Shanghai-based company Energy Singularity, dedicated to the commercialization of controlled nuclear fusion energy, announced the successful achievement of plasma discharge in its Honghuang 70 device. This signifies the validation of the engineering feasibility of the world's first all-high-temperature superconducting tokamak device.

Controlled nuclear fusion, also known as the next-generation "artificial sun", is considered humanity's ultimate energy source. In September 2022, Shanghai released an action plan for five future industries, which included future intelligence and future energy. Controlled nuclear fusion falls under the category of future energy.

Energy Singularity holds independent intellectual property rights to the HH70 device, and over 96 percent of its components are domestically made.

Energy Singularity CEO Yang Zhao said that while more than 100 tokamak devices have been built worldwide, constructing a tokamak device using high-temperature superconducting materials to control and confine plasma, as done with Honghuang 70, is unprecedented.

The company opted for this novel technological approach in order to significantly reduce device size and accelerate the commercialization of fusion energy. This move is set to change the direction of future fusion energy research.

Thanks to Shanghai's complete nuclear power industry cluster and high-temperature superconducting material industry cluster, Energy Singularity completed the design and construction of HH70 within two years, breaking the record globally for the fastest development and construction of an all-high-temperature superconducting tokamak device. American CFS company began construction of a high-temperature superconducting tokamak device named SPARC in 2022, planning to complete it in 2025.

Following the HH70, the company has also set out to develop the Honghuang 170 device, which is a next-generation high-magnetic-field, high-temperature, superconducting tokamak device. This device is scheduled to be completed by 2027.

Additionally, in a bid to pave the way for commercialization, Energy Singularity plans to build a tokamak device that is suitable for demonstration fusion power stations by around 2030.

Source: Jiefang Daily