China’s ‘artificial sun’ project just got a whole lot hotter, scientists say

The research centre has the ability to generate intense heat that is essential to the fusion process, which is how the sun produces energy.

A new research facility that will enable Chinese scientists to carry out vital experiments in the development of a nuclear fusion reactor – or so-called artificial sun – is set to open later this year, according to the company behind the project.

The new centre, in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, will have at its heart an “HL-2M machine”, which is capable of generating plasma – another name for hot gas – at temperatures of up to 200 million °C, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said in a statement on its website.