STORY: Chinese "artificial sun" sets new record in milestone step toward fusion power generation
SHOOTING TIME: Jan 20, 2025
DATELINE: Jan 21, 2025
LENGTH: 0:00:39
LOCATION: HEFEI, China
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of screen images
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese): GONG XIANZU, Head of the division of EAST Physics and Experimental Operations

STORYLINE:

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), dubbed China's "artificial sun," maintained on Monday a steady-state high-confinement plasma operation for a remarkable 1,066 seconds. This set a new world record and marked a breakthrough in the quest for fusion power generation.

The duration of 1,000 seconds is considered a key step in fusion research. The breakthrough, achieved by the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, greatly improves on EAST's original 2023 world record of 403 seconds.

SOUNDBITE (Chinese): GONG XIANZU, Head of the division of EAST Physics and Experimental Operations
"The steady-state high-confinement plasma operation for 1,066 seconds that we have just achieved is a major experimental breakthrough through the efforts of our team over the past time. This landmark achievement marks an important milestone in the transition from basic experimental research to engineering practice."

The ultimate goal of an "artificial sun" is to create nuclear fusion like the sun, providing humanity with an endless, clean energy source, and enabling space exploration beyond the solar system.

Since starting operation in 2006, EAST has been an open test platform for Chinese and international scientists to conduct fusion-related experiments and research.
   
China officially joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program in 2006 as its seventh member. According to the agreement, China is responsible for about 9 percent of the project's construction and operation -- and ASIPP is the main unit of the Chinese mission.
   
ITER, which is under construction in southern France, will be the world's largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment device and the largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor, once completed.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Hefei, China.
(XHTV)