In a major development, satellite imagery analysis has revealed that China is developing a laser fusion research facility in Mianyang, a city in the southwestern region of the country.

The scale of this facility is about 50 percent bigger than the US National Ignition Facility (NIF), which is currently the world’s largest inertial confinement fusion facility.

According to experts, this development could have huge implications for both nuclear weapons research and clean energy production.

Satellite photos show four outlying "arms" that will house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that will hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers will fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at U.S.-based independent research organization CNA Corp, as reported by Reuters.

Using high-powered lasers for nuclear research

Laser fusion is also called inertial confinement fusion. It uses high-powered lasers to induce extreme heat and compression in a target containing hydrogen isotopes.

This process generates a micro-scale fusion reaction, which mimics the energy production of the sun and other stars. It is being considered a “holy grail” of clean and abundant energy.

Unlike traditional fossil fuels, it promises to offer a solution to rising global energy demands without any adverse environmental impact. Scientists have long been trying to successfully execute this process on the Earth.

Successful research at this facility could give a major boost to the energy sector.

Could better nuclear weapons

However, the latest development also has some potential military applications by providing valuable data. Such facilities could lead to the refinement of existing nuclear weapons designs and explorations of new ones without conducting actual nuclear tests.

This development is even more significant given the ban on actual nuclear tests under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Such facilities could allow China to improve its nuclear weapons designs. For context, both China and the United States are signatories to this treaty.

Notably, this development coincides with previous observations of China's expanding nuclear capabilities.

The new laser fusion facility appears to be located at the same site identified in 2020, when the US government released satellite imagery highlighting the growth of nuclear weapons support facilities in Mianyang.

Global fusion race

While there is no official statement on whether it is for clean energy or military purposes, the latest fusion research facility in China aligns with the increasing global interest in this technology and its potential.

Meanwhile, fusion research in China has made history. The country’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), which is also called ‘artificial sun’, has set a record in the fusion process. It has achieved the milestone of 1,006 seconds of operations for sustained plasma temperature above 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (100 million degrees Celsius).

However, China is not the only country that has been making strides. Recently, scientists at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) created the world’s brightest X-ray source to advance fusion energy research.

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China ‘building laser-ignited fusion research centre’ in challenge to US

The part-built research centre near the city of Mianyang, in the Sichuan province, has been observed in satellite imagery.

China is building a gigantic laser-ignited fusion power laboratory that is 50pc larger than its US counterpart as the two superpowers spar for energy supremacy.

The part-built research centre near the city of Mianyang, in the Sichuan province, has been observed in satellite imagery, with experts warning it could be used to advance both power generation and nuclear weapons.

It will have four arms housing massive laser bays capable of shooting powerful beams into a central “experiment bay” in the centre, the independent research organisation CNA Corp told Reuters.

This is for a type of reaction known as laser-ignited fusion, where high-powered lasers are fired at tiny fuel pellets to make them extremely hot and dense, fusing them into hydrogen and releasing energy.

Fusion is the same reaction constantly taking place in the heart of the sun. For decades, scientists have viewed harnessing this tricky process as the “holy grail” of energy because of the amounts of power it would unlock.

Chinese facility 50pc larger than US one

In 2022, the $3.5bn (£2.8bn) National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California generated more energy from a fusion reaction than the lasers pumped into the target for the first time – a key milestone.

However, CNA Corp estimated that the experiment bay at the Chinese facility is about 50pc larger than the one at the NIF.

The sprawling development was revealed on Tuesday as American start-up Helion announced a $425m fundraising.

Helion is backed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Sam Altman, Open AI’s chief, and Peter Thiel, the PayPal co-founder and serial venture capitalist.

The highly secretive company is racing to build the world’s first fusion reactor by 2028 under a deal with Microsoft.

Using so-called magneto-inertial fusion technology, Helion’s reactor will heat up hydrogen and helium based fuels into a plasma state and then smash them together using powerful magnets.

The resulting reaction creates large amounts of energy and generates an electric current through the plasma’s interaction with the magnetic field.

Helion’s latest fundraising takes the amount raised by the company to more than $1bn and values the business at $5.4bn.

David Kirtley, Helion’s chief executive, said: “We are on the brink of delivering a transformative energy solution that can meet the world’s increasing electricity demands while preserving US energy leadership.

“Our mission has always been focused on rapidly developing and deploying safe, reliable fusion generators that provide abundant, affordable electricity.

“Earning the support of such a prestigious group of investors is a testament to our progress in both solving hard scientific and technical challenges and tackling the practical realities of building hardware to commercialise a brand-new technology.”

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