China plans to launch HL-2M device called artificial sun
The dream of creating the first stable thermonuclear reactor has long been rooted in a huge number of scientists around the world. After creating such a reactor, mankind will have access to an almost inexhaustible source of energy.
Chinese scientists are at the forefront of such research and it is not surprising that it is in the Celestial Empire that work on the so-called "artificial sun" is planned. A device that in its essence will be a nuclear thermonuclear device trying to reproduce the ongoing reactions in the core of our star.
If the experiments with the installation turn out to be positive, then this will significantly bring the entire scientific world closer to the creation of a thermonuclear reactor.
What is this device
The design, dubbed the HL-2M Tokamak, is part of an experimental project by the Chinese scientific community called Tokamak, which has been in operation since 2006.
The reel system was installed on the pilot plant back in the summer of 2019 and since that time, work has gone without significant delays, according to Xinhua News Agency.
According to Duan Xiuru (the current head of the Southwestern Institute of Physics), the device to be mounted will be launched as early as 2020.
So it was stated that the working temperature of the product will be about 200,000,000 degrees Celsius (which is about 13 times higher than the temperature of the core of our Sun).
For comparison. Previously developed installations barely reached 100,000,000 degrees Celsius.
How the installation will work
As you know, Thermonuclear fusion is a reaction due to which our Sun provides energy to itself and our Earth with you.
During this reaction, two hydrogen nuclei merge and form a helium nucleus with the release of a huge amount of energy. In order to recreate such a reaction in terrestrial conditions, it is necessary to heat hydrogen to a temperature of at least 100,000,000 degrees Celsius.
It is at this temperature that the fuel is converted into plasma. And to control this super hot plasma, devices like Tokamak are created, which outwardly very much resemble donuts.
Special shaped magnetic fields are used to try to stabilize the plasma.
What is the problem of these devices
While control is feasible in theory, there is a very serious problem as plasma is prone to ejections. And if the ejected plasma touches the reactor wall, then it is quite capable of destroying it, which is unacceptable.
Another problem is the fact that scientists have managed to launch a stable nuclear fusion. But more energy is spent to maintain the operation of the installation than it is produced.
What is special about the Chinese Tokamak
According to D. Harrison (senior physicist UKAEA - United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority), the installation assembled in China compares favorably with those in HL-2M a flexible magnetic field is used.
This will make it possible to adapt it (the field) for reliable protection of the reactor when operating at superpowers.
When the device is scheduled to launch
At the first stages, all systems will be tested separately. After that, the process of producing ineffective (low-temperature) plasma will be launched, with which they will work in order to correctly adjust the magnetic fields and prevent plasma emissions.
And only after all these procedures will the new artificial sun start up at full power.
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The original article is posted on the site energofiksik.com