Engineers in South Korea have pushed the boundaries of nuclear fusion by setting a new record for maintaining plasma.

Plasma is one of the four states of matter - the others being liquid, gas and solid - with examples being lightning and the sun.

In a reactor at a national fusion facility, a team managed to keep superheated plasma in a steady state for more than a minute.

The new record marks another step towards nuclear fusion as a potentially limitless source of energy.

Scroll down for video

South Korean scientists have set a world record for plasma operation, a fundamental component of nuclear fusion reactors (illustrated). The findings take researchers a step closer to producing limitless, clean energy

FUSION: HARNESSING THE POWER OF STARS Scientists are looking to nuclear fusion as a potentially limitless source of clean energy. It works on the same principle as the reactions inside the sun's core, nuclear fusion. Using intense heat, magnetic fields and pressure, hydrogen atoms are fused together to create heavier atoms of helium, releasing energy in the process. The Korean group has pushed the technology further ahead by maintaining the unstable plasma in a controlled state for more than one minute. Advertisement

The institute, located in the city of Daejeon 160 km south of Seoul, is developing a tokamak-style reactor which aims to harness the energy of fusing atoms.

According to World Nuclear News, South Korea's National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) achieved a world record for plasma operation.

Using the Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) reactor, the team maintained superheated hydrogen gas in a magnetic field for 70 seconds - a fundamental step of the fusion process.

In a statement, the NFRI said: ‘The world record for high-performance plasma for more than a minute demonstrated that the KSTAR is the forefront in steady-state plasma operation technology in a superconducting device.’

‘This is a huge step forward for realisation of the fusion reactor.’

While other groups, such as the Tore Supra tokamak in France, have maintained fusion reactions for more than five minutes, the Korean team managed to sustain 'high performance' plasma, reducing the flux associated with the superheated state.

Nuclear fusion reactors works on the same principles as stars, by fusing atoms together to form heavier elements.

When the reactor is in full flow, it superheats ionised hydrogen gas to create plasma.

With the electrons stripped away, the atomic nuclei are then fused to generate energy.

The reactors work on the same principle as the reactions inside the sun's core, nuclear fusion

In tokamak-style reactors, the whole reaction is contained within a strong magnetic field.

The KSTAR reactor generates temperatures of 300 million degrees Celsius.

But the strong magnets used to contain the reaction must be cooled to make them superconductive.

While using nuclear fusion to power homes and businesses may still be some way off, research such as KSTAR proves that the burning of star-like fuel can be achieved and contained using current technology.

Earlier this year, a group at MIT in the US smashed the previous record for plasma pressure - one of the core components of the fusion process.

Nuclear fusion reactors work by fusing atomic nuclei together to form heavier elements (stock image used)

The work, carried out at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, pushed the pressures involved up to two atmospheres – breaking the previous record by 15 per cent.

Groups around the world are looking to push the energy producing capacity of the technology even further, with the ITER reactor currently under construction in France.

It will be the largest Tokamak-style reactor ever built and will be 800 times the volume of MIT’s reactor.

Engineers on the project hope to achieve 2.6 atmospheres of pressure when the reactor is fully operational, and generate temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius (270 million degrees Farenheit).

The goal for future reactions is to carry out sustained fusion reactions for up to 10 minutes, laying the groundwork for a fully functioning reactor.