Chapter 419 Everything Is Ready, only East Wind Is Missing

In mid-June, Xu Chuan came to Luyang Science Island in person.

At present, the controllable nuclear fusion demonstration reactor project is advancing steadily and orderly. Both the Dawn Demonstration Reactor Project Site and the Dawn Research Institute are in full swing.

For Xu Chuan, there is only one problem left for him to solve.

That is, to systematically improve the last difficulty, lithium neutron tritium proliferation.

During the period when the Dawn fusion device needs to carry out various experiments, the only device in China that can bear the deuterium tritium ignition and conduct neutron irradiation experiments is the EAST device.

After nearly two months of transformation, the current EAST has been completely renewed.

The original niobium-titanium alloy external field coil superconducting material has been completely replaced with a high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite material produced by the Western Superconducting Group.

The control system has also been completely replaced with a plasma turbulence CNC model written by Xu Chuan.

Of course, due to the difference in equipment, the model must have been adjusted, and it is definitely impossible to achieve perfection in a short time.

In addition, compared with the Dawn fusion experimental reactor, the current EAST still lacks a first wall material.

Although the zirconium oxide carbon composite material has found a suitable manufacturer, the production volume cannot be increased for the time being due to factors such as production difficulty.

After the first wall of the Dawn Experimental Reactor is replaced as a whole, the first wall material needs to be provided for the demonstration reactor project in the future. EAST has no extra production to optimize.

But for the short-term control of EAST for deuterium-tritium fusion and lithium neutron tritium proliferation and recovery experiments, the lack of these things is not a big problem.

So after the EAST device was changed, Xu Chuan rushed over as soon as possible.

"Have you made all the preparations?"

In the main control room of the EAST device, Xu Chuan looked down at the steel behemoth below through the huge floor-to-ceiling tempered glass window and asked Yu Mu, the new person in charge.

Compared with the Dawn Experimental Reactor, the control room on the EAST side is better built.

Not only does it have a complete monitoring system and protection system, but you can also see the EAST equipment directly through the tempered glass with your naked eyes.

Yu Mu nodded solemnly and replied: "The inspection has been completed. Please give the order, Academician Xu."

Xu Chuan nodded and gave the order lightly: "Let's start."

For him now, a deuterium-tritium fusion ignition experiment is no longer something to be excited about.

But for Yu Mu, who has just taken over the Luyang controlled nuclear fusion project, this can be said to be the most important thing in his life.

With the transmission of the order.

EAST, which was sleeping in the core area, woke up.

The liquid helium and liquid nitrogen used for cooling began to be injected into the superconducting magnet pipes of the external field coil, immersing the circles of copper-carbon-silver composite superconductors surrounding the outer side of the EAST track, and rapidly reducing the temperature of the superconducting material.

With the generation of the superconducting effect, a huge current began to pass through the coil. With the assistance of the control coil, a strong confining magnetic field was formed on the EAST device.

Afterwards, under the microwave action of the ICRF antenna, the temperature in the EAST chamber quickly and steadily rose to the billion level.

The light blue film formed by the fusion of deuterium and tritium raw materials flows at high speed in the reactor chamber under the control of the external field coil.

The high-energy neutrons generated by fusion penetrated the first wall material and hit the liquid lithium molten salt fiercely. The 14.1Mev high-energy neutrons, like a mother ball hit hard on the table, constantly hit the lithium nucleus in the liquid lithium molten salt.

Grains of tritium were produced and diffused in the liquid lithium molten salt.

With the guidance, these liquid lithium molten salts continued to flow along the blanket, and some liquid lithium molten salt materials that had participated in the reaction flowed out from the guide port and entered the tritium extraction system.

Here, the tritium in the liquid lithium molten salt will be replaced by hydrogen, and then purified, concentrated, and re-transported into the raw material storage tank to participate in the subsequent deuterium-tritium fusion reaction.

At this moment, everyone in the control clenched their fists.

Even Xu Chuan looked through the tempered glass at the already running EAST, where the hope of realizing controlled nuclear fusion technology was carried.

[Tritium generation detected! Tritium extraction system is operating normally! ]

A report broke the silence in the main control room.

"Beautiful!"

"Success! We did it!"

"Tritium is self-sustaining! I didn't expect that one day we would be able to participate in solving such a difficult problem!"

In the control room, the researchers of the EAST project and the Dawn Project went crazy.

The last difficult problem was solved, and they were no longer far away from controlled nuclear fusion.

Even Xu Chuan, who was standing in the control room, had a bright smile on his face.

The liquid lithium molten salt neutron recovery system he designed was best verified at this moment.

The rest depends on how efficient the neutron recovery can be.

After all, in the deuterium-tritium controlled nuclear fusion, more than 80% of the energy is taken away by neutrons. It would be a pity if this part of energy cannot be used.

As the ICRF heating antenna stopped working, the temperature in the EAST experimental reactor chamber began to drop rapidly.

After waiting for the EAST device to cool down, staff wearing protective clothing quickly entered the reaction chamber and removed some accompanying test materials from the first wall.

After all, it is a deuterium-tritium fusion ignition experiment. In addition to verifying the liquid lithium molten salt multiplication tritium system, it can also do many other tests.

After the attached test materials were removed, at the same time, the other two groups of staff quickly stepped forward.

A team was responsible for completely disassembling the liquid lithium molten salt breeding tritium system deployed in the envelope for testing.

The other team is responsible for verifying the overall damage status of the EAST device.

Without zirconium oxide carbon composite material as the first wall protective material, deuterium-tritium fusion ignition is carried out. Even with perfect magnetic field denominators and numerical control models, Xu Chuan estimates that the overall condition of EAST will not be much better.

After all, the neutron irradiation produced by deuterium-tritium fusion is really terrible.

In fact, the test on EAST also confirmed his suspicion.

Not only was the first wall made of tungsten-molybdenum alloy basically completely embrittled, but even the overall structure was impacted by neutron irradiation and suffered varying degrees of damage.

It can be said that after one experiment, the EAST device was half useless.

But for the process of controllable nuclear fusion, it has made a huge contribution, even if it means entering a museum for retirement, it is completely worth it.

Xu Chuan returned to Jinling with the data collected at almost the cost of an EAST device.

These data are enough for him to optimize the liquid lithium molten salt breeding tritium system.

Next time, it will be time to conduct a more complete experiment on it at Daybreak.

However, it's time to write another letter.

The test of the liquid lithium molten salt breeding tritium system was successful. Although there are still some areas that need to be optimized, he believes that these are small problems that will be solved soon.

The days passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, the time came to the beginning of July.

The entrance to the demonstration reactor base is quite lively.

Various super-heavy loading trains stay in the designated areas, waiting to be unloaded.

With the Nuclear Industry Group using several times the manpower and working around the clock around the clock, the industrial park has completed the construction of buildings, and is now transporting various equipment in and deploying them to the corresponding places.

Under the leadership of two academicians from the Nuclear Industry Group, Wang Yongnian and Hou Chengping, their reset magnetic fluid generator set + conventional ultra-supercritical generator set + supercritical generator set are being installed in an orderly manner.

Standing next to the construction site, Academician Wang Yongnian of the Nuclear Industry Group, who was in charge of the site, was wearing a safety helmet and looked at the magnets that were lifted by steel cables and slowly transported towards the power plant under the traction of the crane's cross arm. Fluid generator, with a heartfelt smile on his wrinkled old face.

Being able to realize controllable nuclear fusion technology with his own hands, even if his role in the whole process only accounts for a small part, still makes him satisfied.

On the side, Hou Chengping squinted at the equipment that was being slowly installed, and said with a smile: "I thought I would spend my whole life relying on nuclear fission to generate electricity, but I didn't expect that I would actually preside over the construction of a nuclear fusion demonstration reactor project in my lifetime. "

Wang Yongnian looked at the moving generator set not far away. After confirming that the assembly was proceeding as scheduled and there were no problems, he gave a rare grin.

"Yeah, it's like a dream."

After a pause, he continued: "At this time last year, I was still studying the fifth-generation controllable nuclear fission power station. I didn't expect that controllable nuclear fusion would be realized in less than a year."

Hou Chengping smiled and sighed: "Compared to this, I am more curious about what kind of existence that person is."

"In the past six months, the more I have interacted with him, the more I feel that he is bottomless. It seems that in every field, he can make the greatest achievements."

"Breakthroughs in both theoretical and applied fields. Throughout history, those who can achieve this step may not be able to do so even with a slap in the face."

"More importantly, he is still so young. He seems to be less than twenty-five years old this year?"

After hearing this, Academician Wang Yongnian thought for a while and said, "If I remember correctly, Academician Xu seems to have been born in 1997 and is only 24 years old this year."

The two of them were communicating while watching the installation and deployment of the magnetic fluid generator unit.

At this moment, another old man wearing a safety helmet walked over.

"Lao Wang, Lao Hou, I knew you were here."

The old man who came over happily greeted them, stepped forward and punched each of them. Then, he glanced at the magnetic fluid generator units that were still being deployed, and said with a smile: "The progress here is a bit slow. Everything is done.”

Hearing this, Wang Yongnian suddenly became unhappy. He glanced sideways at him and said, "As for your little technical stuff, I can finish it for you in a week."

The person who talked to them was Zeng Jitong, another academician of the Academy of Engineering from the State Grid Group.

Although the three of them are not colleagues, they have worked together many times and are quite familiar with each other.

Not only are nuclear power plants used to generate electricity, but people from their nuclear industry group naturally often deal with people from the State Grid.

This Zeng Jitong is good in every aspect, with a good personality and good temper. His only shortcoming is that his mouth is a little awkward and his words are not very lovable.

Just like just now, when he came, he complained that their generator was assembled too slowly.

Of course, he responded without any politeness.

Hearing Wang Yongnian say that the things he built had no technical content, Zeng Jitong immediately became unhappy.

"Hey, you old Wang, are you still showing off? Without the converter and power grid I built, how can you generate electricity? Also, have you tested the magnetohydrodynamic generator set you designed? It will be interesting if it fails to generate electricity."

Wang Yongnian glanced at him lightly and ignored him. He directed the installation of the magnetohydrodynamic generator set.

Aside, Hou Chengping smiled and didn't care too much.

Everyone is an old acquaintance, but these two people are born to clash with each other and have opposite personalities. They fight each other as soon as they meet.

Old Wang doesn't like to talk much and often responds in silence; and Zeng Jitong, although he is good at talking, can't stand others' silent attacks on him, and often chases him to talk.

However, the more he talks, the more Wang Yongnian is too lazy to pay attention to him.

But this does not delay the cooperation with the work, but creates a pair of happy enemies.

As for him, just eat melons and watch the show.

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