Is THIS where the world’s first ‘artificial Sun’ will be born? Vast Chinese fusion facility may also have deadly purpose

A NEW Chinese fusion facility may be where the world’s first “artificial sun” is born – but could also be used to develop deadly nuclear weapons.

Experts have said a huge laser fusion research centre is being built in the southwestern city of Mianyang that could have multiple uses.

Planet LabsA satellite photo shows the laser fusion centre in Mianyang, China[/caption]

GettyThe fully superconducting Tokamak Device (EAST) at the Hefei Institute of Physical Science, China[/caption]

AlamyPhysicists congratulate each other after sustaining a plasma loop for 1,066 seconds[/caption]

The lab will be even bigger than the US’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Northern Carolina.

Satellite images show four “arms” of the building sticking out that will be home to laser bays, and a central chamber where hydrogen will fuse together.

William Alberque, a nuclear policy analyst, said: “Any country with an NIF-type facility can and probably will be increasing their confidence and improving existing weapons designs, and facilitating the design of future bomb designs without testing.”

In November 2020, US arms official Marshall Billingslea released satellite images he said showed China’s build-up of nuclear weapons support facilities.

It included images of a cleared plot of land in Mianyang labelled “new research or production areas since 2010”.

That plot is the same site as the fusion research centre, called the Laser Fusion Major Device Laboratory, according to Reuters.

China has also been trying to build an “artificial sun” that would be a source of unlimited energy for the Earth.

It would require a highly-specialised facility, and that could be what this new lab in Mianyang is destined for.

Scientists achieved a breakthrough last week when they sustained a plasma temperature of more than 100 million degrees for 1,066 seconds – almost 18 minutes – smashing the previous record of 403 seconds.

This major leap happened in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak reactor in Hefei, eastern China.

The physicists used a system designed to mimic the fusion reactions at the core of the sun by using hydrogen and deuterium gases as fuel.

They say that to make nuclear fusion a viable source of energy on Earth we will need sustained plasma temperatures hotter than the sun.

The temperature at the core of the sun is estimated to be around 15 million degrees Celsius.

Song Yuntao, EAST’s director, said: “To achieve self-sustaining plasma and enable fusion power plants to generate electricity continuously, a fusion device must operate highly efficiently in a stable state for thousands of seconds.”

Building a reactor capable of handling sustained nuclear fusion is an enormous challenge for scientists.

It would need super-fortified walls made of special materials that can survive out-of-this-world conditions, South China Morning Post reports.

Zhou Haishan, a professor at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, said: “Developing wall materials that are both resilient and resistant to damage is extremely difficult.

“To test such materials, we need advanced simulation environments.”