{"id":37578,"date":"2025-02-18T18:50:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T13:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=37578"},"modified":"2025-02-25T11:41:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T06:11:42","slug":"china-east-reactor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-02-2025\/china-east-reactor","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s EAST Reactor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Science and Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Chinese scientists reported that they were able to <strong>maintain a plasma at a temperature of 100 million degrees C<\/strong> for about <strong>1,066 seconds<\/strong> in a<strong> nuclear fusion reactor <\/strong>called the <strong>Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>EAST is a testbed reactor for <strong>(International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) ITER,<\/strong> an international megaproject.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Members of the Project:<\/strong> Six countries around the world, including India, and the European Union.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They are working together to <strong>build a tokamak<\/strong> that will <strong>sustain nuclear fusion<\/strong> that releases more energy than that required to sustain the plasma.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A tokamak is a machine that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma for nuclear fusion research.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>1939: <\/strong>Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch explained fission as a process of energy release.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>1942:<\/strong> The first sustainable nuclear fission reactor was built by Enrico Fermi and team.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nuclear fission <strong>produces harmful radioactive waste<\/strong> whereas nuclear fusion doesn\u2019t.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nuclear fusion reactors have become an important technological goal for a world keenly interested in<strong> new sources of clean energy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Current Progress: <\/strong>Projects like ITER are working on creating viable fusion reactors, but net-positive energy from fusion is still a work in progress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Nuclear Fusion?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nuclear fusion is the process by which <strong>two light atomic nuclei<\/strong> combine to form <strong>a single heavier one<\/strong> while releasing <strong>massive amounts of energy.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fusion reactions take place in a <strong>state of matter called plasma <\/strong>\u2014 a hot, charged gas made of positive ions and free-moving electrons with <strong>unique properties distinct from solids, liquids or gases.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The sun, along with all other stars, is powered by this reaction.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Process: <\/strong>The <strong>Deuterium (H-2) and Tritium (H-3)<\/strong> atoms are combined to form <strong>Helium (He-4)<\/strong>. A free and fast neutron is also released as a result.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The neutron is powered by the kinetic energy converted from the \u2018extra\u2019 mass left over after the combination of lighter nuclei of deuterium and tritium occurs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Challenges: <\/strong>Achieving controlled fusion requires extremely high temperatures and pressures, similar to those in stars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"295e91\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"655\" height=\"367\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nuclear-fusion.webp\" alt=\"nuclear fusion\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-37579\" style=\"--dominant-color: #295e91; width:445px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nuclear-fusion.webp 655w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/02\/nuclear-fusion-300x168.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 655px) 100vw, 655px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of Fusion energy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Clean Energy: <\/strong>Nuclear fusion does not emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, so it could be a long-term source of low-carbon electricity from the second half of this century onwards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>More Efficient: <\/strong>Fusion could generate four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission (used in nuclear power plants) and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Fusion fuel is plentiful and easily accessible: <\/strong>Deuterium can be extracted inexpensively from seawater, and tritium can potentially be produced from the reaction of fusion-generated neutrons with naturally abundant lithium.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These fuel supplies would last for millions of years.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Safer to Use:<\/strong> Future fusion reactors are also intrinsically safe and are not expected to produce high activity or long-lived nuclear waste.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Furthermore, as the fusion process is difficult to start and maintain, there is no risk of a runaway reaction and meltdown.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>EAST&#8217;s<\/strong> successes are crucial for ITER\u2019s future, which faces criticism for delays and cost overruns.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ITER&#8217;s cost exceeds EUR 18 billion, making it the most expensive science experiment in history.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>High costs have deterred some governments from pursuing such projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alternative Fusion Methods:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Stellarator:<\/strong> A device with a twisting design that eliminates the need for a poloidal magnetic field, using complex external magnets to achieve magnetic confinement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Laser Fusion: <\/strong>Uses powerful laser beams to compress deuterium-tritium pellets, causing fusion and releasing energy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The heat from<strong> laser fusion<\/strong> can be used to generate steam, which drives turbines to produce electricity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/china-east-tokamak-keeps-fire-magnetic-fusion-burning\/article69226043.ece#:~:text=On%20January%2020%2C%20Chinese%20scientists,Advanced%20Superconducting%20Tokamak%20(EAST).\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese scientists reported that they were able to maintain a plasma at a temperature of 100 million degrees C for about 1,066 seconds in a nuclear fusion reactor called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37979,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37578\/revisions\/37979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}