Chapter 434 Planetary Engine

During a physical examination, Xu Chuan was a little confused and found that two people were suddenly forced into his side.

A life assistant who looks about the same age as him, and a housekeeping aunt.

According to what the old man and Academician Qiu Kaiji who gave him a physical examination meant, his body was in "urgent" need of recuperation and he could no longer eat junk food or anything like that.

So a life assistant and a housekeeping aunt came over.

Xu Chuan looked confused and stared at the lady standing in front of him with an upright posture and a heroic and military air.

Is this the life assistant he found for him?

A little too young?

Although he appears to be less than twenty-five years old, he is actually quite a lot older. This serves as his life assistant, who will take care of whom in the future?

But the lady opposite didn't think so much. She looked at Xu Chuan and showed a standard smile.

"Hello, Academician Xu, my name is Tang Sijia. As arranged by the organization, I will be responsible for your subsequent physical health and physical recuperation. I hope your future work will be smooth and enjoyable."

"Ahem, hello." Xu Chuan coughed lightly and said hello feeling a little uncomfortable. This was the first time he experienced being assigned a life assistant to take care of his life.

After all, I was born in a rural area, and even if I am now at the top of the scientific community, it is difficult to change my old thinking.

But this matter has been settled, and he is embarrassed to send people back again, right?

After getting to know each other briefly, Xu Chuan also returned to the Beihai Hotel, preparing to pack his luggage and return to Jinling.

After the Dawn Demonstration Reactor is successfully ignited, the follow-up step is to repeat the ignition test and then carry out work related to grid connection.

After 2021 in the Gregorian calendar, he will probably be able to step down from his position as the general person in charge of Qixia's controllable nuclear fusion project.

By then, it would be time for him to return to NTU to take a few classes.

Speaking of this, Xu Chuan still feels quite guilty. After all, he has been appointed as a full professor at Nanjing University, but he has not taken classes or taught students in the past two years. It’s like whoring the salary and benefits from NTU for free.

Although Nanda probably doesn’t care about this kind of free prostitution, and maybe even hopes that there will be more of this kind of free prostitution.

But for him, it was still hard to get over.

After successfully returning to the Beihai Hotel from the nursing home, Xu Chuan unexpectedly met another acquaintance here.

"Hello, Academician Xu."

In the lobby on the first floor of the hotel, a middle-aged and elderly man extended his right hand with a smile on his face and introduced in a familiar greeting: "Please allow me to introduce myself, Academician Xu, I am the director of CCTV. Xiong Wei Zhao.”

Looking at the smiling CTV director in front of him, Xu Chuan skillfully stretched out his right hand and shook his hand: "Hello, Director Xiong."

Although he was a little surprised that the director of CTV would personally come over to interview him or something, he was already used to this kind of thing.

Since he led the Qixia controllable nuclear fusion project to successfully complete the ignition, many people have come to visit him recently.

To put it bluntly, the director of CTV may have a relatively low position among these people.

Xiong Weizhao shook his hands with enthusiasm and said with a smile: "Hello, Academician Xu. Let me introduce to you. This is our excellent media reporter and host Sun Yutong from CTV."

Behind him, the beautiful reporter Sun Yutong stood up with a bright smile and greeted Xu Chuan: "Hello, Academician Xu."

Xu Chuan smiled and nodded to her and said hello: "Long time no see, Reporter Sun."

Hearing that he still remembered her, Sun Yutong was slightly stunned, and then a bright smile appeared on his face: "I didn't expect you to still remember me."

Xu Chuan smiled and said, "People are always more impressed by beautiful things."

On the side, Xiong Weizhao watched the friendly exchanges between Xu Chuan and Sun Yutong, with a mysterious smile on his face.

In fact, strictly speaking, Sun Yutong is not a core media reporter of CTV 1, and today's interview should not have been hers. However, after learning that she had interviewed Academician Xu several times before and had a good relationship with Academician Xu, he decided to bring Sun Yutong here today.

After all, considering the current academician Xu's level, even if he wants to meet him, it is not that easy.

If you want to interview this person, you have to see if he is in the mood.

At least bringing Sun Yutong here today was the right choice. The relationship between the two seems to be much better than he expected, and the interview should be stable.

After the two talked about old times, Xiong Weizhao said: "I don't know if it is convenient for Academician Xu. We would like to conduct an interview with you about the field of controllable nuclear fusion. After all, we are the first country to realize this great technology. It is still necessary to promote it to the outside world and boost national confidence.”

After a slight pause, he continued: "Of course, for this interview, we applied to the superiors, and the superiors agreed. Including the interview questions, we have carefully selected them, and they will not involve controllable questions. Some technical aspects of nuclear fusion.”

"In addition, after the interview is over, we will also focus on reviewing the relevant content and make sure there are no problems before publishing it."

"The main purpose is to educate the general public about controllable nuclear fusion. After all, you are the father of controllable nuclear fusion, and your voice in this field is more convincing than others."

Hearing what he said, Xu Chuan did not refuse, nodded, and said: "Okay, but the high-speed train here is after two o'clock in the afternoon, I'm afraid I don't have much time left for you."

"If the interview is relatively long, you can take time to go to Jinling."

Xiong Weizhao glanced at his watch and said quickly: "That's enough, that's enough. I've asked the hotel manager to prepare the conference room, so I'll waste some time on Academician Xu."

As he spoke, he glanced at Sun Yutong.

Sun Yutong quickly stepped forward and said with a smile: "Excuse me, Academician Xu."

"You're welcome, it's just a small matter."

The group came to a conference room in the Beihai Hotel. After a brief chat, Sun Yutong asked with a smile: "Academician Xu, how about we officially start the interview?"

Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Okay."

"The first question is about the future. After the controllable nuclear fusion technology is realized, we all want to ask, what changes will it bring to our lives, the earth's environment and other aspects?"

Hearing this question that was no longer routine, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "If you want to talk about the changes that can be brought about after the realization of controllable nuclear fusion technology, there are too many."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to finish it in three days and three nights."

After a slight pause, he thought for a moment, then continued: "If we want to say the biggest and most obvious change, it is related to electricity."

"For friends living in Jinling, even if it hasn't started yet, they should be able to experience the changes in electricity prices. In the past, the residential electricity price in Jinling was about 60 cents per unit, but after the Dawn Demonstration Reactor was connected to the grid, The electricity bill will be 20 cents per unit, a threefold reduction.”

"For friends who depend on air conditioners for their lives in the hot summer, the burden of electricity bills will be drastically reduced. As some friends on the Internet said, you can go out with air conditioners on your back 24 hours a day."

Smiling, Xu Chuan continued: "Of course, I personally don't recommend doing this. After all, it's too tiring to go out with an air conditioner on your back."

Hearing these words, Sun Yutong couldn't help but smile. She didn't expect that Professor Xu had such a humorous side.

Xu Chuan didn't pay much attention to this aspect, and continued: "For society, the reduction of electricity bills will mean the rapid development of all walks of life. These are predictable problems."

"As for the impact on the earth's ecological environment"

After thinking for a while, he described it in the simplest way: "After the controllable nuclear fusion technology is realized, problems such as the greenhouse effect and excessive emission of carbon dioxide will be greatly improved."

"It depends on the type of energy used, which will change from traditional fossil energy to electrical energy from controlled nuclear fusion."

"As we all know, the use of fossil energy, whether coal, gasoline, natural gas or others, will release a large amount of total heat and greenhouse gases when burned to do work. These are leading to drastic changes in the current earth's ecological environment. One of the main reasons."

Sun Yutong nodded and asked curiously: "Can it be understood that the global ecological environment, carbon neutrality and other issues will be alleviated or even solved in the future?"

Xu Chuan nodded and said: "It can be said that after the controllable nuclear fusion technology is realized, these problems can be greatly alleviated. Even from a relatively long-term perspective, they can be completely solved."

"After all, the deuterium and tritium burned by controllable nuclear fusion technology releases neutrons and helium-3. During the power generation process, there is no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases."

"As for the utilization of fusion heat energy, nuclear fusion devices are far more powerful than ordinary power generation equipment."

Sun Yutong nodded and continued: "The second question is picked from the Internet. Before raising this question, I would like to ask Academician Xu whether you have read or learned about the novel or movie "The Wandering Earth" ? If not, we will skip this question."

"Of course, this section will also be edited out in subsequent reports."

Xu Chuan glanced at her curiously, nodded uncertainly, and said, "We have some understanding."

Sun Yutong: "Well, some netizens want to ask you. In the movie "The Wandering Earth" released last year, the principle of the planetary engine mentioned in the movie is nuclear fusion. What do you think of this science fiction direction? In your opinion , can the nuclear fusion application scenarios such as planetary engines shown in the movie become a reality in the future? "

Hearing this question, Xu Chuan raised his eyebrows with some interest.

I have to say that compared to the previous question, this question was raised at a slightly higher level.

After thinking for a while, he organized his words and said: "First of all, what is certain is that using nuclear fusion as energy to drive huge planetary engines is the wild imagination of science fiction authors, and it is also the author's expectations for future technology, especially for The way to solve human energy problems - the hope of controllable nuclear fusion energy."

"For controllable nuclear fusion technology, once it is applied, projects such as seawater desalination and interstellar travel that are prohibitive due to huge energy consumption are expected to develop rapidly with the support of nuclear fusion."

"As for the hard-core technologies such as planetary engines in novels and movies, they are indeed out of reach based on current knowledge. But with future major discoveries and continuous breakthroughs in science and technology, they may become a reality in the future."

"Of course, if you want to build such a huge planetary engine, it is a great luxury for both structural materials and controlled nuclear fusion itself. At least several rounds of breakthroughs are needed before there is hope."

"If I remember correctly, the fusion material used in planetary engines is common stone. The principle is "heavy element fusion."

"The fusion of heavy elements is a more advanced form of nuclear fusion reaction. It generally only occurs inside massive stars. Heavy element nuclear fusion is impossible inside stars of the mass of the sun. Only stars with a mass more than eight times that of the sun can achieve iron fusion."

"And the controlled nuclear fusion we have achieved so far Technology, the raw materials used are hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. It only needs about 15 million degrees Celsius to reach fusion conditions. But the fusion of helium, which is one level higher than it, requires nearly 200 million degrees Celsius. "

"But if you want to make conventional stones, whose main components are generally silicon dioxide, carbonic acid, calcium hydroxide and other substances, produce nuclear fusion, the required temperature must be at least 2 billion degrees Celsius."

"Although theoretically, this can be done."

"But this technology, for the current level of human technology, is an unimaginable nuclear fusion technology. Although it is theoretically possible, it is too difficult to achieve in reality."

"Even I can't give a predicted time to achieve it."

PS: There should be another chapter in the evening, but I'm not sure if it can be posted before 12 o'clock. As usual, if it is not posted before 12 o'clock, then get up the next morning to read it, and ask for a monthly ticket by the way.