• Scientists from Seoul National University and the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy have made a major breakthrough in their pursuit of clean nuclear energy by creating an ‘artificial sun’ at the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) reactor.
• Reportedly, the reactor reached temperatures upward of 100 million degree Celsius for 30 seconds.
• Comparatively, the core of the sun hits temperatures around 15 million degrees. 

Significance

Energy security

• By mimicking the natural reaction of the sun, scientists are hoping that the technology may help humanity harness vast amounts of energy and help battle the energy crisis.

 Cleaner energy:

• It is pertinent to note that nuclear fusion is considered the holy grail of energy and it is what powers our sun.
• It merges atomic nuclei to create massive amounts of energy, which is the opposite of the fission process used in atomic weapons and nuclear power plants, which splits them into fragments.
• The process requires no fossil fuels and leaves behind no hazardous waste materials, unlike the nuclear fission process that powers commercial nuclear energy production.
• Unlike fission, fusion emits no greenhouse gases.

 Less Disaster: 

• Physicists also claim that there is far less risk of an environmental disaster.