One of the greatest scientific achievements of China is the creation of a thermonuclear device called the "artificial sun." This grandiose project defines the country's strategic prospects in the field of nuclear energy. According to the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Mao Ning, the facility called BEST (Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak) is planned to be fully commissioned in 2027.
He noted that this device could be the world's first system to generate electricity directly through thermonuclear reactions. The project was developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is located in Hefei, one of the country's scientific centers.
The device is based on a Dewar base - a huge, high-vacuum thermos weighing 400 tons, with a diameter of 18 meters and a height of 5 meters. The BEST device is equipped with superconducting magnets that keep the burning plasma formed from a deuterium and tritium mixture stable at minus 269 degrees.
Similar projects have been implemented in China before. For instance, the EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) device managed to maintain plasma at high temperatures for more than 1000 seconds several years ago. This result was assessed as one of the most important achievements in the field of nuclear energy.
The new BEST device could mark the beginning of a new stage in this area. Its main goal is to recreate the process of energy release, similar to the solar core, in Earth's conditions and obtain an unlimited source of clean energy.
According to experts, if the project is successfully implemented, a new era in the field of global energy security will begin in the future. Because such reactors significantly reduce dependence on oil and gas, eliminate emissions into the atmosphere, and allow for the production of sustainable energy.
Chinese scientists see this project as an example of not only national, but also global scientific cooperation. For them, the "artificial sun" is not only a technological achievement, but also a symbol that will lead human civilization into a new energy age.
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