Reborn Tech Scholar

Chapter 667 The Dilemma of the "Sun God" Plan
America, a secret base, this is exactly America's controllable nuclear fusion project 'Helios' plan.

For controllable nuclear fusion, as a former superpower in the world, the United States naturally has a long-term plan, and it is not in one direction, but in multiple directions. The magnetic confinement nuclear fusion represented by the tokamak device and the spiral stone also has the United States. The laser nuclear fusion, ray nuclear fusion, etc. studied by Lili, as long as there is a possibility, the United States will not give up research.

In terms of the tokamak device, in 1993, the United States used deuterium and tritium 1:1 fuel on the TFTR. The fusion energy released by the two experiments was 0.3 million kilowatts and 0.56 million kilowatts, respectively, and the Q value reached 0.28. In September 1997, the United European Ring set a world record of 9 kilowatts, with a Q value of 1.29, which lasted for 0.60 seconds.Only 2 days later, the output power increased to 39 kilowatts, and the Q value reached 1.61.

The scientific community has always believed that controlled nuclear fusion is most likely to move out of the laboratory and enter the commercial stage. It is Europe's "Spiralite 7-X", followed by the United States, and China is ranked sixth.

But no one expected that Huaxia, who has always been considered the sixth child and may even start the research on its own tokamak device from Russia, has inexplicably made rapid progress in controllable nuclear fusion technology. Controlled nuclear fusion has brought controllable nuclear fusion from the laboratory to commercialization. Now there are five fusion nuclear power plants. Just five fusion nuclear power plants are equivalent to 300 fission nuclear power plants in the past, which has made China get rid of the energy crisis. Even China All small and medium-sized hydropower stations, thermal power stations, etc. have been shut down, so Huaxia still has the ability to transmit and supply electricity to the surrounding area. The market value of the Asian Power Group is eye-catching.

To solve the energy problem and have cheap electricity supply, China's manufacturing industry has become stronger. After all, the monthly electricity price cost is two-thirds lower than that of other places. This aspect alone is a very considerable competitiveness. , Other places simply cannot compete, and the reduction of production costs means the increase of corporate profits.

Unfortunately, the transfer of the industrial chain imagined by all parties has not been realized. Instead, it has been rushed to pieces. Low economic growth and negative economic growth abound. The low economic growth of many European countries is even due to the fact that they rely on tourists from China. , Relying on the consumption of Chinese people to maintain low growth, otherwise negative growth is a certainty.

However, after the controllable nuclear fusion technology was mastered by China, after taking the lead, Europe and the United States did not give up, and increased their own research on controllable nuclear fusion. Concentrate the research direction of controllable nuclear fusion in other directions on the direction of magnetic confinement controllable nuclear fusion, so there is the "Helios" project. The "Helios" project has cost 7 billion US dollars so far, and has concentrated a large number of Americans. Nuclear technology experts, materials experts, etc. For this reason, the United States has also promoted 3000 universities to carry out technical public relations cooperation.

With such money spent, the United States was originally relatively weak in magnetic confinement fusion, and it has continued to make new progress in recent years.

The "Sun God" project has more than 10 people in the scientific research base alone. There are white people, yellow people, and black people. All ethnic groups on the earth can be seen here. White people do not account for the majority, but belong to Relatively few, and this also reflects a microcosm of the United States in the past few decades-other races occupy an extremely important position in scientific research positions.

"Zhang, the 'Sun God' has been checked, and there are no problems in all aspects, and the experiment can be started at any time. I am confident that this time the 'Sun God' will continue to run for more than 25 minutes, and will generate considerable energy." An Indian said , and the "Zhang" he mentioned is a Chinese, an immigrant from Southeast Asia, about 50 years old this year, and served as the chief engineer of the "Helios" project in the United States.

It is helpless to say that at the beginning, all the main positions of the "Sun God" project were filled by other people, but the problem was soon discovered. These people were either too good or lack of energy, or their talents were limited, and their technical level was not enough. They suffered a few times. , Coupled with the slow progress of controllable nuclear fusion technology, the Ministry of Energy has made great determination to promote a large number of Asians to important positions.

And I have to say that with the continuous spending of money and enough manpower, America's "Helios" plan has achieved great changes. They are now going to launch an impact on the continuous confinement of ultra-high temperature plasma for 25 minutes in one operation. This step is still 30 minutes behind the Max Planck Institute in Europe, but it is already a very large record.

At this point, it also means that the American "Helios" project is not far from announcing that it has successfully stepped out of the laboratory.

At this point, although it cannot be compared with Huaxia's long-term stable operation, the energy generated is already very considerable, far greater than the input energy, and it is completely possible to build a fusion nuclear power plant. Such a fusion nuclear power plant has nothing more than higher operating costs, but Still much lower than fission nuclear power plants.

The operating costs of fission nuclear power plants include buildings, nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel, and safety measures. Because of the danger of fission nuclear power plants, buildings and safety measures will cost a lot of money, including control areas around fission nuclear power plants. A radius of dozens of kilometers is not suitable for living and development, and the disposal of the nuclear waste generated is not so easy, and it is all nerve-wracking. After all, no one wants to lose face like Dongying.

And once a nuclear accident occurs, the impact and loss will be staggering. The nuclear power plant accidents in history have already told the world. Dongying still has lingering fears about nuclear power plants, and more than half of the nuclear power plants in Europe have been shut down.

Unlike fusion nuclear power plants, the reaction product of fusion nuclear power plants is helium without radioactive contamination.Moreover, since nuclear fusion requires extremely high temperatures, once a problem occurs in a certain link and the temperature of the fuel drops, the fusion reaction will automatically stop. A nuclear power plant accident, no doubt it is very safe.

"Zhang, at this point, controllable nuclear fusion can be applied commercially, but now we are faced with a very serious problem. According to the current technical level, to build a tokamak nuclear fusion device will cost hundreds of billions of dollars , the cost is 100 times that of Huaxia!" A middle-aged white man said in a deep voice: "The investors are very dissatisfied and worried about this. So much money! I feel that the patience of all investors has reached a limit."

Zhang Dun frowned slightly. This is a problem. The "Helios" plan chose the method of magnetic confinement nuclear fusion, not the stellarator mode of "Spiralite 7-X", but the tokamak device mode. .

But whether it is the stellarator model of 'Spiralite 7-X' or the tokamak device model, when it comes time to build a reactor, it will face a problem, that is, the high cost of the reactor, and the cost of a reactor that can be as high as 3500 billion U.S. dollars That is to say, a fusion nuclear power plant, like Huaxia's fusion nuclear power plant, needs to cost as much as 4500 billion U.S. dollars, but in this regard, Huaxia only needs 300 billion U.S. dollars, and it can be built in stages, but they can't, they have to be built together.

The cost gap of more than 100 times means that in fact, in the world's fair competition, they have no advantage, even if they are a pig, they know how to choose.

But Zhang Dun is helpless about this. This is determined by the tokamak device or the stellarator device of the 'Spiral Stone 7-X'. For example, the volume of the tokamak device they are building now is already very large, and this It is used for experimental purposes. Once it reaches the construction of the reactor device, the volume will be hundreds of times larger.

However, the world has been studying controllable nuclear fusion for almost a century. Whether it is the stellarator model or the tokamak device model, they have experienced the test of more than half the world, which shows that their structural design is already very scientific.If you want to change, unless you find another way like Huaxia, you can design a brand new magnetic confinement device yourself.

But redesigning a brand new magnetic confinement device is easier said than done, and there is no Professor Qin in the United States!

Zhang Dun sighed. Although he is an expert in controllable nuclear fusion and a world-class scholar, he now clearly feels the gap between himself and Qin Yuanqing, because he is helpless in the face of this problem. Basically, keep moving forward and solve problems, but there is no way to overthrow everything and open up a new world.

"Anderson, we have no ability to solve this problem. It is our goal to achieve continuous confinement of ultra-high temperature plasma for 30 minutes. As for how to solve the problem of reactor construction materials and further optimize it, I think it is a problem for others to consider." Zhang Dun sighed After taking a breath, he said helplessly: "Unless they can invite Professor Qin to give us a lecture and tell us the principle of the 'Golden Crow Device', or they have a way to get a 'Golden Crow Device', otherwise, I think they can only hand over the Give time and the latecomers to solve it!"

Zhang Dun is actually very helpless. He is very aware of the gap between the two in the field of controllable nuclear fusion. Huaxia's controllable nuclear fusion has been miniaturized and used in aerospace aircraft, but they can't even control the controllable fusion technology. Both have not been mastered, and commercial use is realized. The gap between the two is not an exaggeration to say that there is a difference of 100 years.

If it was not a last resort, for the sake of his wife and children, Zhang Dun didn't want to lie in this muddy water at all. Unfortunately, he had no choice.

So weak, you are just a small ant, you can't even resist.

The others also nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)