Nuke fusion reactor gives a headstart By Wu Chong (China Daily) Updated: 2006-06-02 08:50
A nuclear fusion device will be built in the country by the end of the year,
which will help scientists try to come to grips with the new source of power
before the rest of the world.
The device will allow Chinese scientists
involved in an international project to build a giant experimental fusion
reactor in France to begin work before the latter is ready, Minister of Science
and Technology Xu Guanhua said recently.
The Experimental Advanced
Superconducting Tokamak, or EAST, will be the first of its kind in the world and
is quite similar to but much smaller than the International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is not expected to be fully operational for a
decade.
EAST is based in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui
Province.
"Over the next 10 years, while ITER is being built, we can
conduct preliminary research on EAST to facilitate the operation and
exploitation of ITER in the future," Xu told China Daily in an
interview.
EAST will be one of the two major Tokamak devices in
China the other traditional one is based in Sichuan
Province.
Both facilities will contribute to ITER, the largest
multinational scientific co-operation project China has ever taken part in, said
the minister.
Last month, the government reached an agreement with the
European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, India and South Korea, to
build the multi-billion-dollar reactor to address the world's energy crisis and
global warming.
The reactor will emulate the fusion power of the Sun,
harnessing the tremendous amounts of energy that are released when atoms
fuse.
Inside the reactor, deuterium and tritium atoms will be forced
together at a temperature of 100 million C, fuse and emit blasts of
energy.
It will have fusion power of about 500 megawatts.
Chinese
experts are involved in 12 of ITER's programmes including manufacturing
superconductors, creating insulation to contain super-heated plasma, and
providing high-powered pulse supply units.
"Our scientific and industrial
prowess in these fields will improve by participating in these programmes,
especially as they are totally new to the world," said Xu.
"We will also
take advantage of the project to foster a number of experts in nuclear
fusion for more self-reliant development."
As an equal member with the
other six parties, several managers and researchers will be deputed to ITER; and
the country will have access to all intellectual property rights of generated
technologies.
Fusion power holds the key to solving projected energy
shortages, with just 1 kilogram of fusion fuel capable of creating as much power
as 10 million kilograms of fossil fuel. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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