- Follow us
-
-
-
-
-
-
China Artificial Sun: China is building a gigantic fusion reactor to achieve a major technological breakthrough– creating the world’s first “artificial sun”, which could be used to power cities with clean renewable nuclear energy in the near future, However, experts fear that the facility can also be used to develop the world’s most lethal nuclear weapons.
According to experts, the massive fusion research center being built by China in the southwestern city of Mianyang, can have multiple uses, including the development of nuclear weapons on an industrial scale. Satellite images have revealed that the Chinese lab will be bigger than US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in North Carolina.
The proposed nuclear research lab will feature a laser bay and a central chamber in which hydrogen atoms will be fused together to create a nuclear fusion reaction, according to reports.
William Alberque, a nuclear policy analyst, told UK-based The Sun, that any nation which has a facility like the NIF could use it to enhance its nuclear arsenal and facilitate future bomb designs without testing.
The US had release satellite images in November 2020, showing China building new nuclear weapons research facilities, including a cleared plot of land in Mianyang. Experts claim the Mianyang facility could be used by Beijing to develop the next generation of nuclear weapons, which will be more lethal than previous ones by several orders of magnitude.
Notably, China has unveiled plans to create the world’s first ‘artificial sun’, a nuclear fusion reactor which will mimic the fusion reaction of its cosmic namesake. The project, which could theoretically become a source of ‘unlimited energy’ in the near future, requires a highly specialized facility, and the Mianyang lab has reportedly been built for this very purpose.
Last week, Chinese scientists achieved a major breakthrough in their effort to create an ‘artificial sun’, as they reportedly maintained a plasma temperature of over 100 million degrees for 1066 seconds (about 18 minutes), breaking the previous record of 403 seconds.
The feat was achieved at the experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak Reactor in Hefei, eastern China.
According to scientists, in order to harness the tremendous energy produced by a nuclear fusion reaction, a continuous plasma with a temperature hotter than the Sun, is required. The Sun’s core has a temperature of around 15 million degrees Celsius.
