Energy production Progress in nuclear fusion in China

Related Vendor

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

It was a "historic moment" for the development of nuclear fusion, commented the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. A private company in Shanghai has just achieved a major technological breakthrough in the development of the new technology.

*Henrik Bork, long-time China correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Frankfurter Rundschau, is Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consulting agency specializing in China, based in Beijing. "China Market Insider" is a joint project of the Vogel Communications Group, Würzburg (Germany), and the Jigong Vogel Media Advertising in Beijing.

In mid-June, an experimental reactor named "HH70" generated plasma for the first time, thereby reportedly providing important evidence of the viability of nuclear fusion, which is sometimes referred to as the ultimate solution for mankind's energy supply.

Superconducting materials for extremely high temperatures

According to its own statements, the Shanghai-based company Energy Singularity achieved this milestone with the help of superconducting materials specifically developed for use at extremely high temperatures.

Advances in the development of these materials and other new technologies have enabled his company to develop an "economically viable" tokamak reactor in the past two years, Guo Houyang, the CTO and one of the founders of Energy Singularity, told the television station.

Unlike low-temperature superconductors, HTS tapes allow for the construction of stronger magnetic fields and are primarily cheaper and faster to build.

The "High Temperature Superconducting Tapes" or HTS tapes used for the fusion reactor in Shanghai, come from the Chinese manufacturer "Shanghai Superconductor".

Unlike low-temperature superconductors, which a number of other teams worldwide are working on, HTS tapes allow for the construction of stronger magnetic fields and are primarily cheaper and faster to build.

Cooling is one of the biggest hurdles

In China, people are somewhat excited about the technological breakthrough in Shanghai because the astronomical costs of cooling fusion reactors are considered one of the biggest hurdles on the way to commercial use of "artificial suns".

Fusion reactors that operate with superconducting materials but at lower temperatures, such as the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor" (ITER) in France, require a complex cooling system to cool their magnets.

When using the new HTS materials, this is not required to the same extent. Researchers have spent decades working on processing a group of materials called "REBCO", which contain rare earths, barium and copper oxide, to make them fracture-resistant enough for use in HTS tapes.

Nuclear fusion reactor with realistic operating costs

Thanks to the new materials and technologies, China is now on the way to developing a version of nuclear fusion reactors that is not only technologically feasible, but also realistic in terms of operating costs, say local experts.

If it were possible to bring nuclear fusion to market maturity, this would be a great hope for combating global warming. Nuclear fusion does not produce greenhouse gases or long-term radioactive waste.

In principle, nuclear fusion is the same process that has been taking place in the sun for several billion years. To achieve this, hydrogen atoms must be heated to more than 100 million degrees Celsius and magnetically enclosed long enough for them to merge or "fuse".

With the generation of plasma, the company in Shanghai can now prove the technical maturity of its HH70 experimental reactor for the first time. Energy Singularity now plans to start developing a larger reactor of the same type, which is hopefully also commercially usable in the future, based on this.

Commercially viable nuclear fusion after 2030

It is to be called "HH170" and the engineers hope to have it built by 2027. In the years "after 2030", nuclear fusion may then become commercially viable, according to Chinese professional media. That would be a tremendous development leap within the next decade.

Both nuclear fusion and HTS materials are being researched not only in China, but globally. However, what sets China ahead of other countries in this race for the energy technology of the future is a combination of several favourable factors.

On the one hand, thanks to the large domestic market and mature manufacturing industry in the People's Republic, a complete supply chain for all the components needed to build a fusion reactor has been created in recent years. Shanghai Superconductor and its HTP division, which is also involved in the export business, is just one example of many.

This means that certain materials and equipment are not only available for trial purposes, but are becoming increasingly cheaper, making their commercial use at all conceivable.

Technological progress and industrial supply chains are important

In addition to technological advances, industrial supply chains are of critical importance, said Dennis Whyte, director of the "Plasma Science and Fusion Centre" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in an interview with the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the subject of nuclear fusion.

"It is no longer being studied purely scientifically, but is currently pivoting towards its implementation as a new energy source," says Whyte.

And there are several indications that this phase of commercialization will take place in China first. Something similar happened with solar energy, where many innovations did not necessarily come from China, but the technology has been developed into a globally unique technical and commercial maturity.

Long-term support by the Chinese government

In addition to the large market in China, which allows companies to scale at high volumes and therefore produce components at particularly competitive prices, there is also a second, unique location advantage for nuclear fusion in China. This is the determined and long-term promotion of the technology by the Chinese government.

Beijing recognized the importance of potential breakthroughs in nuclear fusion a long time ago. The first electric power generated with the help of an artificial sun "must come from our country and we are working towards this goal," said Li Tiezhong, the chairman of "China National Nuclear Power" just a few months ago.

So, while it will still be a decade or more before nuclear fusion is commercially used in China, the plasma generation of "HH70" in Shanghai could one day be seen as an important milestone on the way to supplying the earth's population with almost endless energy - truly "historic".