Section 218

Standing in front of a huge test equipment, Director Zhao Zhanyou introduced it to Xiao Yi.

And Xiao Yi couldn't help but be amazed when he looked at the huge facility in front of him.

"It's really big enough."

Among the most expensive and largest experimental equipment in the world, particle accelerators may be ranked first, but controllable nuclear fusion facilities will definitely be ranked second.

The full name of the Oriental Super Ring in front of us is the fully superconducting Tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device. This is the world's first fully superconducting non-circular cross-section nuclear fusion experimental device put into operation.

The main part is 11 meters high, 8 meters in diameter, and weighs about 400 tons.

Zhao Zhanyou said with a smile: "How is it? Do you like it?"

Xiao Yi raised his eyebrows: "I like it, of course I like it, but if I like it, can you give it to our Science Island Laboratory?"

Zhao Zhanyou burst into laughter and then waved his hands: "That's not okay. If I send it out, hundreds of people in our research institute will probably scold me."

"But, if the Science Island Laboratory wants to have a better tokamak than this, we can definitely help."

Xiao Yi looked at Zhao Zhanyou with a half-smile and said, "As expected, I know that Director Zhao specially invited me to visit here. He must have something to say."

Zhao Zhanyou was not embarrassed at all. He shrugged and said, "Hey, Director Xiao, the high-temperature superconductor you created excited everyone in the institute. Then we discussed it for more than a month. Isn't this right?" , I just came here to look for trouble.”

Xiao Yi nodded. He had heard from Principal Bao Hexin that the Institute of Plasma also played a role in the successful promotion of the Science Island Laboratory.

Of course, it is mainly due to the attraction brought by high-temperature superconductors.

Now it seems that the people from the Plasma Institute have not been disappointed.

However, after all, he also spoke for himself at the beginning, so Xiao Yi said: "Then I am all ears. What do you think, Director Zhao?"

Seeing that Xiao Yi didn't refuse, Zhao Zhanyou smiled, rubbed his hands, and said, "Hey, look, our EAST has been a device for many years, and it hasn't been upgraded much yet."

"Now that high-temperature superconductors like HTSC-1 are available, we are thinking that maybe it is time to start a new 'stove'."

Xiao Yi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Then your stove is really big."

And it's a little hot.

It burns to hundreds of millions of degrees.

If this is roasted, it should not be black or red.

Zhao Zhanyou said helplessly: "There is no way, the things used in EAST are a bit outdated, such as superconducting coils, which are all technologies from a long time ago."

"I don't know if you have heard of it. Recently, a company called Energy Singularity has developed a tokamak called Honghuang 70. Holy shit, they directly synthesized the yttrium barium copper oxide, which is directly enviable to us. "

"I've heard of this."

Xiao Yi nodded.

But at this time, Zhao Zhanyou gloated again: "But fortunately, you just announced that HTSC-1 was completed when they had just basically completed it. I guess they were dumbfounded when they heard the news."

Looking at Zhao Zhanyou's expression, Xiao Yi couldn't help but laugh or cry.

Is this a peer?

At this time, a voice came: "Okay, Zhan You, why are you gloating? It's already good if people are willing to invest money in researching nuclear fusion."

Hearing this voice, Zhao Zhanyou immediately stopped smiling, looked at the person, and said, "Academician Li."

Xiao Yi also turned to look at the visitor.

Li Jiangan, an academician, is also an old man from the Institute of Plasma. EAST was also built with the support of this old academician.

It was he who spoke for Xiao Yi at the meeting at the University of Science and Technology.

"Hello, Professor Xiao, welcome to our plasma institute."

Li Jiangan walked up to Xiao Yi and shook hands with him.

"Hello, Academician Li." Xiao Yi nodded.

Li Jiangan nodded and said, "The plan Director Zhao told you was also suggested by me. Let me tell you my thoughts in detail."

Xiao Yi smiled and said: "Of course."

…

Chapter 199 The God of Calculating Materials

"Build a fully HTSC-1 high-temperature superconducting tokamak device..."

After listening to Li Jiangan's story, Xiao Yi started to think.

Finally, he said: "If this kind of thing happens, you don't need to come to me, right?"

Li Jiangan shook his head and said helplessly: "Currently, the state is relatively conservative in funding the field of controllable nuclear fusion. After all, if we want to truly realize commercial reactors with controllable nuclear fusion... even the demonstration reactor is still many years away. ”

"And we are not as easy to produce results as a particle collider. The data produced by one collision is enough for them to study for several years, and then we can produce countless "Science" and "Nature" articles. PRL or something.”

"We started it once and burned money. Even if it was successful, the most we can do is tell people how many seconds we burned."

"Look at our previous news about being able to burn continuously for one hundred seconds and one thousand meters. It sounds very exciting, but in fact we all know that it is still thousands or tens of thousands of times away from being truly practical. ”

"Those news are just telling everyone that we are making progress."

Li Jiangan sighed: "Controllable nuclear fusion is too difficult."

Looking at the helpless expression of the old academician, Xiao Yi nodded slightly to express his understanding.

The difficulty of controllable nuclear fusion is well known.

What is needed is not just a breakthrough in one field, but a common breakthrough in many fields.

And this kind of breakthrough even needs to be a breakthrough in the sense of various science fiction works.

Superconductors are one of them.

The most ideal superconductor for controllable nuclear fusion is room-temperature superconductor. Controllable nuclear fusion under room-temperature superconductor does not require a series of complex cooling devices, and can maximize the huge magnetic field provided by room-temperature superconductor.

Of course, for now, with the performance of HTSC-1, this problem is almost solved.

But beyond superconductors, there's one biggest problem: the first wall material.

The first wall material refers to the material that directly contacts the high-temperature plasma of hundreds of millions of degrees in nuclear fusion.

Any nuclear fusion device has a first wall material.

Of course, as far as current technology is concerned, what the first wall material mainly faces is not high-temperature plasmas of hundreds of millions of degrees. Because these plasmas are coordinated by huge magnetic fields, high temperature is basically not a problem at all. In fact, the first wall material is not a problem at all. The material of one wall only needs to be able to withstand high temperatures of about 1,000 degrees Celsius, and the highest temperature is only about 3,000 degrees Celsius.

The greatest damage to the first wall material actually comes from neutron irradiation.

Currently, humans mainly use the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction in nuclear fusion research, which generates neutrons carrying an energy of about 14.1 MeV.

Because neutrons do not carry charge, even a huge magnetic field cannot control neutrons. Therefore, these neutrons will directly hit the first wall material at such a high energy.

According to calculations, the speed of neutrons at 14.1 MeV reaches approximately 16.83% of the speed of light.

Naturally, the ordinary first wall material cannot withstand such a terrible neutron impact, and will easily become pitted and even extremely fragile in this environment. In extreme cases, even tungsten metal is as hard as Incomparable materials can be broken into pieces by someone's pinch.

As for how to develop such materials, scientists all over the world have been working hard for who knows how long, but they have yet to find the ideal material.

Probably only the strong interaction materials in science fiction novels can be immune to neutron irradiation.

Therefore, for a research institute like the Institute of Plasma that studies controllable nuclear fusion, it is not as popular as a research institute that studies other fields.

It’s not easy to produce results, and it’s even more difficult to achieve the ultimate goal, like a castle in the air.

"So, we want to reach a cooperation with Professor Xiao. If your reputation helps, maybe the higher-ups will be willing to allocate us the equipment to build another nuclear fusion device."

Li Jiangan said: "And there will be a share of HTSC-1 by then. I heard that the HTSC-1 factory will be built soon. If you want HTSC-1 units, it will be more than one. Your University of Science and Technology is engaged in quantum computing. Those people, as well as people from the Institute of High Energy Physics, and..."

"And the military, they are so open-mouthed that they really don't give us research institutes any way to survive."

Zhao Zhanyou, who was next to him, also said at this time: "That's right, we are engaged in nuclear fusion, and we are also making contributions to the future of mankind. Whether human civilization can be upgraded from level 0.7 to level 1 depends on us, and other research and so on. , It’s useless! How useful is it?”

Everyone present burst into laughter.

Xiao Yi also smiled and shook his head, but after pondering for a moment, he still shook his head and said, "Academician Li, I'm sorry, I shouldn't be able to agree to this now."

Li Jiangan's expression remained unchanged, but there was still a hint of disappointment and helplessness in his eyes.

He sighed and said, "Okay, I also know that this request is a bit embarrassing for Professor Xiao."

After all, Xiao Yi is not studying their nuclear fusion. He dragged Xiao Yi over. If it is really built, it seems to be jointly owned by the Science Island Laboratory and their plasma, but in fact, it is only their plasma. Embody all talents in this area.

Even Xiao Yi himself has never studied nuclear fusion or nuclear physics.

What's more, he just thought about expanding the Science Island Laboratory, which also requires money. If he asks for money now because of the matter of the Plasma Institute, although he is an important talent now, it is obvious that the superiors will not let him go. Asking for money is not a matter of millions or tens of millions, but a matter of hundreds of millions.

However, Xiao Yi is not too indifferent. After all, others have spoken for him.

So, he then said: "However, apart from this matter, I can agree to the other conditions."

"For example, regarding the share of HTSC-1, I can help you get more."

"Although we cannot build new controlled nuclear fusion facilities for the time being, HTSC-1 will surely be able to help you conduct some simulation experiments, and it should be no problem to publish a few top journals at that time."

Hearing what Xiao Yi said, Li Jiangan and the others' eyes lit up slightly, and then they all nodded.

Indeed.

Even if they cannot build a new tokamak device, if they can have HTSC-1 to help them conduct some simulation experiments, it will be very easy to publish a few top journals at that time.

For example, if they list the significance of HTSC-1's excellent performance in achieving nuclear fusion, they can easily publish a few journals of the level of Nature and Science. This kind of paper that looks very gimmicky is the paper that Nature and Science like the most.