Image Source : China Visual

BEIJING, December 22 (TMTPOST) —— Human beings are still far from realizing the practical use of controlled nuclear fusion, according to Du Xiangwan, a core scientist of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" project, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and deputy director of the National Energy Advisory Expert Committee at the 2022 T-EDGE Global Innovation Conference on Thursday.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, funded by the U.S. government, has successfully achieved the first "net energy gain" in a nuclear fusion reaction.

Du explained that the overall efficiency of the experiment was very low. Although the final output of fusion was 300 megajoules, more than the energy put in, the process also consumed 300 megajoules, more than 100 times the energy produced. Second, the fusion gains are in the realm of fusion physics, not exactly the same as the concept of "controlled fusion".

However, he said the interest in the experiment highlights the expectation of energy development, which is expected to gain breakthroughs in this century.

After China formally put forward the goal of achieving a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 at the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, China has increased domestic exploration for clean and sustainable development.

In this process, Du said, "There are ways to realize the goal." Abundant renewable energy resources are a crucial factor, which is also China's resource endowment. According to data, the wind and light energy that has been developed in our country are less than one-tenth of the resources that technology can exploit.

In the central and eastern parts of China, he believes that China should increase the proportion of self-sufficiency in energy (electricity) and become an energy producer and seller. In addition, centralized and distributed energy resources should be combined to improve the proportion of distributed energy resources.

On one hand, energy can be sent to the east. On the other hand, local energy consumption should be used to develop the industry needed for national development and improve the industrial economy of the west.