Visiting china's nuclear fusion research base
Chinanews, Chengdu, Oct. 12 – Because of China's success in the HL-2A experimental thermonuclear fusion device, Chengdu has been chosen as the venue of the 21th World Nuclear Fusion Energy Conference. The conference will be held in Chengdu on October 16, the first to be held in a developing country. Before the conference is held, our reporter recently visited the nuclear fusion research base in Chengdu, which is also the largest nuclear fusion research base in China.President of the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP) Pan Chuanhong gave a brief introduction to China's nuclear history. He said that in the 1950s, SWIP began to engage in the research of controlled thermonuclear fusion. In 40 years of efforts, it had successfully made the HL-1, HL-1M, and HL-2A experimental thermonuclear fusion devices. In December 2005, the HL-2A nuclear fusion device met the approximate core condition. In February this year, a test was done to the HL-2A device which, under 20,000,000℃, the device was able to steadily release 400kva of power 12 times consecutively, indicating that China was able to conduct nuclear fusion research under approximate core condition.
He said that at present, many researchers in his institute have participated in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, which is the largest international cooperative program in scientific research field after the international space station. This year, the program has entered into the implementation phase. Under this program, scientists from China, EU, US, Russia, India, Japan and South Korea will work together to build the world’s first nuclear fusion experimental base and will jointly push forward the development of nuclear fusion energy. As one of the members in ITER, China will be responsible for the production of 10% of the devices needed for the program.
According to Pan, about 300 Chinese scientists will participate in the program and make their contributions to the longest and most sophisticated science program in human history.