently safe.
      • Fuel is inexpensive and abundant in nature.

     

    Key Challenges associated with Nuclear Fusion

    • Development of materials that can withstand fusion conditions for decades.
    • Physics of Plasma is not well understood by researchers.
    • Maintaining extremely high temperature of around 50-million-degree celsius.
    • Tags :
    • Nuclear Fusion
    • Artificial Sun
    • Tokamak
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