Fusion technology breakthrough: China unveils first commercial “artificial sun” (photo)

China has completed construction and put into operation the world's first fully high-temperature superconducting tokamak device, called Honghuang 70 (HH70). This is a significant step in the global development of fusion technologies to produce clean energy.

Traditionally, tokamaks are large and expensive. However, the HH70, designed and built by commercial company Energy Singularity, is smaller and cheaper to produce, paving the way for more commercially viable fusion reactors in the future.

A tokamak is a toroidal device for magnetically confining plasma to achieve the conditions necessary for controlled thermonuclear fusion. These devices are often called "artificial suns" and are expected to provide a clean and sustainable energy solution that could help combat climate change and resource depletion.

According to the World Energy Outlook, if fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal are phased out of the global market, humanity will face an energy shortage of more than 10 percent by 2050. “Taming” the controlled energy of nuclear fusion in this case will change a lot in the world.

As CGTN reports, HH70 is the world's first tokamak with a magnetic system made of high-temperature superconducting materials. Energy Singularity achieved this result in two years, setting a world record for the fastest development and creation of a superconducting tokamak.

The successful operation of HH70 will be a critical milestone for both China and the world, proving the technical feasibility of high-temperature superconducting tokamaks, helping pave the way to a clean and sustainable energy future.

Guo Houyang, co-founder and CTO of Energy Singularity, said that over the past few years, breakthroughs in high-temperature superconducting materials and other technologies have enabled the development of an economically viable tokamak.

By 2027, Energy Singularity aims to create a next-generation tokamak - a stationary model of a high-temperature superconductor with a strong magnetic field. This project will lay the foundation for commercially viable fusion energy production, with the ultimate goal of establishing a demonstration power plant by 2030.