South Korea’s magnetic fusion device Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) has set a new record in the field of fusion by reaching the temperature of more than one hundred million degree celsius for a period of 20 seconds. The intensity of the temperature reached by the KSTAR can be gauged from the reality that the supply of light in the complete universe- the Sun- glows at a temperature of only 15 million degrees Celsius, the Indian Express reported. In comparative terms KSTAR was in a position to attain 6.6 instances the temperature of the Sun.
Referred to as South Korea’s artificial Sun, the device had accomplished a comparable feat in the year 2018 as properly but the temperature could only be maintained for a really brief period of a single and a half seconds. In 2019, the device enhanced its overall performance and retained the temperature for a period of 8 seconds. What created the distinction this time was the improvement of the Internal Transport Barrier Mode which helped the device raise its overall performance substantially and set a new record.
Si-Woo Yoon, who is the director of the KSTAR Research Center at the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, was quoted as saying in a statement that the record breaking overall performance of the KSTAR in sustaining the higher temperature plasma for about 20 seconds will be a big turning point. Yoon also stated that the higher overall performance plasma operation will play a vital function in the industrial nuclear fusion reactor in the future. After reaching the milestone of retaining more than one hundred million degrees Celsius temperature for a period of 20 seconds, the Korean Institute of Fusion Energy has a target to raise the overall performance to 300 seconds by the year 2025.