Homo sapiens.

the other side.

Du Hai was thinking about how to quickly produce cobalt-60.

If cobalt 60 is to be used as a raw material for nuclear batteries, it must not be produced by nuclear explosions, and other solutions can only be used.

Although as a raw material for nuclear batteries, cobalt-60 has a half-life of only 5.27 years, which does not meet the requirements for long-term use of nuclear batteries.

But it can't stand its high thermoelectric efficiency and better energy density.

Moreover, after cobalt 60 decays, it will become highly stable nickel 60. Nickel 60 is a non-radioactive element, which is convenient for the disposal of nuclear batteries.

In the field of outer space, perhaps cobalt-60 nuclear batteries are not suitable.

But in the interior of the earth, cobalt-60 nuclear batteries are promising, and some special fields need to use self-sustaining energy systems.

For example, if the heavy-duty exoskeleton armor can be equipped with a ten-kilogram cobalt-60 nuclear battery (containing five kilograms of cobalt 60), the power generation can reach 93.8 kilowatts.

The lightweight exoskeleton currently in use usually needs to be equipped with a bulky ternary compound battery, which causes a part of the power of the exoskeleton to be wasted on supporting the 20 kg battery.

If a cobalt 60 nuclear battery is used, it can be compressed to the level of 2 kg.

However, Du Hai also knows that due to the high risk of cobalt 60, the company will most likely not launch a civilian version casually, and equip a batch for new humans at most.

After all, there are uncertainties in natural workers. If someone goes crazy and directly takes out the cobalt-60 in the nuclear battery and releases it in the city, it will definitely be a disaster.

On the contrary, a comprehensive new humanized security team may consider equipping a batch of nuclear batteries.

After thinking for a long time, he contacted his colleagues at the Nuclear Power Research Institute and asked them to cooperate with the 1377 laboratory to realize the practical application of cobalt-60 nuclear batteries as soon as possible.

As for the gamma ray generator mechanism, can it be applied to other nuclear power plants.

After discussions between Du Hai and Dr. Levi's, it can be used as an auxiliary power generation system, but it is basically impossible to use it as the main power generation system.

This is related to the current principle of nuclear power generation. Whether it is nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, the main energy is contained in the released thermal neutrons, not in optical radiation.

Therefore, the main force of nuclear power is still to boil water.

However, the ground furnace nuclear fusion reactor can use a gamma ray power generation system. After all, the ground furnace nuclear fusion reactor is essentially to detonate a miniature hydrogen bomb, which will produce a large amount of gamma rays.

The previous molten salt power generation system can only absorb part of the light radiation, and the absorption rate of gamma rays is very low. It can only be resisted by the lead plate composite layer, and this part of the energy is wasted.

half a month later.

In the 1377 laboratory of the Nuclear Power Research Institute, 6 test groups conducted a total of 32 control experiments.

Through these experiments, we have basically figured out some conditions of the gamma ray generator system, including the best gas to use, the best compression ratio, the best gas flow rate, the thickness of the gas and the metal plate, and so on.

At the same time, another laboratory designed a cobalt-60 nuclear battery system based on these data.

After all, this is something with super radioactivity, and it is very troublesome to design. Although most of the gamma rays are absorbed through the air resonance frequency, about 0.21% of the gamma rays will still penetrate the gas layer.

Therefore, it is necessary to set a composite lead plate with a suitable thickness and a protective shell with sufficient strength, while taking into account miniaturization and power generation.

A group of researchers and engineers are almost bald in the face of these requirements.

Du Hai couldn't stay on Diego Garcia Island any longer. Now that he wanted to return, he wanted to go back and study nuclear batteries.

But before he could make a report, the base chief, Le Gong, came over with several executives from the External Security Department.

Du Hai was dragged to another meeting.

He was at a loss as to the purpose of the External Security Division. After all, the main research team for the cobalt bomb was with Dr. Levi's, so what did it have to do with his nuclear power research institute?

Chapter 381 Conception and Discussion

Le Gong introduced to everyone: "This is Peng Te from the External Security Department, responsible for the work of weapons and equipment."

Reeves and Pent apparently knew each other.

He smiled and asked, "Pent, are you satisfied with the cobalt bomb?"

"Very satisfied, but the power is too great. Even the experiment can only be done in a closed underground facility, and it is basically impossible to apply it to actual combat." Ponte was both happy and helpless.

Levi shook his head: "I also hope that I will never use this kind of thing."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Ponte quickly changed the subject: "Let me tell you the purpose of coming this time. First, on behalf of Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my congratulations on your achievements; second..."

"It's for gamma ray power generation."

Du Hai asked at a loss: "Didn't our Institute of Nuclear Power submit a research and development project for an ultra-small power core? This should be the best application of this technology at present, right?"

"No!" Ponte waved his index finger: "After our assessment, we believe that gamma rays have the potential to be further weaponized. The purpose of coming here today is to discuss with professionals whether it can be realized."

After finishing speaking, he sent out the weapon plan envisaged by the weaponry department to everyone.

Levi's, Du Hai and others hurriedly browsed carefully.

The ticking clock ticked slowly.

"Gamma ray satellite battery?" Du Hai put down the tablet, rubbed his temples and thought.

On the contrary, because Levi's has been engaged in the research and development of nuclear weapons, he quickly thought of some ideas: "Gamma rays deplete very slowly in the sub-vacuum environment of outer space. If they can be placed in low-earth orbit, they can indeed strike targets in the atmosphere. .”

But Du Hai has a different opinion: "Doctor, the atmosphere's weakening of gamma rays is too strong, and our artificial gamma rays can't reach the level of gamma ray bursts at all."

"Dr. Du, you overlooked another possibility." Levi said with a smile.

Du Hai's eyeballs rolled, thinking quickly about what he had overlooked.

Penter reminded, "It's lightning."

lightning! ?Du Hai's eyes widened: "You want to use gamma rays to artificially create lightning in the atmosphere? Is this feasible?"

Levi's squinted his eyes: "It should be possible. First of all, the resonant frequencies of gamma rays are different between the various layers of the atmosphere. Among them, the troposphere and the ozone layer are the strongest, while the stratosphere is average. The thermosphere has basically no weakening effect due to the thin air. .”

Then he called up the holographic projection and projected the situation of the earth's atmosphere.

"Above 5.5 meters, you can directly use gamma rays to attack the target, and below 5.5 meters, you can use gamma rays to stimulate dense lightning and attack targets in a large area."

Peng Te nodded: "This is the plan of our Weapons and Equipment Department. In addition, can the stratosphere use gamma rays of a specific frequency to enhance its resonance excitation effect?"

Du Hai was stunned for a moment, and quickly calculated in his mind for a while: "There should be no problem. The stability of the stratosphere is higher than that of the troposphere. It is relatively easy to find out its resonance frequency."

Others also raised some questions one after another.

For example, planes and missiles can be equipped with Faraday cages to protect against lightning storms.

Their solution to this is to lower the direct attack range of gamma rays, and use gamma ray frequencies that do not resonate with the stratosphere and the ozone layer to directly attack aircraft in this range.

As for defense against gamma rays.

It's not that it can't be done, but it's not allowed by the aircraft. You must know that gamma rays can not only kill the pilot, but also cause serious damage to the electronic components inside the aircraft.

Can't the whole plane or missile be wrapped with heavy lead plates?The consequence of doing this is that the dead weight of the aircraft will become extremely large.

This is why the External Security Division is trying to develop gamma-ray weapons.

Because gamma ray cannons can intercept hypersonic missiles, as long as hypersonic missiles enter the high altitude area, gamma rays can accurately clear these missiles unimpeded.

As for the aircraft in the troposphere, using gamma rays to stimulate lightning storms is actually a helpless choice.

After all, gamma rays are too terrifying. If a frequency that can penetrate the troposphere is used, it may harm innocent people and directly wipe out the creatures on the ground.

Although the External Security Division will definitely study various corresponding frequencies, and will inevitably use gamma rays to clear ground targets when forced, but it can only be used as a trump card.

What's more, based on supercomputer simulation calculations, they found that as long as the gamma rays are dense enough, under the condition of high resonance, dense lightning storms can be formed in local areas, even reaching the level close to plasma.

In this level of lightning storm, even if a Faraday cage is installed, the aircraft cannot 100% avoid electric shocks.

But Du Hai calculated the data, and a wry smile appeared on his face involuntarily:

"To generate an ultra-dense lightning storm, at least 3 tons of cobalt-60 is needed as a radioactive source. This weight plus supporting facilities requires at least 500 tons. Now our launch vehicle can't carry 500 tons at one time, right?"

Levi shook his head: "Dr. Du, in fact, the tropospheric lightning storm device can be installed on the ground. There is no need to mount satellites. Satellites can focus on high-altitude strikes and interceptions."

"That's true." Du Hai knew that he was preconceived.

Ponte's eyes lit up: "If the entire device weighs 500 tons, that part of the warship can also be used."

"Uh... the 500 tons is just my rough estimate. There are still many details that need to be paid attention to. I can't guarantee whether the final product will exceed the standard." Du Hai quickly added.

But Pente didn't pay much attention to it: "The fixed turrets on the ground don't need to care too much about the weight, and warships of the 10-ton class also have a relatively high tolerance for equipment weight."

Levi's thought for a while: "Considering that the gamma ray energy of cobalt 60 is continuously released, I think it is necessary to integrate the gamma ray power generation system, which can generate electricity when it is not in use, and use it as a weapon in wartime."

"It makes sense." Ponte quickly recorded it.

"But there is still a problem, how to solve the service life of cobalt-60?" Du Hai reminded.

Regarding this point, everyone also fell into deep thought.

Cobalt-60 has a half-life of only 5.27 years, which is really a big problem.

The so-called half-life period does not mean that cobalt-60 has been decaying continuously during this period, but that it will suddenly decay at a certain moment within the half-life period, which is full of randomness.

Once the cobalt 60 has finished decaying, it will become a stable nickel 60, which no longer emits gamma rays and beta rays.

This means that a cobalt-60 nuclear battery, its power generation will drop a little bit over time.

Du Hai himself proposed two solutions: "There are only two ways. One is to overcharge the fuel to ensure that it can still meet the weapon standard within four years, and the other is to mix the core."

"Mixed core? How to operate?" Ponte asked quickly.

Du Hai explained: "Use excess charge, then design the radioactive source into a number of fuel rods, wait until the middle of 2.6 years, start replacing brand new fuel rods, just calculate the half-life, cobalt 60 production date, and set the replacement frequency , the power generation and radiation power can be stabilized within a certain range.”

Burnt was a little helpless: "This solution is only suitable for use inside the earth. It seems that gamma-ray satellites in outer space can only use excess charge."

After several days of discussions, the External Security Department finally made up its mind to prepare to develop gamma-ray turrets and gamma-ray satellites.

The half-life of cobalt 60 is relatively short, and there are not many problems in using it on ground turrets and warships.

As for the radioactive source of gamma-ray satellites, radioactive isotopes that can replace cobalt-60 can only be found among radioactive isotopes.

Fortunately, there are quite a lot of radioactive isotopes that can release gamma rays. At present, there are thousands of isotopes discovered by humans, and there is always a suitable one.

Chapter 382 Valuable Market Resources

The changes within the Sapiens company did not attract the attention of the outside world.

This is due to the closed economic operation mode within the company and the strong internal secrecy capabilities.

The time has come to June 2023, 5.

Li Qingye, who has temporarily lived in Bandon Island of the Luzon branch for more than half a year, took the time to read the company's internal briefing for the first quarter while studying genetic technology.

From the perspective of various hard indicators.

Homo Sapiens Q[-].

工业事业部下属的各个子公司，在基础原材料领域，一共生产了2.7亿吨钢铁、3227万吨电解铝、241万吨精铜、4.2亿吨水泥、1442万吨玻璃、3257万吨塑料（抗真菌版本）、736亿立方米甲烷、1.43亿吨石油、发电量5.36万亿千瓦时……

而在成品领域，则生产了船舶2736万载重吨、汽车2113万辆、飞机3725架、手机5736万台、笔记本电脑2736万台、台式电脑1355万台、平板电脑2968万台、医疗设备73万台、工程设备167万台、工作型外骨骼7523万套……

Li Qingye was not surprised by this, after all, the total number of employees of Homo sapiens is rapidly approaching the 10 billion mark.

According to the statistics of the company's personnel department.

At present, Homo sapiens has 6.7 million employees in its Southeast Asian headquarters (including Assam branch and Ceylon branch).

After the Dongba branch has been adjusted and some natural employees have been relocated, there are still 1.28 million natural employees.

There are 3400 million employees in Mada Island Branch, Moon Country Branch, Seven Sisters Island Branch, and Male Island Branch.

The Suez branch employs 1.21 million people.

The newly added Western Pacific branch has 2100 million employees.

The total number of employees reached 9.74 million.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of migrant workers reached a new high, with a total of 2763 million migrant workers added.

Among them, the largest source of migrant workers is Tianzhu, followed by the Far East, Annan, Dongying, Xiba, South Korea, and a number of small East African countries.

Li Qingye raised his head: "Bagheira, why did the number of migrant workers in the Far East decrease? I remember that there were 876 million in the fourth quarter of last year. Why did they drop by more than 100 million this year?"

Bagheera, who was in charge of the internal affairs department, quickly replied:

"Sir, because the Far East has recently improved a lot of benefits, and the fungal crisis has triggered the replacement of plastic products, their factory operating rates have been stretched to full capacity."

Li Qingye frowned: "I see, it seems that the pressure we put on them is forcing them to make changes."

Based on the data from the Internal Affairs Department and the Field Operations Department, Bagheera can see very clearly:

"Yes, but according to our assessment, this is nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst. Because of the deterioration of the foreign trade environment, internal consumption is limited after all, and many of their resources cannot be self-sufficient. The problem is only temporarily covered up."