Scientists in South Korea have announced a groundbreaking achievement in the quest for nuclear fusion energy, the long-sought Holy Grail of clean and virtually limitless power. At the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy’s KSTAR facility, researchers have managed to sustain temperatures of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit; a scorching seven times hotter than the sun’s core; for an unprecedented 48 seconds during a recent fusion experiment.
This new world record, shattering the previous 30-second mark set in 2021, represents a significant leap forward for this futuristic energy technology. Mastering the ability to maintain the extreme temperatures and pressures required for fusion reactions to occur is a monumental challenge, but one that could unlock a revolutionary source of energy.
The Pursuit of Fusion Power
Nuclear fusion seeks to replicate the process that powers the stars, by fusing light atomic nuclei to release vast amounts of energy. Often hailed as the holy grail of climate solutions, fusion has the tantalizing potential to provide limitless, carbon-free energy without the radioactive waste of conventional nuclear fission reactors.
However, achieving sustained fusion reactions on Earth has proven to be an immense technical and scientific hurdle. The most common approach involves a doughnut-shaped reactor called a tokamak, in which hydrogen isotopes are heated to temperatures rivaling those found at the sun’s core, forming an ultra-hot plasma in which fusion can occur.
“High-temperature and high-density plasmas, in which reactions can occur for long durations, are vital for the future of nuclear fusion reactors,” explained Si-Woo Yoon, director of the KSTAR Research Center. “Sustaining these high temperatures has not been easy to demonstrate due to the unstable nature of the high-temperature plasma.”
The Korean Artificial Sun
KSTAR, which the Korean researchers refer to as an “artificial sun,” is a cutting-edge fusion research device that has now set a new benchmark. During experiments conducted between December 2023 and February 2024, the facility managed to maintain a searing plasma with temperatures of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit for a staggering 48 seconds.
This remarkable feat was achieved by optimizing various aspects of the fusion process, including the use of tungsten instead of carbon in the “diverters” that extract heat and impurities produced by the reaction.
The scientists’ ultimate goal is for KSTAR to sustain these extreme plasma temperatures for 300 seconds by 2026, a critical threshold for scaling up fusion operations.
Feeding the International Effort
KSTAR’s pioneering work will contribute directly to the development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France, currently the world’s largest and most ambitious tokamak project. ITER aims to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion as a viable power source.
“Our work will be of great help to secure the predicted performance in the international reactor’s operation in time and to advance the commercialization of fusion energy,” said Si-Woo Yoon.
A Wave of Fusion Breakthroughs
This South Korean breakthrough adds to a series of recent milestones in the pursuit of fusion energy. In 2022, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility in the United States achieved a historic first by completing a fusion reaction that produced more energy than was used to power the experiment.
More recently, in February 2024, researchers near Oxford, England, announced a new record for the highest amount of fusion energy ever produced, generating enough to briefly power 12,000 homes.
The Long Road to Commercial Fusion
Despite these encouraging signs of progress, commercializing nuclear fusion remains an immense challenge as scientists grapple with formidable engineering and scientific obstacles.
“Fusion is not ready yet and therefore it can’t help us with the climate crisis now,” cautioned Aneeqa Khan, a nuclear fusion research fellow at the University of Manchester. “However, if progress continues, fusion has the potential to be part of a green energy mix in the latter half of the century.”
China’s Artificial Sun
Earlier, China’s “artificial sun” facility, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor, has achieved a remarkable milestone. In December 2023, Chinese scientists announced that EAST had sustained a plasma temperature of 180 million degrees Fahrenheit for 1,056 seconds, nearly 18 minutes. This record-breaking duration of super-heated plasma confinement marks a critical step towards commercial fusion power. Researchers claim this achievement paves the way for realizing a hydrogen fusion reactor and places China among the leading nations in fusion research globally. EAST uses magnetic fields to compress and heat hydrogen isotopes, catalyzing fusion reactions, and maintaining such extreme conditions brings the dream of limitless, clean fusion energy closer to reality.
Outlook for the Future
Proponents argue that once “ignition” is achieved, where the plasma burns on its own, scaling up to commercial fusion power production is simply an engineering challenge. Detractors counter that the goal remains elusive after 60+ years of efforts.
What is clear is that nuclear fusion could provide virtually unlimited, carbon-free baseload power with minimal radioactive waste, if its remaining scientific and engineering obstacles can be overcome. In the future, we may rely on miniaturized “artificial suns” here on Earth to light our cities and power our civilization as the distant stars do across the cosmos.
