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The world's first fully high-temperature superconducting tokamak device, Honghuang 70 (HH70), has recently successfully achieved first plasma, marking a significant leap of China in the development and application of fusion technology for clean energy, the device's developer Shanghai-based fusion energy company Energy Singularity announced on Wednesday.
The completion and operation of HH70 took the lead in the world in completing the engineering feasibility verification of high-temperature superconducting tokamak, marking that China has gained a first-mover advantage in the key field of high-temperature superconducting magnetic confinement fusion, the company said.
According to Yang Zhao, Energy Singularity's Chief Executive Officer, HH70 has independent intellectual property rights, with a domestication rate of over 96 percent, and all its magnet systems are constructed using high-temperature superconducting materials.
The successful discharge of HH70 marks Energy Singularity as the world's first and currently the only team to build and operate an all high-temperature superconducting tokamak, as well as the world's first and currently the only commercial company to build and operate an all superconducting tokamak.
Regarding the company's future plans, Yang Zhao said the company plans to complete the next generation high magnetic field high-temperature superconducting tokamak device, HH170, by 2027 with the goal of achieving a deuterium-tritium equivalent energy gain (Q) greater than 10.
For fusion devices, the Q value is a crucial indicator. It directly reflects the energy efficiency of the fusion reactor, that is, the ratio of the energy generated by the device to the energy input required to sustain the fusion reaction. Q>1 represents that the output energy is greater than the energy input required to sustain the reaction. Currently the maximum Q value achieved by humans is 1.53.