Into Unscientific

  In the factory building.

   Hearing Wang Jiefu's words.

   Qian Gaoyun, Yang Chengzong and others beside him also nodded quickly, with expressions of approval on their faces.

   After all, they gathered here today not to simply make small talk, but to have a special and important task.

   Then Yang Chengzong recruited his assistant, Ma Tong, and asked him to take Qian Gaoyun and the others to the dressing room in the corner to put on special protective clothing.

Of course.

  The protective clothing of these days is said to be "protective", but neither the effect nor the appearance is comparable to the radiation protective clothing of later generations.

  Actually, let alone radiation protective clothing, the "Dabai" of later generations of hospitals are better than those worn by Yang Chengzong and others.

  The protective clothing these days is actually a blue jumpsuit with a zipper at the back of the body, which looks like Super Mario.

  The mask is made of ordinary transparent plastic, and after entering the place, wearing a mask on the mouth will complete the standard procedure.

   As for radiation protection performance

   Let's put it this way.

  This suit has a fabric blended with mulberry silk and silver fiber added to the chest area, and then coated with a layer of barium sulfate.

Then

   is gone.

   That’s right, gone.

  And the area covered by the fabric is very narrow, but if there is a little fatty liver, it is estimated that it is beyond the protection area.

  So the radiation protection performance of this kind of protective clothing is basically equal to nothing, it is only a little better than psychological comfort, and it is absolutely impossible to expect it to save lives.

   Actually.

  It is not clothing or sensor equipment that really plays a warning role in the whole scene, but

  A birdcage.

   There is a sparrow in the birdcage, and there are always people on duty to observe its situation.

  Once there is a problem with the sparrows in the cage, it means that the gas toxicity has exceeded a certain limit and must be evacuated urgently.

no way.

  The level of technology in the era is like this.

ten minutes later.

   After changing their clothes, Qian Gaoyun and the others returned to Yang Chengzong's side.

  The current season is still in summer, and it is the hottest summer in early August.

  In addition, the factory building is already extremely stuffy.

  So when Qian Gaoyun walked to Yang Chengzong's side, many areas of his protective clothing were already stuck to his body with sweat.

  However, Qian Gaoyun didn't care about the situation at all. He raised his eyes and scanned the situation behind the glass, and asked Yang Chengzong:

   "Comrade Chengzong, how is the equipment debugging going?"

  Yang Chengzong raised a palm-sized display screen connected to a certain device in his hand, and said:

   "73% of the original has been injected, and it will take about 10 minutes before the injection is completed, and the slowest will not exceed 15 minutes."

  Qian Gaoyun nodded slightly.

   Well known.

  Atom bombs can use two types of explosives, uranium-235 and plutonium-239.

   Among them, uranium 235 is more difficult, but its effect and cost performance are higher than that of plutonium 239, and it is not even a little bit higher.

  Everyone in future generations must know that the first atomic bomb of the rabbits used uranium 235.

   But actually.

  During the entire research process of the atomic bomb, the rabbits were not as decisive in the selection of raw materials as many people thought.

  Even after the project started, there were some voices who thought that an emergency diversion could be considered to use plutonium 239 to make atomic bombs.

  If you use a ratio to divide.

Up to now.

  The rabbits have about 80% of their resources and determination for the research and development of the uranium bomb, and the remaining 20% ​​are used as a backup to prepare the plutonium bomb.

   For example in February last year.

  The rabbits broke ground in Qilian Mountains to build the first graphite-moderated light-water plutonium production reactor in China, code-named 02-B.

   However, due to successive breakthroughs in the research and development of uranium bombs, the project did not officially begin to provide raw materials until the thermonuclear device experiment eight years later.

Of course.

   That was a long, long time later.

  In this period, the rabbits are still a little uncertain about the future.

  One of the very important reasons is that

   Extracting enriched uranium is too difficult. (Note: I wasn’t sure if I could write about this before, so I didn’t mention it, but I made a report with the original unit and was told that it was declassified in 2007, so I can write it out. Of course, I will blur some sensitive principles or even fabricate the data. Imitation at home is not recommended)

   Mentioned earlier.

  Natural uranium ore contains only 0.7% uranium 235, while the nuclear fuel of the atomic bomb requires the enrichment of uranium 235 to be over 90%.

   Therefore, if you want to develop an atomic bomb, you must increase the enrichment of uranium 235.

  The most representative and systematic concentration method in this era is called the gas diffusion method.

  Its principle is very simple:

  When the gas mixture to be separated passes through a device equipped with a diffusion membrane, lighter molecules have more chances to collide with the diffusion membrane than heavier molecules, so that a certain degree of separation can be achieved.

  But the problem is

  The difference in mass between uranium-235 and uranium-238 is very small, and it is too difficult to separate.

   Even under ideal circumstances.

  After one diffusion, the concentration is only increased by 4/1000, and the actual effect is even lower than this value.

   Therefore, to obtain nuclear fuel with a uranium-235 enrichment of more than 90%, at least a few thousand levels of diffusion process are required.

   Other than that.

  There is still one core technology that needs to be broken through in the entire diffusion process, and it is.

  Manufacture of porous diffusion separation membrane.

  This kind of separation membrane is made of metal resistant to corrosion by UF6, and there are countless micropores on it to allow airflow to pass through, which requires uniformity and density.

Up to now.

  Internationally, there are only three companies that have mastered this technology, Maoxiong and John Bull, among which John Bull still hugs the thigh of Duopian.

  In order to solve this technical barrier.

  One year ago in May,

  Rabbit from the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences set up a team with Qian Gaoyun as the leader and code-named "Vacuum Valve" to start research on diffusion separation membranes.

  This kind of diffusion separation membrane is divided into Type A and Type B according to the type.

  Type A is tubular, and Type B is sheet.

  The separation efficiency and production cost of the former are much higher than the latter, but the manufacturing process of the two is very similar.

   That is, after mastering the production of Type B, it is basically only a matter of time before the breakthrough of Type A separation membrane.

  So the rabbits made a decision when the "vacuum valve" team was formed:

   Conquer Type B first, then Type A.

   By the way.

Qian Gaoyun and the others took samples of type B that were left behind by the Mao Xiong expert before he left, and the rest of the research equipment was also left behind before Mao Xiong left—not because of their good intentions, but because the rabbit had already paid for it. money

   Not long ago.

  Institute 615 under the Atomic Energy Research Office made a breakthrough in powder preparation and casting solution.

   A few days later.

  The separation membrane element responsible by Yang Chengzong and others has also made progress.

  Therefore, Qian Gaoyun immediately took Pei Lisheng and others to Factory 504 to prepare for the operation test and acceptance of Type B samples.

  If the sample is verified.

  Then the barriers of the rabbits in terms of raw materials will be broken by more than half, exaggeratedly speaking, it can even be said to be flat, just wait for the theoretical breakthrough of the 221 factory.

   Right now.

  On the side of the glass.

  Yang Chengzong still squinted one eye, pointed to the equipment inside the glass, and introduced:

   "Director Qian, in order to ensure that this experiment is accurate enough, we will also activate the only imported gas diffuser in the factory during the process."

   "This time its dual-mode compressor and cooler will be turned on. There are a total of 1,100 supporting centrifuges. As for the total number of Type B samples is about 4,000, the total cost exceeds 50,000 yuan."

   "With the combination of several modules, a relatively standard uranium enrichment process can roughly be simulated."

   "As for the outside world, we announced that we will carry out an oil refinery. The comrades in Jincheng have already coordinated the relevant power resources, and there will be no major problems in terms of safety."

  Qian Gaoyun touched his chin, inspected the equipment inside the glass again, and asked:

   "Comrade Chengzong, can the precision of the separation membrane element be guaranteed to meet the standard?"

"sure."

  Yang Chengzong turned his head when he heard the words, looked at Qian Gaoyun with his left eye, and said with a smile:

   "Director Qian, we have deciphered the set of digitizer equipment left by the bear man, and the precision and structure of the exchange membrane produced are the same as those of the bear."

   "However, although Mao Xiong's things are solid, the details are still not good enough."

   "For example, the feeder often shows low light, but the final digital display device is normal."

  Qian Gaoyun nodded in satisfaction.

   This acceptance test is a four-department linkage of the Second Ministry of Machinery, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Powder Research Office of the Iron and Steel Research Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy, and the New Materials Research Office of the Central South Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The investment in both manpower, material and financial resources is very high.

  After all, in addition to 4000 samples, the loss of power and equipment is not a small amount.

  Because the theoretical separation coefficient between uranium 235 and 238 is about 1.0043, but in fact it is only about 1.003.

   To separate uranium-235, it is necessary to connect a large number of diffusion separators in series to increase the enrichment degree of uranium step by step.

   Such as this experiment.

  Yang Chengzong and others used more than 1,100 small separators to assist Maoxiong's main gas diffuser, and the coverage area also includes more than ten external workshops.

  The total investment in electricity and equipment is about 100,000 yuan, and the cost of samples is more than 150,000 Huaxia coins!

   This amount of funds is the number squeezed out by the higher authorities or the entire country, and it cannot be lost anyway.

ten minutes later.

  Didididi—

  A reminder came from the display screen in Yang Chengzong's hand—this means that the injection of uranium nitrate concentrate has been completed.

  The next step is to carry out multiple rounds of reactions with uranium nitrate, and finally generate uranium hexafluoride gas and send it to the centrifuge.

  The lighter uranium 235 isotope is separated from the heavier uranium 238 isotope under the state of high-speed selection through diffusion separation membrane and other equipment.

   So as to achieve the purpose of "concentration".

  Before Qian Gaoyun arrived at the factory, Yang Chengzong and others began to make project preparations, and many links had already been prepared.

  So after the injection of uranium nitrate was completed, they immediately started the experiment.

  Boom boom boom—

   With access to electricity.

  The production line quickly began to operate.

  When later generations mentioned the enrichment of uranium for the first atomic bomb, they would often add some black and white images such as the staff holding a large spoon to scoop up the liquid to reflect the harsh conditions at that time.

But in fact.

  Many of these photos are from the time when the whole people were looking for uranium mines, which belong to the real rural-level purification.

  What about the actual gas exchanger?

   It is a bit similar to the water towers of later generations, black and thick, long and hard.

  Its entrance is at the top of the equipment, and there are magnetic centering mechanism, rotating container, vertical thrust bearing and so on from top to bottom.

  The rest of the devices are similar.

   That is to say, the style of painting may be relatively primitive, but it is far from being so 'handmade'.

soon.

  Uranium nitrate first reacted with ammonia in the first mixer-like device to produce ammonium diuranate.

   Immediately after.

  Another operator starts to add hydrogen, and a new substance is obtained through the reduction reaction:

  Uranium dioxide.

   is also known as yellow cake as the saying goes.

at the same time.

  A female employee next to Yang Chengzong looked at the indicator and quickly reported a number:

   "Report, the concentration of yellow cake has reached 25%!"

  Yang Chengzong nodded and gave the next step instructions:

   "Very well, let's introduce hydrofluoric acid."

"yes!"

   After half a minute.

  Uranium dioxide reacts with hydrofluoric acid to form uranium tetrafluoride, which in turn oxidizes with fluorine.

   eventually yields

  Ultra-high purity UF6 gas.

   That is.

  Core material for uranium enrichment.

  The reason why uranium hexafluoride was chosen as the material for uranium enrichment is mainly because fluorine is very interesting.

  Fluorine has only one nuclide in nature, which is F19, and its abundance is close to 100%.

  Its isotope F18 has a half-life of only about 100 minutes, so the relative molecular mass differences of various uranium hexafluoride molecules can be completely attributed to the relative atomic mass differences of various uranium nuclides.

   At the same time, what is more interesting is that the triple point of uranium hexafluoride is 64°C, and the pressure is slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure, so it is easy to gasify.

  So whether it is a centrifuge or a gas diffusion method, I like to use it.

   Then soon.

  Uranium hexafluoride gas enters the inner cavity from the upper end of the gas exchanger, and the parallel centrifuges start to rotate at a speed of 404 in this book.

  UF6 gases that contain more U235 are lighter, so they are pushed through the membrane more quickly to the point of "enrichment".

   And to this step.

   It is the moment when the Class B porous diffusion separation membrane begins to show its own existence.

  See this scenario.

  Yang Chengzong and Qian Gaoyun turned their eyes to a display screen in the house at the same time.

   This is also the only digital display screen over 15 inches in the house. Or in 504 factory.

   Follow normal conditions.

   At this time, the digital display screen should display a minimum 41.4% and a maximum 52.6% uranium 235 abundance, which is the purity.

  Generally.

  The enriched uranium used in civil nuclear power plants is 3%-5%, and the enriched uranium used for weapons grade is over 80%. The enrichment of practical nuclear bombs is generally over 90%.

  Although Yang Chengzong and the others invested a lot this time, no matter what, it was a simulation after all, and it was impossible to put all the centrifuges into it.

   Therefore, according to the project team's prior calculations, the uranium-235 abundance range should be between 41.4% and 52.6%.

  In an instant.

   Everyone in the room locked their eyes on the display screen at the same time.

  In the huge factory building, there are only a lot of equipment humming.

   The extraction of uranium 235 is indeed very difficult, but the whole process today, after all, starts with the key of uranium nitrate.

  So in theory, no matter how difficult the process is, there should be some numerical changes on the display screen.

  However, five minutes later, the abundance on the video screen is still

  0.95%.

   See this figure.

  Qian Gaoyun suddenly felt a bad premonition.

  However, considering that Wang Jiefu and Yang Chengzong put a lot of effort into today's experiment, adding five minutes of time really doesn't explain anything.

  So Qian Gaoyun continued to wait.

  Eight minutes.

  12 minutes

fifteen minutes

  When the time came to 20 minutes, the abundance value was impressively

  1.01%.

  “.”

  From ten minutes ago, there was only the panting of the crowd, and now, the factory building is as silent as a morgue.

   A moment later.

  Qian Gaoyun's ears suddenly sounded Yang Chengzong's shout without warning:

   "Stop!"

  Qian Gaoyun followed the trend.

  I saw this moment.

  Yang Chengzong's face had already been filled with an unhealthy blush, and the whole person lost his composure and growled at the operator of the power connector:

   "Zheng Lei, what are you doing in a daze, ah? Shutdown! I said shutdown! Shutdown, did you tmd hear that?!"

   Zheng Lei, who is in charge of the power connector, is a very young guy with a strong campus atmosphere. He seems to have just graduated.

   At this time, he seemed to be frightened by Yang Chengzong's roar, and he was stunned without any movement.

  See this scenario.

  Yang Chengzong wanted to rush over, but just as he made a move, he was grabbed by Qian Gaoyun:

   "Comrade Chengzong, please calm down!"

   Finished speaking.

  Qian Gaoyun quickly waved his palm twice at the young man next to the power connector, signaling him to turn off the power quickly—after all, if the power supply runs for a second longer, it is a waste of a lot of power.

  The young man came back to his senses and hurriedly shut down the power supply.

   Whoosh—

   Without the power support of the power supply, the equipment in the factory soon stopped roaring.

  Yang Chengzong stopped struggling after being pulled by Qian Gaoyun, and his chest heaved violently.

  At the same time, the direction of his only left eye with vision has also been changed from the power connector to the .

   Main gas diffuser inside glass.

no doubt.

  The display on the display screen is far lower than their previous calculation expectations, so the entire verification has failed.

   However, there was no problem in the preparation process from uranium nitrate to uranium hexafluoride before, so the abnormal link is obviously only left

   Located in the gas diffuser, the diffusion separation membrane developed by Yang Chengzong and others.

   Or to be precise.

   Only when there is a problem with the diffusion separation membrane, can this happen.

   Actually.

   Yang Chengzong is not alone in realizing this.

  After all, almost all of the people present today are practitioners in related fields. Even the factory manager Wang Jiefu has a high level of industrial literacy.

   So for a while.

  Everyone's mood became extremely heavy.

   This is more than a hundred thousand dollars.

  Even if the power supply is turned off in a relatively timely manner, the cost of nearly 100,000 yuan must not be lost after taking into account the consumed electricity and other material resources.

   More critically.

  The failure of the verification of the diffusion separation membrane will directly affect the progress of nuclear weapon research and development—and it is not the "progress" of the general concept.

   It is not an exaggeration to say.

  This failure may even trigger a secondary discussion between uranium 235 and plutonium 239, and even shake the allocation of certain resources!

  However, Qian Gaoyun is a person who has seen big scenes after all, and his rich experience made him maintain a certain degree of calm at this time.

  I saw that he first glanced at Yang Chengzong.

  Feeling that the other party will not make any more gaffes, he let go of his hand, and said to him solemnly:

   "Comrade Chengzong, have you calmed down? If you calm down, I have something to talk to you about."

  Yang Chengzong was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

  Seeing this, Qian Gaoyun couldn't help feeling a little relieved.

  He is most worried that Yang Chengzong is still self-enclosed at this time, so many subsequent things will be difficult to deal with.

   After all, Yang Chengzong is a top expert in the field of separation membranes. The combined ability of all the people present in the field of separation membranes may not be as good as that of Yang Chengzong alone.

   Then Qian Gaoyun took a deep breath and said seriously:

   "First of all, Comrade Chengzong, I will not comfort you by saying that this matter has nothing to do with you, and I will not replace the organization to say that you will not be held accountable."

   "But before assigning responsibilities, there is one more important thing, and that is to find out the reason for this verification failure."

"after all."

   Speaking of which.

  Qian Gaoyun's tone paused before continuing:

   "Don't you feel that this failure is too abnormal?"

  Hearing what Qian Gaoyun said, Yang Chengzong, who had kept his head down, was taken aback for a moment.

   After a while.

  His pupils shrank slightly, and his breathing rate accelerated a bit.

  Just now, all his energy was focused on the "result" of the failure of the experiment, so that he ignored another situation.

That is.

  The failure of this experiment is too complete, right?

To know.

  The higher-ups dared to spend such a large sum of money to do such a high-linkage experiment, obviously it was impossible to just listen to their own or other so-and-so's one-sided words.

  The higher-ups must have done a detailed sample and process analysis, and only organized this inspection when they felt that there was a certain success rate.

  Even if the level of enriched uranium does not reach the minimum of 41.4%, there should be more than 20%, more than 10% or even 78%.

  In any case, it is impossible to be as low as 1%.

   This is like a confrontation between two ancient armies with seemingly similar strengths. According to the pre-war analysis, A has a relatively high chance of winning, but the result is mostly a narrow victory.

   For example, self-damage 60% and wipe out the enemy army or something.

  Even if it is a relatively optimistic judgment, the self-injury is estimated to be 30% or 40%.

   As a result, when the two armies officially started fighting, Army A completely wiped out Army B at the cost of 1% of its own deaths.

   Then there is obviously a big problem in this battle.

  At least the conventional morale, formation and other reasons are difficult to explain, and it is almost the same if you have a Gundam.

  The current experiment is the same.

  After all, the type B diffusion membrane in the gas diffuser this time is not one piece or two, but more than 4,000 pieces.

  Even if half of them have problems, the final uranium enrichment value cannot be 1%.

unless

   All of the more than 4,000 Type B diffusion membranes were abnormal!

   "But it's impossible"

  Think here.

  Yang Chengzong couldn't help but frowned again, and said to Qian Gaoyun:

   "Director Qian, if it is said that more than 4,000 diffusion membranes cannot be used, then there must be something wrong with the configuration and anatomy."

   "But our type B diffusion film is a structure deciphered from Mao Xiong's digitizer equipment. Every time it is repressed to the digitizer, the final display panel will display normally."

   "Not to mention that we have compared with the sixteen pieces of old samples left by Mao Xiong, there is no such thing as anything!"

   Talking and talking.

  Yang Chengzong suddenly thought of something.

   I saw that I walked quickly to a certain drawer, and pulled out a hard film that looked like a memory stick of later generations.

   Then he took the film to another device similar to the Yuyue 5-liter oxygen generator, clamped the film to a groove, and began to study it on his own.

   Seeing this, Qian Gaoyun couldn't help but look at Wang Jiefu, brought the rest of the staff to Yang Chengzong's side, and asked him:

   "Comrade Chengzong, you are."

  Yang Chengzong's left eye was fixed on the digital board, his head remained motionless, and his right hand shook twice in the air, signaling not to disturb him.

  See this scenario.

   How could Qian Gaoyun not guess that Yang Chengzong had discovered some problems?

  So he also made a booing gesture to everyone, gently pulled Wang Jiefu aside, pointed at the device and asked in a low voice:

   "Director Wang, what kind of instrument is that?"

  Wang Jiefu glanced at the equipment in front of Yang Chengzong, and also explained in a low voice:

   "Director Qian, this is the metal digital device left by Expert Maoxiong. It is mainly used to detect the structure of the gas exchange membrane."

   "The entire device has entered various parameters of the diffusion membrane, and many of the micro-scale processes have exceeded our existing production capabilities, so it is the only one in China."

   "As long as the diffusion film sample is clamped on the groove, and through the analysis of several kinds of metal powders, the digitizer can show whether the diffusion film meets the requirements."

  The micro-scale mentioned by Wang Jiefu is actually nano-level technology, which actually exists in a large number in industry and nature.

  For example, in the double-slit interference experiment done by Everett in 1954, the slit is the standard nanoscale.

   It’s just that in this period, even the international community has not yet had a detailed understanding of this scale, so it can only be called by the concept of [micro-scale].

  After thinking about it, Qian Gaoyun asked Wang Jiefu:

   "Director Wang, didn't the furry bear expert bring back this equipment when he left?"

  Wang Jiefu shook his head and explained:

   "This is the equipment we bought with Mao Xiong—you heard me right, it's a purchase, not an aid."

   "So experts Mao Xiong naturally couldn't take it away, but they burned the operation manual when they left, and it took Lao Yang and the others more than half a year to decipher the whole device."

  Qian Gaoyun said thoughtfully:

"I see."

  He remembered that before the experiment, Yang Chengzong also talked about the digital device deciphering, and also mentioned that Mao Xiong's equipment often had some minor problems, obviously referring to this instrument.

  While Wang Jiefu and Qian Gaoyun were whispering.

  Some parameters are also displayed on the digitizer operated by Yang Chengzong:

   "11500GPD"

   "400ft"

   "Interval 28mil"

   After a while.

  Yang Chengzong frowned more and more:

   "It's still not a problem"

  Seeing this, Yang Chengzong couldn't help but put his left hand around his chest, pressed his right elbow against his palm, and pressed his fingers against his chin in a contemplative state:

   "Finally everything is normal, the metal powder and membrane liquid are fine, but the gas exchange membranes are all abnormal."

   Talking and talking.

   Out of the corner of Yang Chengzong's eye, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the faint green light on the metal digitizer.

  Suddenly.

  He suddenly thought of something, and stood there in a daze as if struck by lightning.

   "impossible impossible"

   After a while.

  Yang Chengzong turned his head mechanically, and glanced at Qian Gaoyun with a very penetrating gaze.

  I saw him striding aside without saying a word, and took back some blue powder and a glass of liquid with gloves.

   Then Yang Chengzong put the blue powder into the liquid and stirred it for a while, then took a small brush and wiped it on the outer layer of the hard film, and then put it on the metal digitizer.

   Just listen to a click.

  The device turns on again.

   More than a minute later.

  The digitizer restarted to display the data.

   But this time Yang Chengzong just took a few glances.

  The whole person jumped up on the spot, and shouted with tears in his eyes:

   "I #yourgrandpa! We've all been duped by those hairy bear experts!"

   "Those **** modified the digitizer, and the production parameters we deciphered are all wrong!"

Note:

  Thanks to the leader of the three big bosses, Yixiao, the strong sea monster, and Obeliska!

  9000 words are presented, please ask for a monthly pass during the double period! !