French scientists break world record with 'artificial sun’; advancing the future of clean energy

In a breakthrough in history, French scientists have set new records in nuclear fusion experiments by achieving a new world record with their 'artificial sun' reactor. On 12 February, France's Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA) successfully operated its WEST (W Environment in Steady-State Tokamak) reactor, holding a plasma state for more than 22 minutes. The record has the power to change the world when it comes to producing clean, green energy.

This technology relies on nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the Sun. Using hydrogen isotopes, nuclear fusion has the potential to provide the world with virtually limitless clean energy. In contrast to conventional fission reactors that emit lethal radiation and create poisonous waste, fusion reactors have the potential to provide vast quantities of energy without emitting greenhouse gases or any poisonous by-products. For example, one gram of deuterium and tritium (both hydrogen isotopes employed as fusion fuel) contains as much energy potential as 11 tonnes of coal.
In the process of attaining nuclear fusion, hydrogen isotopes must be heated to high temperatures, well over 50 million degrees Celsius, which makes them plasma, the fourth form of matter. The greatest challenge is to keep the plasma and the high temperature for some duration without cooling off or reverting to a gas state.

The historic milestone for the WEST reactor was a record of maintaining hydrogen plasma for over 22 minutes with 2 MW of power heating. Anne-Isabelle Etienvre, Director, Fundamental Research, CEA, spoke about the significance of the milestone: "WEST has reached a new key technological record by maintaining hydrogen plasma for twenty minutes with the injection of 2 MW of power heating.". Experiments will also be continued at greater power. This milestone brings us one step nearer to the day when nuclear fusion can become a reality as a source of energy.

For over eight decades, scientists around the globe have attempted to recreate the Sun's fusion process. In contrast to conventional nuclear energy, which tears apart atoms using a process called fission, fusion is the opposite: it brings atomic nuclei together, resulting in the release of vast energy. In spite of dramatic progress, the problem of stabilizing plasma at the high temperatures necessary for fusion has kept the technology tantalizingly out of reach—until now.
Controlling nuclear fusion could change the course of the world's energy. If fusion were possible, it is theoretically boundless clean energy. It would dramatically reduce our use of fossil fuels, consign greenhouse emissions to the history books, and offer a clean solution to current nuclear fission power plants, leaving only toxic leftovers.
Despite existing challenges, accomplishment of the WEST reactor is a leap in bounds towards the achievement of the sustainable, fusion-created energy vision. As scientists make progress and make fusion technology a better reality, the idea of an artificial sun—providing limitless clean energy—is an ever-increasing reality, with it potentially being a new epoch of energy.
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