An article in London’s The Economist reveals what has become obvious to most people who are keeping their eye on technology developments, namely, that China may well have the lead in the development of thermonuclear fusion energy. The Economist points to the figure of Kuafu in Chinese mythology, a powerful giant with his arms wrapped in pythons, who has run for days through hills and valleys to chase the Sun that has scorched his people. Kuafu has now become an important symbol for China’s efforts to become a major technological power.
The article notes the meeting of 1,500 physicists in Hefei earlier this year to discuss the main projects in the endeavor, the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), which will come online in 2027, and the China Fusion Engineering Demo Reactor, which is to be up and running in 2030.
The Economist writes: “And though America and Europe have long led the pursuit of a commercial reactor, meticulous planning has given China’s prospects a boost. Although its private fusion firms have yet to rival those abroad, the country’s national program has become a fierce competitor. Integral to its successes is a three-pronged strategy: setting research priorities for engineers and wonks; providing vast amounts of funding for its scientists and engineers; and building an industrial supply chain for the parts that fusion reactors will need. Whether or not that will be enough to guarantee victory, the race for fusion is on in earnest.”
The article notes in particular that China is simultaneously working to develop the engineering capabilities needed to put fusion online once the process is under control. “Physics challenges are one thing; engineering is another,” The Economist writes. “Construction depends on a complex supply chain, including power modules, vacuum chambers and powerful superconducting magnets. Chinese policy has incentivized industrial firms to manufacture those parts, another area where the country is ahead of its rivals. Its engineering firms have particular expertise in the field of metallic carpentry, developing magnetic coils and power-conversion components used by fusion abroad.” In this regard, it cites China’s cooperation in the international ITER project in France.
The magazine also notes that China, with its BEST reactor, hopes to produce tritium, a source for fusion which is extremely rare in nature. In reference to the efforts in the U.S. and Europe to gear up their own fusion program, in what is becoming a major race to bring fusion online, it adds: “The pursuit need not be zero-sum. China remains open to collaboration, not only learning from ITER’s findings, but also allowing foreign scientists to use its machines (though few Americans have shown up recently). Foreign scientists are quick to credit Chinese speed and efficiency—and progress—in improving their own projects. When BEST is up and running, it will be among the most advanced fusion experiments in the world, and scientists from all countries will want to collaborate, says Dr. [Yannick] Marandet,” research director of the French National Center for Scientific Research. The article concludes: “Unlike Kuafu, then, China’s scientists will not chase the Sun alone.”
Perhaps the search for the “artificial Sun,” as the Chinese call it, can become the means for shifting international relations away from the present paradigm of “rivalry” to one of “cooperation,” cooperation which has existed in the field of fusion ever since Soviet atomic physicist Igor Kurchatov made the decision in the 1950s to declassify Soviet work on the project.
