Limitless energy is becoming a reality: a new record has been set at the "artificial sun" facility in France.

A new record has been set by physicists from France at the WEST nuclear fusion reactor. The researchers managed to maintain hot plasma in a stable state for over 22 minutes. This is 25% longer than what physicists from China achieved. Thus, scientists have made progress on the path to obtaining clean, limitless nuclear fusion energy, reports Interesting Engineering.

Nuclear fusion energy is what sustains the life of our Sun and other stars. It is released as a result of nuclear fusion, which is the merging of hydrogen atoms in their nuclei. For several decades, scientists have been striving to enable experimental nuclear fusion reactors to produce more energy during the initiation of nuclear fusion than was consumed to initiate the process.

Such experiments are conducted in tokamak-type reactors, which have a toroidal shape. They are often referred to as "artificial suns" because they host experiments involving nuclear fusion. Although the nuclear fusion process that utilizes the merging of hydrogen isotopes is not overly complex to create, the challenge lies elsewhere.

The difficulty is that physicists need to establish the right conditions under which the nuclear fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining, ultimately leading to a net output of more energy than was used to start the fusion.

This means that inside the nuclear fusion reactor, the plasma must be heated to temperatures between 100 and 150 million degrees Celsius, create pressure levels ranging from 5 to 10 atmospheres at the reaction point, and maintain the hot plasma in a stable state for at least 10 seconds.

In the tokamak reactor known as WEST, located in France, the plasma is held in a toroidal chamber by very powerful magnets that create strong magnetic fields. This allows the hydrogen plasma to initiate the nuclear fusion reaction.

According to physicists, the primary goal now is not only to achieve very long-term stability of the plasma but also to learn how to control the plasma in such a way that it does not damage the reactor walls and its other components.

Scientists now aim to break their own record in the near future and achieve stable plasma retention for several hours.

The information gathered during such experiments is expected to become the foundation for the development of future nuclear fusion power plants. These plants could provide limitless, clean energy for humanity for centuries to come. However, no one knows when scientists will be able to harness nuclear fusion energy on a large scale. It is believed that this could become feasible within the next 30 years.