Chapter 96 That Beam of Light
Xinghai Nuclear Fusion Laboratory.
Although this place is in the Gobi Desert, it is not far from the Xinghai Space Base, and it is not always idle.
As early as several months ago, under the guidance of Fan Ren, several classification projects were started here and began to enter work status.
Unlike the initial decision to conduct independent research and development, a large number of Daxia official scientists are now stationed in the laboratory.
As the main investor, initiator, and technical director of the laboratory, Fan Ren has absolute power over the laboratory.
The first batch of quartz ore collected from the Aite Basin in the South Pole of the Moon has been transported to the laboratory, and nearly 3 tons of tri-titanium alloy has been successfully extracted.
After spending nearly 700 billion, Fan Ren finally got his hands on this super-strong metal that emits a silver glow and has extremely high strength.
The huge energy generated during nuclear fusion would be enough to raze the laboratory to the ground if safe and effective preparations were not made in advance.
The only advantage is that there is not much radioactive material in this process.
This is also why Fan Ren must wait until he obtains the tri-titanium alloy before he can conduct the overall nuclear fusion engineering research.
With this super-strong metal used as the container wall, the huge energy generated by the fusion reaction will be tightly confined inside the container and there will be no danger of overflow.
Even so, at Fanren's request, the entire team still took the trouble to design a three-layer protection device, including the container wall, to ensure that the experiment was foolproof.
This batch of tri-titanium alloy was quickly processed into the container wall shape he had envisioned and assembled.
At the same time, Fan Ren was surprised to find that with the advent of tritanium alloy, high-voltage radio technology has once again ushered in a qualitative improvement. It can basically completely replace a bunch of messy wiring harnesses in the reactor, thereby greatly reducing the complexity of the reactor.
At this point in the experiment, the fuel needed for the deuterium and tritium reactions provided by Daxia was also injected into the target pellet in the reactor.
For the ignition method, Fanren chose the inertial confinement laser ignition technology which has already been mature in the industry.
This technology involves irradiating the periphery of the target pellet with a high-intensity laser, thereby generating high-temperature and high-pressure plasma on its surface.
At this time, the plasma will expand outward rapidly, generating a strong reaction force.
Then, relying on this reaction force, the outer layer of the target capsule is quickly decomposed and the internal nuclear fuel is squeezed inward, forming an extremely high temperature and pressure environment, thereby triggering a nuclear fusion reaction.
Fan Ren stopped. At his request, a group of scientists whose average age was much older than him conducted safety tests on the reactor again and again without getting tired of it.
Safety is particularly important.
In his vision, controlled nuclear fusion reactors will gradually become smaller in size and enter the lives of ordinary people, thus replacing oil, a special product that currently only exists on Earth.
After a while, all the scientists in the laboratory gathered in the hall, their eyes fixed on the reactor on the huge display screen.
Today is the day for the first ignition test.
In fact, at this point, these scientists who have been immersed in the high-energy field for many years have already sensed that the experimental results would not have a high chance of failure.
Not only them, many people with relevant knowledge know that the biggest obstacle to the process of controlled nuclear fusion is the lack of a container wall that can safely seal the reactor.
On the contrary, the hydrogen bomb is a particularly good example.
It does not need to consider this. When designing a hydrogen bomb, it only needs to consider how to put as much deuterium and tritium fuel as possible in the warhead so that it can produce as much explosive energy as possible.
And now, this material has appeared, and Fan Ren has come up with a fantastic idea: in the process of refining the tri-titanium alloy, high-strength carbon nanotubes will be incorporated into it to further enhance the hardness of the container wall and its high-temperature resistance.
As soon as they see the data of this new material, they can roughly judge that the possibility of success of the experiment has greatly increased.
It can be said that if the performance data of the container wall made of this metal is not falsified, then the test will be successful.
There is no other possibility. "Relevant personnel clear the area. The first controlled fusion reaction will begin in five minutes."
Fan Ren's deep voice echoed throughout the laboratory.
Soon, the internal engineers responsible for the final testing withdrew.
He looked at the time and counted down silently in his mind.
"let's start."
As Fan Ren's order came down, the engineers in front of the operating table began a series of operations firmly and quickly.
"Ignition countdown 102, 1, restraint laser activated."
In the field of vision, violent high-temperature plasma gradually rose from the target pellet inside the reactor.
"Close the outer container wall."
Immediately afterwards, following the operator's command, the last layer of the reactor's outer container wall was completely closed. This is the last layer of the three-layer container wall and the last safety lock.
Once the wall of this container begins to crack, the entire laboratory will likely be destroyed due to the huge energy generated by fusion.
Fan Ren patted his head to get rid of this sudden strange thought, and he couldn't help but laugh.
Sure enough, every man has a very explosive attribute in his heart.
"Record. The plasma has reached the predetermined high temperature and pressure and has begun to diffuse outward. Turn off the confinement laser."
As Fan Ren's voice fell, the operator quickly followed the order.
The scientists present could clearly feel the huge amount of electricity consumed when the confinement laser was turned on. As it was turned off, the power supply in the laboratory returned to normal.
There is no way. The prerequisite for nuclear fusion reaction is a high temperature and high pressure environment of up to millions of degrees, so that a neutron and a proton in the deuterium element, and a neutron and two protons in the tritium element, can fuse together to form a helium-4 nucleus and an extra neutron.
Under this premise, the mass of deuterium and tritium at rest is greater than the sum of the masses of the helium-4 nucleus and an additional neutron.
According to the formula, this mass loss is converted into energy release.
During this reaction, most of the energy released exists in the form of high-energy neutrons and some other high-energy particles.
It's mainly high-energy neutrons.
The ultimate goal of the experiment is to ensure that the huge amount of energy released when these high-energy neutrons are released can be safely and controllably released.
And it is used by humans for its energy conversion properties.
This is controlled nuclear fusion.
"The reaction was successful. We are starting to collect energy data and container wall data."
As soon as Fan Ren finished speaking, the laboratory suddenly became busy.
NND, I have been reading books like crazy and collecting various information during this period.
We should have been so serious back then.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Although I have no chance to enter Tsinghua or Peking University, I will continue to work hard
(End of this chapter)
