Great warships

Chapter 1212 Artificial Sun Ignition

Qin Tao remembered very clearly that in his own time and space, controlled nuclear fusion had always been a project in the laboratory. Even if many countries united to make controlled nuclear fusion mature, it would take decades, which was equivalent to saying nothing. After all, three monks could not drink the water. With so many countries working together, the uncertainty was too great. Just look at the Galileo project.

And now, our controlled nuclear fusion technology is so advanced that it can be commercialized within ten or twenty years?

"Boss Qin, you're here? That's great." Krasnopolsky said, "We thought you wouldn't be able to make it."

"As long as it's a project I know about, I will definitely come." Qin Tao said. He really had to make it clear that many times, he, as the president of the group, didn't know what his subordinates were going to do, so he naturally couldn't go to the site to participate. For example, the high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor was already in commercial operation, but he didn't know about it.

However, if Qin Tao was asked to read the mountains of group documents all day long, he would not be able to bear it. His subordinates could only show Qin Tao the ones they thought were important. But many times, what his subordinates thought were unimportant might also be very important to Qin Tao.

Fortunately, Qin Tao happened to participate in the field of controlled nuclear fusion.

"Krasnopolsky, I remember that you were working on nuclear fission? Why are you working on nuclear fusion now?" Qin Tao continued to ask.

"Boss Qin, you don't understand this, right? Fission and fusion are both nuclear physics. I worked on fission before because this project could be commercialized, but suddenly I found that our laser technology had made a great breakthrough, and I had done fusion research before, so I changed direction. After all, there is nothing to improve on the fission reactor, and the fusion reactor is our future research focus."

The high-temperature gas-cooled reactor belongs to the fourth generation of nuclear reactors. Its biggest feature is safety. No matter whether it is an earthquake or a tsunami, any sudden accident caused by any natural disaster will not put the nuclear reactor at risk of explosion. It will shut down naturally at the slightest disturbance.

It can be said that the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor has reached the limit of this type of nuclear reactor and there is nothing more to do. The direction of nuclear fusion is a new fortress that nuclear physics experts need to conquer.

In recent years, various technologies in the East have made continuous breakthroughs, and laser technology has made great progress, which also allowed Krasnopolsky to choose a new way.

"Yes, Starship Corporation is going to build a lunar base in the future. There is a large amount of helium-3 on the moon. If we successfully develop a nuclear fusion reactor now, we can get unlimited energy on the moon. We can also transport the helium-3 on the moon back to the earth and build a large number of nuclear fusion reactors on the earth. In the future, there will no longer be a problem of energy shortage." Max actually came to participate and said excitedly at the side.

"I'm afraid our natural gas carrier and oil tanker manufacturing will be consigned to the grave of history," Qin Tao said with a smile.

On Earth, oil is the most important energy source. For the sake of environmental protection, the use of natural gas is now being promoted. The construction technology of these ships is mainly in the hands of the Mingzhou Group. They have risen by building natural gas ships, and even the entire Eastern shipbuilding industry has profited from it.

Will these be gone in the future?
"That's right. New technology will eliminate outdated technology. Only in this way can we develop and progress. Although many conservative forces will be dissatisfied with this or even obstruct it, they will become clowns in the face of history, just like the craftsmen who smashed the machines back then. It is meaningless. However, our Mingzhou Group will always be at the forefront."

Speaking of this, Max was very emotional: "Boss Qin, you were vigorously developing electric vehicles back then. I used to think it was just a boring little toy of yours, but now I finally realize how far-sighted you are. Those people in the island countries who shout about hydrogen energy every day can't compare with electric vehicles at all."

"Really? How come I have foresight?" Qin Tao asked curiously.

Electric cars have reasons to be criticized. With so many batteries installed inside, they are prone to fire and explosion. The driving range depends entirely on the batteries. Moreover, the charging time is slow. Although many experts boast of inventing a technology that can fully charge a car in a few minutes, they never mention how terrible the charging current is at this time, whether there are cables that thick enough, and whether the electricity of the entire community can be supplied to charge such a car.

Therefore, the Japanese have to take the hydrogen energy route. In their eyes, hydrogen energy is the ultimate route. The only product of this thing is water, which is the most environmentally friendly. However, the Japanese will never mention where the hydrogen comes from, and how to add hydrogen to the car. As the lightest gas, what if it leaks? This is much more dangerous than natural gas.

If a hydrogen refueling station explodes, it will have a major impact on almost the entire street nearby.

In short, both routes are not very good, and Qin Tao's decision to invent the electric car was just a natural thing to do at the time.

"At present, Golden Sun Electric Vehicle Company has begun to test wireless power supply technology." Max said: "In the future, when our nuclear fusion reactor is developed and mature, energy supply will be very cheap. In the future, wireless power supply networks can be laid on roads. When the car is driving, it can directly use the power of the wireless power supply network. It only needs to carry a small battery to provide short-term use in places without power supply networks."

Trains are also electric vehicles, so why don’t people criticize them? Of course, it’s because the electricity used by trains is provided by overhead wires, and the trains themselves don’t have batteries.

Of course, electric cars can also remove batteries and simply draw electricity from the road. This method is the most mature electric car solution.

Of course, the efficiency of wireless power supply is very low. The power supply method with two coils facing each other demonstrated in the laboratory has an efficiency of only 75%. When applied in practice, the power supply efficiency will not exceed 15%.

Large amounts of energy loss are unacceptable unless the energy supply can be supplied at an extremely low price so that it can be wasted at will, which only nuclear fusion can do.

Therefore, Golden Sun Electric Vehicles started to conduct relevant experiments and will also register a large number of patented technologies. In the field of gasoline vehicles, many car companies that developed first registered many patents and then slept on them. Now, in the field of electric vehicles, the technology is ours.

Qin Tao is also full of expectations when thinking about the future scene of electric vehicles.

"Report, someone from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived."

"Let's go and welcome them." A leader said.

"Let them in. We don't have time to greet them," Krasnopolsky said. "We didn't invite them here."

Krasnopolsky is very active in China and often attends various activities. However, he is very cautious and never goes abroad or participates in any international cooperation projects. In his eyes, Eastern technology is the most advanced and he does not need to look for cooperation with others. If others have needs, they will come to him.

"That's right, let them in." Qin Tao also spoke.

Charlesman walked in with his men and first saw Krasnopolsky. He immediately greeted him: "Hey, man, I heard that your nuclear fusion project is progressing smoothly and is about to be ignited. On behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency, congratulations to you!"

"Anything else besides congratulations?"

"Also, with the United States taking the lead, other countries will actively respond and jointly launch an international cooperation plan to promote the development of nuclear fusion. This will enable nuclear fusion to reach commercialization as soon as possible, so that the world can use clean energy, and humans will be able to cope with the worsening climate crisis." Charles continued, "Your nuclear fusion technology is developing very fast. If you can join this plan, you will definitely be able to make nuclear fusion practical more quickly."

"We are not interested." Qin Tao refused directly: "Our Mingzhou Group's technology is already the most advanced in the world. We don't want our technology to be plagiarized by others."

"No, Mr. Qin, this is for the common dream of mankind."

"I know that we humans only have one Earth, so we have invested heavily in the development of nuclear fusion technology and built an artificial sun here. We will definitely be the first to complete the development and benefit all of humanity. As for the plan led by the Americans? Not only will we not participate, we will also introduce relevant regulations to prevent our advanced technology from being plagiarized by some rogue countries."

"That's right, we must prevent our high-tech from leaking out," Krasnopolsky also said.

Charlemagne's face turned pale.

"Excuse me, what are you doing here? If you are here to participate in our lighting ceremony, you are more than welcome to come. If you are not interested in this, forget it."

"Of course we will participate. This is our daily work at the International Atomic Energy Agency."

"Okay, let's get started. Pay attention, get ready to start the equipment now!"

Various noises were heard, and even the lights above our heads dimmed slightly.

"The interior of our experimental device is also in a vacuum state, so we need to evacuate the vacuum. At the same time, our laser device needs to store energy in advance." Krasnopolsky introduced: "Many of these systems were developed with the help of Golden Sun Motor Company. For example, the energy storage device uses supercapacitor technology..."

Krasnopolsky seemed very relaxed, as if he had everything planned out, but his slightly clenched hands still represented his inner excitement at the moment.

In the early 1950s, the Russians invented the tokamak device, which used magnetic fields to confine plasma and conduct nuclear fusion experiments. Since then, almost all nuclear fusion devices in the world are variations of the tokamak device.

However, Krasnopolsky felt that although the tokamak device could carry out nuclear fusion, it also had many flaws, especially it constrained the thinking of many scientists, who only thought about how to improve the tokamak but did not want to find other ways.

The tokamak device is likely to be a dead end. The truly commercial nuclear fusion reactor in the future should probably be one that uses laser confinement!

Of course, using lasers to produce nuclear fusion was not Krasnopolsky's idea. As early as the 1964s, various nuclear physics experts had noticed it. Wang Ganchang, a famous physicist in China, proposed the idea of ​​laser nuclear fusion in , which was among the first in the world.

In the 1970s, Dongfang also used a laser to drive a polydeuterium ethylene target and successfully produced a nuclear reaction. Yu, who successfully developed the hydrogen bomb, also proposed the idea of ​​using a heavy metal shell to surround the cavity, and then shooting the laser into it to achieve laser nuclear fusion by driving it with X-ray radiation. In the 1980s, Dongfang also developed a laser nuclear fusion experimental device called "Shen Guang".

However, these are all experimental devices. What they want to verify is that nuclear fusion can occur. What Krasnopolsky and others need to do is to make the output power greater than the input power, so that nuclear fusion can truly enter the commercial field!
Now, the experiment is about to begin!

At this moment, everyone held their breath and looked at the huge display screen outside with anticipation. Various data were displayed on it, and there was a simulated composite image in the center, showing the scene inside.

"Each laser beam has an output power of 192 kilowatts, and there are a total of laser devices inside." Max said on the side: "This means that every time it starts, it will have a power demand of megawatts. If there is no energy storage device, it means that a power station is needed to supply it."

"In this case, it has to output more than 700 megawatts of power to meet the requirement that the input is greater than the output." Qin Tao also became interested: "Does our fusion device have such a high power output?"

"Of course not." Max said: "The laser is not continuously working, it is only used for ignition." Max continued to introduce.

The most difficult part of nuclear fusion is how to make the atomic nuclei overcome repulsion and come into contact with each other. The laser ignition method is to irradiate the target evenly from all directions. Under the strong energy input, the outside of the target pellet is ablated to form a high-temperature and high-pressure plasma. Under the pressure generated by the recoil of these gases, the target pellet will collapse rapidly and be compressed to an ultra-high density of several hundred grams per cubic centimeter. In this way, the local area will meet the ignition conditions and then all the nuclear fuel will burn.

"Ignite? Does that mean the time is very short? One second?"

"Not even a nanosecond, it's at the picosecond level." Max is obviously familiar with these technologies.

As long as the laser is irradiated to cause the target capsule to undergo a nuclear fusion reaction, there is nothing else to worry about. The energy generated by the nuclear fusion reaction will cause other nuclear materials inside the target capsule to react as well, which can continue burning for several seconds, making the output energy far greater than the input energy.

Although the input power is high, it is calculated in picoseconds. Even if the output power is not high, since it is calculated in seconds, sufficient energy output can be obtained.

You can't calculate the power, you have to calculate the work done.

"In this case, the coordination and synchronization of these lasers, as well as their aiming at a capsule with a diameter of two millimeters, requires sufficiently advanced control technology, right?"

"Yes, this technology is the key. Fortunately, we have advanced computer systems..." Max was interrupted by a voice.

“The preparations are ready!”

"Put in the target ball!"

"Attention, prepare to activate the laser and illuminate the target pellet together!"

At this moment, a gorgeous scene appeared on the screen, and in an instant, it was as if firecrackers exploded.

"Neutron detected!"

The appearance of neutrons means that a nuclear reaction has occurred! After all, only heavy nuclei can spontaneously emit neutrons, which is called decay. Some of them have a half-life of millions of years, so they will continue to affect the surrounding environment, while light nuclei will not.

The emission of neutrons from light nuclei can only be caused by light nuclear fusion, with excess neutrons released!

Success! At least the ignition was successful!
At this moment, cheers broke out in the entire control room. The device had just been built, and it successfully ignited nuclear fusion during the first trial run. It was so exciting!
Krasnopolsky did not cheer along. His eyes were fixed on the screen where various numbers were jumping. Fortunately, the Loongson computer had powerful performance and the data came out half a minute later.

"The input energy is 2.05 megajoules and the output energy is 3.15 megajoules. Our nuclear fusion experiment has obtained positive energy!"

Only when the output energy is greater than the input energy does it mean that nuclear fusion has commercial prospects. After reaching this conclusion, Krasnopolsky finally cheered.

"Great, great!" Krasnopolsky said excitedly, "I knew that the tokamak device was unreliable. Laser fusion is the future!"

"Congratulations, this is the world's first positive energy nuclear fusion experiment!" Charles said, "On behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency, I congratulate you. You have opened up a new era of nuclear fusion!"

Although he was unwelcome, Charlemagne still did not forget his identity.

Qin Tao was still a little curious. He didn't dare to ask others, so he could only continue to communicate with Max.

"I'm curious, it's just such a small capsule, but the reaction can't continue!"

192 high-energy laser beams bombarded a target pellet with a diameter of only 2 mm, successfully achieving nuclear fusion. But how can it be used commercially?
The target pellet cannot be made too big, otherwise it will become a hydrogen bomb. However, the reaction will not be able to continue.

“It’s just like an internal combustion engine,” Max said. “It does work intermittently.”

This tiny capsule can be continuously sent into these three football field-sized machines to be irradiated by lasers. Each capsule reacts in turn, just like an internal combustion engine. Among the four strokes, only the power stroke outputs power. The rest of the time consumes energy, but it can still output power.

This laser nuclear fusion device continuously loads capsules and ignites them with lasers, so that energy can be output in the form of pulses.

"Oh, so that's how it is. What happens next? How do we output the energy?"

The energy output of nuclear fission is in the form of heat, which heats the water and takes the energy out. What about nuclear fusion? The inside must be evacuated, so how can the energy be output?

"I don't know about that either. I'll consider it later. Let's first solve the ignition, positive energy, and sustained reaction of nuclear fusion."

(End of this chapter)