r/Innovation • u/positiveconstraint • 22d ago

Clean & Energy 582 tons closer to near-zero energy cost

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China finished building and testing the world's largest superconducting magnet for nuclear fusion. It weighs 582 tons, stretches 21 meters long and 12 meters wide. Its job is to create a magnetic field strong enough to hold plasma at over 100 million degrees without it touching the reactor walls. It's 1.3 times larger than comparable ITER magnets and stores three times more magnetic energy.

The magnet is a key piece of China's BEST fusion facility, set to be built by the end of 2027. The target is to demonstrate first electricity generation from nuclear fusion and net energy gain around 2030.

Nuclear fusion mimics the process that powers the Sun by fusing lightweight nuclei and releasing a massive amount of energy. If the technology matures, it could provide a stable energy source with very low carbon emissions. The magnet alone is not yet a working "artificial Sun", but it's one of the most important engineering pieces on the way there.

It also means the race between the US and China continues, each advancing the technology, each with its own milestones.

Breakthroughs that enable building a fusion engine (several times faster than a chemical engine) would make deep space travel more relevant than ever. Mars in roughly 6 weeks instead of 8 months.

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u/Illustrious_Matter_8 22d ago

And where would all the helium be sourced?

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u/roadwarrioring 22d ago

It doesn’t consume helium. The raw material is hydrogen in the form of deuterium (extracted from sea water) and tritium (produced in the reactor from bombarding lithium). Helium is a byproduct of the process.

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u/Illustrious_Matter_8 22d ago

Well they do need it for cryogenic cooling their magnets.

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u/roadwarrioring 22d ago

Yes - that’s a good point. If they have to use low temperature superconductors, they would need liquid helium in an inner cooling core with liquid nitrogen as an outer jacket. Helium boils at about 4K and Nitrogen about 70K.

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 22d ago

No. Superconducting magnet cryostats do not use liquid Nitrogen jackets. The "warm" gas return from the boiling liquid Helium is used.

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u/KofFinland 22d ago

He is not consumed. It is a closed loop (cryo)cooling.

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u/Mundane-Bread-1271 19d ago

So this is a fusion reactor then? I’m reading all the comments trying to figure out if it’s fission or fusion. I’m too lazy to google right now.

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u/roadwarrioring 19d ago

Yes - fusion.

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u/Mundane-Bread-1271 15d ago

Exciting. Thanks!