Chapter 277 Solution to the Problem!

Qi Zhongxing's words made Xu Chuan's heart skip a beat.

He said in a deep voice: "You should have told me earlier."

This problem is serious to say the least, because it may lead to the delay of the "Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion to Electric Energy Mechanism" project.

But it doesn’t matter if it’s not serious, because it can be solved by improving the performance of the particle accelerator.

The output energy level and stability of linear particle accelerators are insufficient, which is a limitation of the times.

In his previous life, he studied this technology in 2025, and now it is 2019. Six or seven years have passed, which is enough for the physics community to improve the performance of particle accelerators by one or two levels.

In other words, the performance of the linear particle accelerator used in this life cannot meet the requirements. According to normal development, it will take five or six years to upgrade.

And this is China. Compared with Western countries such as the United States and Europe, the development of domestic particle accelerators lags far behind.

This is an objective fact that no one can deny.

Han Jin lowered his head and said: "Sorry, Professor, we thought this was not a big problem at first. After all, the linear particle accelerator is not very difficult in the entire project. Plus, considering that you are doing your own research, a project is not that big a problem." We can’t rely on you alone, so there is no report.”

"It's just that no one thought the impact of this problem would be so big."

Xu Chuan shook his head and said: "It's useless to talk about this now. Let me see the parameters and performance of your customized particle accelerator first."

Speaking of problems, he actually has problems too.

He didn't think it through on this issue. After all, when this project was originally carried out in California, it was a linear particle accelerator provided by the California Nuclear Energy Institute. Since this problem did not occur, he did not pay much attention to the specific performance of the linear particle accelerator.

After all, it is impossible for him to pay attention to all aspects of a large-scale cooperation project.

But he didn't expect that within five or six years, there would be such a big gap between domestic and foreign particle accelerators.

Fortunately, there are still ways to remedy the situation, and I hope it's not too late.

Shaking his head, Xu Chuan followed Han Jin and Qi Zhongxing to the Nuclear Energy Research Institute.

Although the performance of the linear particle accelerator in hand does not meet the requirements in theory, it is already the best-performing particle accelerator in the country.

In the research institute, Xu Chuan flipped through the documents in his hand.

What the Institute of Nuclear Energy purchased here is an ion linear accelerator, which consists of electron cyclotron resonance ion source, large separation fan cyclotron, cooling storage ring, main ring pipeline, radioactive beam line, experimental terminal and other major facilities.

This is not a newly built equipment, but purchased from a certain national nuclear energy laboratory. It cost a total of 1.37 billion, which can be said to be the most expensive one in the entire project.

The performance of this linear particle accelerator is very good, with a total length of 850 meters, an accelerating electric field of up to 30 megawatts/meter, and an operating frequency of 3500-11000 MHz.

Domestically, this performance can be said to be top-notch, even if it is placed internationally, it is still first-tier.

This kind of thing can be said to be a core treasure in any laboratory. If it weren't for the 'Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion Mechanism' project, which is a key national project, and the research institute that owns this linear accelerator is It is impossible for Xuchuan, a state-owned enterprise, to purchase this accelerator.

But now, even though this accelerator is already the best in the country, it still cannot meet the requirements. This is the biggest problem at present.

In the office, Xu Chuan, Han Jin and Qi Zhongxing discussed ways to solve this problem.

There are actually many ways to solve this problem.

For example, purchasing and re-customizing a particle accelerator from abroad, or promoting the development of particle accelerators and improving the performance of current accelerators, etc.

But these methods and means take too long, and Xu Chuan cannot wait that long.

At the beginning of this year, he went to the capital and saw the project document for controllable nuclear fusion. It was an opportunity left for him, but it might not wait for him for a long time.

If too much time is wasted on the nuclear waste project, this opportunity may be missed.

This was unacceptable to Xu Chuan.

Therefore, we must find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Xu Chuan frowned and flipped through the information, looking for a solution to the problem.

The 'Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion to Electric Energy Mechanism' project has come to an end and is just a short step away from being completed, but now something is wrong.

Although a scientific research project cannot always be smooth sailing, even if the project is delayed, it is a normal thing, and the above will understand it.

After all, this is a constraint of the times. It’s just that the hard conditions of the particle accelerator equipment cannot meet the requirements, but the ideas and concepts are no problem.

Moreover, strictly speaking, the nuclear energy project only started in the second half of last year, and it has only been eight or nine months now. The nuclear energy project has now entered the stage of experimental reactor construction, which is already quite fast for a large-scale project. .

Normally, a project of this level would take at least five or six years to produce results.

But for Xu Chuan, he couldn't accept it.

The delay in the nuclear waste power conversion project will cause disruption to many of his subsequent arrangements and plans.

Moreover, facing and solving problems and emergencies encountered in the project are the abilities that a qualified person in charge should have.

"First of all, we can rule out repurchasing or customizing a new linear particle accelerator. Not to mention whether accelerators from other countries can meet the requirements and whether they will be sold, it is too late in terms of time.

Similarly, it is definitely too late to develop superconducting materials now. It takes a long time, and the testing, verification and production cycles are all over the budget."

Staring at the linear particle accelerator structure diagram in front of him, Xu Chuan thought about feasible solutions.

To solve the problem of insufficient energy level and stability of the accelerator, he has many ways. For example, getting superconducting materials and redesigning and deploying the cyclotron pipeline of the accelerator is enough to improve the energy level and stability of the linear particle accelerator in front of him to the required level.

But the disadvantage is that the rectification time is too long. It takes at least half a year to go through the entire process of research and development-production-reset.

And now, he has at most two months.

It is now mid-April, and he must complete the operation of the nuclear waste power plant in mid-June.

Not to mention commercialization now, but at least the experimental reactor in front of him needs to be put into use and tested. This is Xu Chuan's bottom line requirement.

"If so, remodeling the ion linear accelerator in front of us should be one of the most feasible ways."

"Then what about the magnetic mirror control system?"

Xu Chuan thought of the superconducting magnetic mirror control system developed when he was studying controlled nuclear fusion in his previous life, which has a strong effect on the control of ultra-high temperature plasma.

However, the difference is that the magnetic mirror control system at that time was based on the room-temperature superconducting material system he developed, but now, is it feasible to use conventional ultra-low temperature superconducting materials?

Xu Chuan was a little uncertain about this. Although theoretically, the performance of room-temperature superconducting materials and ultra-low temperature superconducting materials is almost the same, there are still some differences in reality.

And more importantly, to deploy ultra-low temperature superconducting materials, it is necessary to modify the space where the linear particle accelerator is deployed to a certain extent.

After all, today's ultra-low temperature superconductivity is generally carried out by freezing liquid helium. Although it is only a part of the area that is modified, it is also a very troublesome thing.

"If the magnetic mirror control is abandoned, is there any way to enhance the energy level and stability of the particle accelerator?"

"Perhaps, I can split this problem into two to deal with it first?"

Suddenly, an idea emerged in Xu Chuan's mind.

This is a common approach in theoretical science to a difficult problem, breaking it down and then solving it one by one.

Particle instabilities in particle accelerators generally occur when the average energy of the accelerated particles through the circular machine reaches its transition value.

The turning point occurs when the particles rotate around the ring at the same rate, even if they do not all carry the same energy, they will exhibit a certain range of energies.

This causes specific movements of particles near the transition energy that make them extremely susceptible to collective instabilities.

Just like light and microscopes illuminate the object being observed.

The stronger the beam, the easier it is for scientists to examine the object they are observing.

But intensity comes at a cost. The stronger the speed of light, the easier it is to dazzle the eyes or the strong light will cover everything, resulting in nothing being seen.

It's like driving at night and you have a super bright high-beam car coming across. The closer you get to it, the less you will find that there is nothing in your sight except the light. (PS: High-beam dogs give me sharks!)

This instability has been studied by the physics community for decades, but it has not yet been fully understood.

Of course, although the physics community does not fully understand this instability, it does not mean that it cannot be controlled.

For example, proton-driven plasma tail field acceleration, radio frequency cavity propulsion and other technologies can all reduce instability to a certain extent.

As a top scientist in the field of high-energy physics, Xu Chuan naturally knows how to solve this kind of thing.

If you want to simply improve stability, he has a lot of ways in his hands.

For example, by adding an SMI control tail field at the node of the spiral acceleration chamber, the control of the particle beam can be increased to a certain extent.

Or by deploying multiple strong magnetic mirror hoops to control the orbit in the linear particle accelerator.

But no matter which method is used, there are limitations.

Whether it is the deployment of SMI control tail field or multiple strong magnetic mirror hoops, it is limited to acceleration experiments under a certain energy level. If the output energy level is too strong, both will lose their effect.

This means that energy level and stability cannot be obtained at the same time, just like you can't have your cake and eat it too.

This is where Xu Chuan's headache is.

If you take care of stability, the energy level of the linear accelerator cannot be improved, then the controllable fission rate of nuclear waste will be reduced a lot, which will lead to a decrease in power generation.

And if you increase the energy level, stability cannot be taken care of, which is more dangerous.

The out-of-control particle beam is not the ion radiation emitted by nuclear waste. It carries a huge kinetic energy and will cause great damage to the radiation gap semiconductor materials and protective materials.

"This is really a headache."

In the office, Xu Chuan stared at the design drawings in front of him and shook his head.

He stayed here for several days and held many large and small exchanges, but neither he nor other researchers could think of any good way to take into account stability and energy level intensity at the same time.

"Huh, let's go out for a walk first."

Shaking his head, Xu Chuan put down the drawings in his hand, pushed open the door of the office and walked out.

It was just after get off work, and groups of workers and researchers were walking through the industrial park.

The nuclear energy industrial park had been built quite well, with not only accommodation buildings, but also various rest and entertainment facilities.

Walking along the way, Xu Chuan saw various entertainment facilities such as basketball courts, table tennis courts, and tennis courts, where many people were playing against each other.

He was not very interested in ball sports, but now he had nothing to do and was relaxing, so he just found a place to sit down and watch the group of people play.

After staring at the court for a while, just when Xu Chuan felt a little bored and wanted to get up to eat, the movement on the basketball court stopped him.

In front of him, on one half of the court, a basketball was stuck on the edge of the basket.

The group of people playing basketball looked at each other, trying to jump and find a way to get the ball down, but the players in this half seemed to have average jumping ability, and they didn't touch the ball after a long time.

Then, someone ran to the other half to borrow a basketball, and it seemed that he was ready to smash it down.

However, it seemed that the first basketball was stuck a little tight. After trying twice, it still didn't work. Then, what made Xu Chuan stunned was that the second ball was stuck in a short while.

Well, now the situation has changed.

Xu Chuan stopped and watched the group of people with interest.

To be honest, this kind of stuck basketball can be taken down by finding a pole or a ladder, but boys who play basketball usually ignore these automatically.

And when the second ball was stuck, their purpose was not to get the ball down.

Watching a group of people smashing the ball, watching the basketballs stuck in one by one, and finally filling the basket and being smashed down by a basketball as a whole, Xu Chuan suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his mind.

"If we regard this basket full of basketballs as an atomic nucleus and the last ball as a high-energy particle, the atomic nucleus will decompose and form independent protons and neutrons under the collision of high-energy particles."

"This process is very similar to the chain reaction of nuclear fission. If we can get enough neutrons, then we can accelerate the decay rate of nuclear waste without a high enough energy level, right?"

In his mind, a flash of lightning suddenly split the fog.

If it is not possible to increase the energy level in a short time, then increasing the number of neutrons is also possible.

This is not a collision for experiments. There are strict requirements for energy levels. High energy levels only increase the decay rate of nuclear waste and increase power generation. There is no need to fight hard on energy levels.

Maybe, I know what to do!

Xu Chuan murmured, and ran towards the office quickly with bright eyes.