CHINA is building a research facility to incubate core technologies used in power generation of fusion energy that powers the sun. The facility in the pipeline, called “Comprehensive Research Facility for Fusion Technology” (CRAFT), is a platform on which engineers develop and test a fusion energy reactor’s key components. It is expected to be finished around 2024, according to the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). China has already completed the engineering design of a fusion energy testing reactor, according to the ASIPP. Building a fusion energy reactor is China’s new scientific ambition as the country’s experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) is upgrading its experiment. The EAST, based on an approach called “magnetic confinement fusion” that uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma, started a new round of experiments in early December, which will last about six months. Qian Jinping, an ASIPP researcher who manages EAST experiments, said the EAST discharged electricity more than 100 times per day to improve its performance. Song Yuntao, ASIPP director, said that he and his teammates are looking forward to sustaining the high-temperature plasma for longer durations. The 400-ton, doughnut-shaped machine set a world record of achieving a plasma temperature of 120 million degrees Celsius for 101 seconds in an experiment May 28. (Xinhua) | 