Chapter 369 Chen Mingji's Plan
In mid-June, faster than originally planned, the overall construction of the Qixia controlled nuclear fusion project was finally completed by the China Nuclear Industry Construction Group, which used several times the manpower and three shifts to fill in the construction.
Although it still has a long way to go before it is completely perfect, at least now, after the controlled nuclear fusion reactor is in place, it can officially start the experiment.
Xu Chuan, wearing a formal suit, personally hosted the completion ribbon-cutting ceremony and saw the pairs of eyes revealing hope and expectation.
That is the desire for the motherland to be strong, and the hope and expectation for the completion of controlled nuclear fusion technology.
In early July, after experiencing the wind and rain, the long march of thousands of miles, and spanning a full three months, the disassembled and packed ASDEX device also officially arrived at the Yangtze River Port of Jinling from the Germanic country.
300 million euros, according to the current exchange rate, is a full 2.4 billion RMB.
Even for a controlled nuclear fusion project, this is a considerable amount.
However, Xu Chuan knew that it was worth it. Although the ASDEX device had been retired for two years, its performance parameters were still quite powerful in the world.
Especially in the water-cooled divertor, although the German country had already upgraded it, the water-cooled divertor deployed on it was still not comparable to that of other countries.
In addition, the Planck Plasma Institute had been upgrading it for a long time, as well as matching and adapting equipment, etc., and it was not an exaggeration to say that it cost more than one billion euros.
In this way, 300 million euros + high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material technology in exchange for this complete device was actually a great bargain.
If the Planck Plasma Institute was not in urgent need of proving its strength in the stellarator and obtaining more financial support, it would probably be far from easy to complete this transaction.
With the support and coordination of the Jinling government, the ASDEX device was successfully delivered to the Qixia Mountain Controlled Nuclear Fusion Engineering Base and placed in the core area.
Then, with the assistance of engineers arranged by the Planck Plasma Institute, the disassembled parts and equipment were quickly reassembled.
After the equipment was transported to China and sent to the project base, the ASDEX device was officially renamed the ‘Dawn’ device, and its English name is the ‘DAWN’ device.
The name was given by Xu Chuan, implying that it would tear apart the heavy clouds over the controlled nuclear fusion technology like the dawn. He had great hopes for the Dawn device.
With the delivery of the fusion reactor device, the Qixia controlled nuclear fusion project officially entered the next stage.
For controlled nuclear fusion technology, Xu Chuan currently has three major puzzle pieces in his hands.
The first and most important puzzle piece is naturally the mathematical control model of ‘plasma turbulence’, which is one of the cores of the entire controlled nuclear fusion technology.
Only by controlling the high-temperature and high-pressure plasma in the chamber of the controlled nuclear fusion reactor and allowing it to run stably in the chamber can a steady stream of electricity be produced smoothly.
The second puzzle piece is the high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material, which can provide a stable and powerful magnetic field to restrain the plasma flow in the fusion reactor chamber.
The powerful performance of the high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting material can more than double the confinement performance of the original ASDEX device.
The strong magnetic field can more stably maintain the stability of the plasma in the chamber.
Especially after he and Academician Zhang Pingxiang optimized it together at the end of last year, the toughened side has better thermal conductivity after adopting the graphene whisker (fiber) toughening technology.
This can better maintain the superconducting material below the superconducting critical temperature.
You should know that when the current passes through the conductor, the greater the intensity, the greater the magnetic field, and the higher the temperature generated at any time.
When the temperature exceeds the critical Tc temperature of the superconducting material, it will cause the superconducting material to reverse from the superconducting state to the normal state, thereby losing the superconducting performance.
Because how to provide a strong magnetic field while stably maintaining the temperature of the superconducting material below the Tc critical temperature is also a headache.
The value of the thermal conductivity of high-temperature superconducting materials lies here. The better the thermal conductivity, the lower the area that needs to contact liquid nitrogen and liquid helium to dissipate heat and reduce the temperature.
Compared with the copper-carbon-silver composite material before optimization, its thermal conductivity has been nearly doubled after optimization using graphene whisker (fiber) toughening technology.
This is reflected in the transformation of the controlled nuclear fusion reactor, which can save at least one-third of the condensation area.
As for the third puzzle, it is the detection technology for plasma turbulence in the chamber of the controlled nuclear fusion reactor.
Of course, this technology is still in a theoretical state and needs to wait for the Dawn device to be assembled before experiments can be carried out.
However, in the first half of this year, Xu Chuan theoretically established a complete theoretical route for this technology, and it can be tested only after the Dawn device is completed.
While the Dawn fusion reactor was being assembled and transformed, on the other side, on the Luyang Science Island, Chen Mingji, the general manager of the EAST project, held a tablet in his hand.
It showed a news report.
"The Planck Plasma Institute and China completed the transaction of the ASDEX device"
The news was delayed. After the ASDEX device had been delivered to the Qixia Mountain Controlled Nuclear Fusion Engineering Base, the transaction between the two parties was officially reported by some media in the nuclear energy field.
Of course, this is also what Xu Chuan requested.
He is worried that he may encounter some other setbacks and pressures before the transaction is completed.
For example, the European Union and NATO may intervene to block the deal after hearing about it.
For Xu Chuan and the Planck Institute for Plasma Research, this may be a happy deal, but for others, it may not be.
After all, China is now at the forefront of the world in the field of controllable nuclear fusion. If it obtains some technical support from the Planck Plasma Institute, it may be completely transformed.
In addition to Western countries such as the European Union and the United States, not everyone is happy at home.
For example, the two people in this office couldn't be happy.
After rejecting Peng Hongxi's request last time, Chen Mingji was preparing to turn on the EAST device again and refresh the tokamak's operating record, as a sign to tell his superiors that the Luyang controllable nuclear fusion project he led had just begun. It is the most promising and possible route to realize controllable nuclear fusion engineering.
Including not renting the EAST device to Peng Hongxi, there are also some such thoughts in it.
After all, currently the only EAST device in China can conduct ignition operation experiments. Without EAST, even if you, Xu Chuan, are a Nobel Prize winner, you wouldn't be able to conduct experiments out of thin air, right?
And if you make it yourself, even if you hurry up, it won't be completed in less than two or three years.
After two or three years, EAST will achieve greater results. Taking one step at a time, he is ready to keep suppressing the opponent and control the voice in the field of domestic controllable nuclear fusion.
But what I didn't expect was that that person didn't follow the routine and bought a piece of equipment directly from the German country.
This was something he didn't expect.
More importantly, it is even more incredible that the Planck Institute of Plasma actually agreed to this transaction request.
You must know that he flew to Germany in person before and wanted to exchange the domestic advanced ICRF heating technology for water-cooled divertor technology, but was rejected without hesitation.
But Professor Xu directly traded the entire ASDEX device.
Thinking of this, Chen Mingji felt even more disgusted.
On the other side, the assistant who sent the news clicked his tongue and said with an expression of envy or jealousy on his face:
"Academician Xu is so generous. 300 million euros, 2.4 billion and nearly 2.5 billion RMB, just poured in."
Putting down the tablet in his hand, Chen Mingji said expressionlessly: "It's not his own money, so why not be generous?"
The assistant smiled and said, "That's right. Don't feel sorry for me. The country's funds have been squandered like this. Two and a half billion, this is not a small amount of money."
As a public official, honestly speaking, such words should not be uttered, or are inappropriate.
Not to mention that Hua Guo also took advantage of this transaction. What was lost was Xu Chuan's own technology. Even if the transaction suffered a slight loss, it was actually so-called.
After all, along with the ASDEX device came the more advanced water-cooled divertor technology from the Planck Institute of Plasma Research.
It can obviously make up for China's shortcomings in controllable nuclear fusion technology.
But in this office with only two people, it doesn't matter.
After all, there are no outsiders.
Chen Mingji didn't speak after hearing this.
After thinking for a while, he slowly said: "Since the other party bought the ASDEX device back, he will definitely not put it there. Check when he will start the ignition operation experiment, and we will be ready to start the operation experiment simultaneously."
Hearing this, the assistant's eyes lit up and he said happily: "When the experimental results are compared, we will naturally know which one is better."
"If we break the world record by then, he can't even light a fire. It would be a big shame."
"And even if it can be ignited and run, the old ASDEX device will definitely not be able to run for long! I believe the country will also see it."
"At that time, we will still have the final say in the field of controllable nuclear fusion!"
Behind the desk, Chen Mingji said nothing, but the slight curve of his mouth proved that he recognized what his assistant said.
Even if an old ASDEX device can barely ignite experiments, how long can it run?
PS: Second update, please vote for me!