Imagine that we can get an almost infinite amount of clean energy from a very small amount of fuel, without harmful emissions and radioactive waste. Sounds like science fiction, right? Well, that's exactly what nuclear fusion promises. While the US has been researching this technology for decades, China is racing ahead at breakneck speed, building devices that could be the key to a clean energy future.
First of all, let's clarify: what is nuclear fusion anyway? This is the process that takes place in the center of the sun. At extremely high temperatures (we are talking about several million degrees!) the nuclei of atoms combine and release a huge amount of energy. If we could control this process on Earth, we could create an almost limitless source of clean energy.
He performs here tokamak. It's a device that looks like a giant donut structure (in scientific parlance, it's called a torus), and inside it, fusion takes place. In a tokamak, gas is heated until it becomes extremely hot - so hot that it becomes "plasma", a substance where atoms begin to lose their electrons. Magnets then hold this plasma in place to prevent it from touching the walls of the device.
The USA is a pioneer in the field of nuclear fusion research, and in recent years China has been making extremely rapid progress. Energy Singularity, a Chinese start-up company based in Shanghai, has developed a tokamak that uses advanced superconducting magnets. These allow the device to be smaller and more efficient than older models. While the US is still working with devices that are more than 30 years old, China is already developing new tokamaks that will be able to produce more energy than they use to operate.
Nuclear fusion promises solutions to our energy problems. It requires no fossil fuels, produces no harmful emissions and, most importantly, produces no hazardous radioactive waste. However, the technology is still very complex and expensive. China invests billions of dollars in the development of these devices, while the US relies mainly on private investment. While the US is struggling to upgrade its outdated devices, China is building new, faster and more powerful tokamaks.
The world is in a race for nuclear fusion, and China is getting closer and closer to the goal. Although the US still leads in the total number of researches, China is becoming the leader in this field with its speed and huge investments. Who will be the first to build a fusion power plant? For now, it looks like the future of clean energy may be shining from China.
