An article in Xinhua on July 23, indicates the Chinese government’s determination to quickly develop thermonuclear energy. In January, the government officially made fusion part of their future energy mix, confident in its eventual development. Xinhua’s feature, titled “China New Growth: Controlled Nuclear Fusion Emerges as Frontier for China’s Venture Capitalists,” is datelined Hefei, the site of China’s Institute of Plasma Physics and the EAST tokamak reactor, and indicates the establishment of new joint ventures aimed at contributing to the development of fusion.
The article begins, “Controlled nuclear fusion, a novel experiment within the confines of research labs until recently, is starting to step into the spotlight, capturing the interest of Chinese commercial investors. With the potential to blossom into the country’s new industry in the coming decades, it stands poised to revolutionize the energy landscape and tackle humanity’s pressing issue of energy scarcity.”
Xinhua explains the successful operation of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, or EAST reactor, which was able to maintain a steady-state high-confinement plasma for 403 seconds, a record for the tokamak, the real work-horse of China’s fusion program. It also points to the development of a new reactor, Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak, or BEST, hosted in Hefei. BEST will begin to investigate the engineering requirements of using fusion to produce electricity. (A Fusion Engineering Device was on the agenda for development in the Magnetic Fusion Energy Engineering Act of 1980, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike McCormack, which although passed into law and signed by President Jimmy Carter was never seriously funded.) It seems that BEST will also be aimed at looking at the engineering issues associated with the production of electricity from fusion.
The new public-private joint venture, NeoFusion, which will build BEST, has attracted funding from China National Petroleum Corporation, Hefei Science Island, Hefei’s electric car producer NIO, and Anhui Province Energy. Fusion development is now at a pivotal juncture, transitioning from the realm of scientific inquiry to the practical domains of engineering and commercial viability, according to a statement of Anhui Province Energy.
