How does the “artificial sun” work?
In traditional nuclear power plants, atomic nuclei are split, whereas in a fusion reactor, known as a tokamak, the opposite process occurs—the fusion of two positively charged hydrogen nuclei.
Since like charges repel each other with tremendous force in nature, scientists must create extreme conditions to force them to fuse, releasing a massive amount of heat. To do this, massive cylindrical devices accelerate hydrogen to the state of superheated plasma. The process requires immense resources:
- Heating the material to 150 million degrees Celsius (which is about 10 times hotter than the core of the actual Sun).
- Creating magnetic fields hundreds of thousands of times stronger than Earth’s protective field to keep the unstable plasma from coming into contact with the walls.
China’s EAST reactor has already proven its uniqueness. It initially set a world record by sustaining “high-quality burning” of plasma for 1,066 seconds at a temperature of 100 million degrees. Later, physicists broke through the Greenwald limit—a critical density barrier beyond which the reaction typically became uncontrollable. This proved that the superheated atomic “soup” can remain stable and safe.
China’s “Silicon Valley”
China’s entire fusion sector operates under a strict state plan. The government has designated this field as one of eight key “technologies of the future” and established the megacorporation China Fusion Energy with a capital of $2.1 billion. Since 2023, Beijing has invested over $6.5 billion in these developments, building complete production chains—from metallurgy to superconducting magnets.
