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| Image Credit - Monit Khanna |
The temperature at the middle of the sun is about 1.5 billion degrees Celsius. But a nuclear reactor in South Korea can reach temperatures six times higher than the center of the sun. This is often why the reactor is named the 'artificial sun' of South Korea. This reactor has set a new record. Not only did it reach 100 million degrees Fahrenheit, but it also maintained its temperature for more than 20 seconds. No other reactor in the world has been able to maintain such a temperature for such a long time.
According to the US space agency NASA, the temperature of the sun varies from place to place. Its center temperature is about one and a half crore degrees Celsius. However, the surface temperature of the sun is only 5,600 degrees Celsius. This surface of the sun can be seen from the earth. However, at the outermost point of the star's orbit, the temperature rises again and exceeds tens of millions.
According to a report by the UK's Independent newspaper, South Korea's nuclear reactors are used to generate electricity. One of these reactors is Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR or Caster). This is often called the synthetic sun of the country. In this furnace, ions and electrons of atoms are separated by heat. And the energy that is obtained through it, is used to generate electricity.
The castor reactor had earlier reached 100 million degrees Celsius in 2016 and was able to hold that temperature for 6 seconds. After that, however, a few reactors from different countries broke that record and reached 10 seconds. But this time the record set by Castor has not been achieved by any reactor before. Castor has reached 100 million degrees Celsius twice in a row. C-Wu Un, director of the Castor Research Center, called the achievement an important milestone.
However, China's HL-TM Tokamak reactor is at the forefront of reaching high temperatures. The furnace was able to reach 150 million degrees Celsius last December.