Editorial | Energy’s holy grail may soon be reality
A global race is on to produce cheap, virtually unlimited and environmentally friendly energy via nuclear fusion. China is at the forefront
Something on Earth reached a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius – seven times hotter than the sun – and it lasted for 18 minutes. That’s the latest achieved in a nuclear reactor by Chinese researchers in Hefei, who broke their previous record of 403 seconds in April 2023.
Such experiments are sometimes referred to as creating an “artificial sun”, because the goal of generating such extreme heat is to trigger nuclear fusion, which is how the sun powers itself.
The possibility of producing cheap, virtually unlimited and environmentally friendly energy via nuclear fusion is no longer the stuff of science fiction. It may soon become a matter of science and economics.
China is a leading player in nuclear fusion research and its potential commercialisation. Given its previous records in rocket launches, building the space station, and dominating the global solar energy and electric car markets, it’s clear where the country’s ambitions lie with nuclear fusion.
A global race is on among China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union for this holy grail of energy sources. After decades of false starts and moribund research, some of the world’s top nuclear scientists and engineers are progressing leaps and bounds.
Unlike traditional energy sources, fusion uses readily available and cheap raw materials and produces no greenhouse emissions, making it one of the most promising solutions to energy challenges. Unlike nuclear fission, it does not produce radioactive waste.
