Context

• Recently, China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.

About HL-2M Tokamak Reactor

• China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
• The mission is named Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).
• Located in Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.
• It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius- approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
• Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.

Source: The Hindu