Great warships

Chapter 409 The Tall High-Temperature Air-cooled Nuclear Reactor
"Hey, why are there so many people here?" When Qin Tao returned to the third design department, he was surprised to find that there were more people.

Among them, the slightly fat old man with white hair was so familiar. He pondered for a while, and then asked tentatively: "Old Zhao?"

Hearing the name Qin Tao called out, Mr. Zhao showed a smile on his face: "It is said that Mr. Qin is well-informed, and now he finally understands it. The first time we met, we were recognized, Mr. Qin, Just call me Lao Zhao from now on."

Of course, Qin Tao couldn't agree. The old man in front of him is the head of the nuclear reactor of the first-generation domestic nuclear submarine!

At that time, the country was poor and white, there was not even a commercial nuclear power plant, and nuclear reactors had just started. At this time, it was very difficult to develop an advanced nuclear submarine power system.

However, no matter what difficulties there are, domestic scientific and technological personnel will not be troubled. They persist in their work under harsh conditions, and even in the third-line construction, they have been away for 20 years. This is how the first generation of nuclear submarines of the motherland was produced. of.

Moreover, relying on a solid foundation, the motherland's nuclear submarines have not had any serious accidents. The nuclear reactors on land have been successfully started once, and then they can reach full power operation. Years of hard work have reaped success.

However, compared with other submarines in the world, the nuclear reactors of domestic submarines are still very backward, with high noise and low power. Therefore, domestic scientific and technological personnel are also overcoming difficulties and constantly forging ahead to develop more advanced nuclear reactors.

The power of the first-generation nuclear reactor was only 10 megawatts. After their efforts, the power was increased to 28 megawatts, which can be said to have developed by leaps and bounds.

However, if it is compared with Lao Maozi's VM-5 nuclear reactor, it is not worth mentioning. Their nuclear reactor can output 170 megawatts of power!
In the past, although they had heard of it, they had never seen it. Although they had participated in many academic conferences together, Krasnopolsky had never revealed the technology of Lao Maozi's most advanced submarine nuclear reactor.

Until now, these old men have decided to stay, and they have to design a brand new nuclear submarine. This kind of nuclear reactor technology was taken out.

After the report went up, countless people were shocked, and Mr. Zhao even brought people here himself.

"Old Zhao, are you planning to just come and have a look this time, or are you planning to stay and help? The guest house of our Mingzhou Group can still accommodate everyone. If you can stay and work here, I welcome it very much."

Hearing Qin Tao's words, Mr. Zhao nodded: "Since Boss Qin is so enthusiastic about staying, then we will stay. You are responsible for food and lodging, and we work for free."

These people are all in relevant departments in the country, they have a salary from the state, and they don't care how much money they make, they care more about their achievements at work.

On the surface it is to stay to help, but in fact it is to study!

What is the structure and principle of this nuclear reactor whose power is more than ten times that of our own?How to ensure safety, etc., these need to be studied and mastered in their studies.

Seeing Mr. Zhao nodded, Qin Tao was very satisfied: "Okay, then you can go to work, Krasnopolsky! The new force is here! The progress of our nuclear reactor research and development can be accelerated!"

Of course, Krasnopolsky would not object to the joining of these people. Even with the help of computers, he still needs a large number of people. Most of these people in front of him have met. He is engaged in nuclear reactors, and he is very happy to accept the arrival of these people.

"Mr. Krasnopolsky, I don't understand the design of the control rod's operating system." Soon, Mr. Zhao asked a question.

Nuclear reactors may sound grand, but their principles are actually quite simple.

In order to facilitate the use in submarines, most of them are graphite reactors, that is, graphite blocks are used as the main body of the reactor. On the graphite blocks, there are cylindrical holes reserved horizontally and vertically.

Generally speaking, the horizontal ones are inserted with uranium rods, and the vertical ones are inserted with cadmium rods.

The uranium rod is used for burning, it is constantly releasing neutrons, and through the graphite as a moderator, the fast neutrons are changed into slow neutrons, which are injected into other uranium nuclei, and the uranium nuclei will split and shoot out more neutrons. neutrons, releasing energy at the same time.

If it is not controlled, the splitting of a uranium nucleus will release several neutrons. If this continues, more and more uranium nuclei will participate in the fission reaction. If this continues, all uranium nuclei will be destroyed in a short period of time. If it breaks, it becomes a nuclear explosion. (Limited by the uranium concentration of the nuclear reactor, there will be no nuclear explosion, but the heat will definitely soar.)
At this time, the cadmium rod as the control rod will take effect.

Cadmium rods can absorb neutrons, the more it inserts, the more it absorbs, and the operation of the reactor will slow down, and if part of it is taken out, the reactor will speed up, and if all of it is taken out, the nuclear reactor will heat up rapidly.

Therefore, in the operation of a nuclear reactor, this control rod must be able to be inserted and withdrawn at any time as needed.

"This design originated from an accident." Krasnopolsky said: "At that time, the submarine had a fire and had to be shut down quickly. However, the electrical system failed and could not be fully inserted. Therefore, someone had to enter above the reactor. Manual operation, and the accident resulted in the death of an engineer.”

Lao Maozi has always been very aggressive in the research and development of nuclear submarines. In order to make the submarine have excellent performance, they will take out many immature technologies. As a result, submariners will always face threats.

The famous K-19 thus became a widow maker.

"In addition to the problem of the control system, these control rods will expand slightly when their life is approaching, which will also cause difficulty in insertion. Therefore, we must increase the power of the electric drive system enough." Krasnopols Key explained: "At the same time, because the submarine may flip over in the event of an accident, the control rod may not be aligned with the insertion position, or even fall out of the reactor, so we must retain the manual control system."

For the control system of the nuclear reactor, there must be enough system redundancy, which is not usually used, but once there is a danger, even if the lives of one or two submariners are sacrificed, more lives must be saved.

This is a multiple-choice question for every submarine captain. If they make the wrong choice, then they are not a qualified submarine captain.

Mr. Zhao nodded, and then said: "So, can you add a hydraulic system backup to it, so that it can play a double insurance role?"

Hydraulic backup?Krasnopolski's eyes lit up: "Do you have a corresponding plan?"

"Yes, considering the possibility of electrical system failure, we are using a hydraulic control scheme. In this way, even if the entire ship is powered off, the remaining pressure in the hydraulic system can be used to perform shutdown operations."

Seeing that Krasnopolski followed his advice, Mr. Zhao continued: "You have noticed that the submarine flipped out of control and couldn't align with the insertion position. In fact, there is another extreme situation. If the submarine flips completely , That is to say, if the hull is turned upside down, all the control rods may fall off, so a special locking mechanism is also needed.”

The power of the 091 nuclear submarine is not high, and the noise is very loud. These are all weaknesses, but they have done a good job in one aspect, that is, safety. This submarine has never had any safety problems during operation!
Now, many ideas can be used to improve the nuclear reactor in front of us, so as to make it safer, and combined with its advantages of high power, it will be an advanced power for a modern submarine in the future.

Qin Tao was completely speechless.

After all the technical questions were finished, Qin Tao said, "I heard that the universities in the capital are already building high-temperature air-cooled reactors. This kind of reactor is just as safe. Can it be used on our submarines?"

Speaking of the development of nuclear reactors in China, we have to increase the temperature of gas-cooled nuclear reactors. This kind of reactor still uses graphite as a moderator, but instead of cooling with water, it uses helium gas as a coolant. The temperature of helium Up to around 800 degrees.

The biggest feature of this kind of nuclear reactor is safety. In July 2005, the university carried out the experiment of pulling out all control rods and superimposing non-emergency shutdown in the 7 MW high-temperature gas-cooled experimental reactor. If other nuclear reactors, Once the control rods are all pulled out, the core of the nuclear reactor will melt and become a serious accident.

However, the high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor was unscathed.

This experiment is also the first in the world, which marks that China is at the world's advanced level in nuclear energy research and development. After the safety of this 10-megawatt nuclear reactor was verified, the country began to build a 200-megawatt industrial reactor, which was successfully connected to the grid for power generation.

At that time, the former president of the American Nuclear Society and Professor Andrew Kadak of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology arrived at the site and sighed after visiting the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor demonstration project under construction: "China is undoubtedly the global leader in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. And for a long time to come, China will continue to lead the world."

The Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant has to use foreign technology. In later generations, domestic nuclear power technology will lead the world. This is a compliment to many nuclear power workers.

For a while, all kinds of news were flying all over the sky, saying that the advanced domestic nuclear submarines also used all high-temperature air-cooled reactors, how powerful they were.

At this time, after hearing Qin Tao's words, Krasnopolsky glanced at him: "Mr. Qin, I have participated in related meetings and know that you are making rapid progress in this area. At present, the universities in the capital We are preparing to build a 10 MW test reactor, do you know its volume?"

Qin Tao shook his head.

"Then I can tell you that its height is 11 meters. If it is expanded to 170 megawatts of power, even if multiple furnaces are connected in parallel, the height must be about 40 meters."

Qin Tao smiled, not to mention nuclear submarines, even nuclear-powered aircraft carriers can't fit inside!
The high-temperature air-cooled nuclear reactor belongs to the fourth generation nuclear reactor, which is characterized by very good safety, but its disadvantage is that the power density is very low and the volume is very large!

Therefore, it is only news from third-rate tabloids that this thing can be used on nuclear submarines.

But... You can fool people!
Recently, some people are very enthusiastic about China's nuclear submarine technology. No matter how much it costs, they want to get the submarine technology. They even go to various steel factories to buy high-performance steel, rather than being deceived.

Qin Tao couldn't stand it, so he just announced it openly!

A few days later, a familiar figure appeared on the TV.

"I am very happy today. I can sit here and host the show for you." Zhang Zhong in the TV was very happy: "In the past, I always appeared in front of the audience as a guest. Today , I am the host. The program I am hosting is called Zhang Zhongshuo series. For example, tanks, aircraft, warships, and aircraft carriers. Of course, the first thing we want to talk about is submarines, so now our program Its name is Zhang Zhongshuo Submarine."

Zhang Zhong is very happy. In this field, he has played an important role. At the same time, he has also gained a large number of fans. It can be said that he is already a leader in this industry. Now Zhang Zhong is very confident about his ability. I am very satisfied to host the show myself.

"Of course, I can't do it alone. Today, we specially invited a leader in my country's nuclear reactor industry, who is now President Wang of ** University, to tell us about the advanced fourth-generation nuclear reactor. "

The camera turned to President Wang, with a smile on his face: "Hello everyone, I am very glad to be able to sit here and talk about nuclear reactors with you. We know that nuclear power technology is a great pioneering work for mankind in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. However, in several In the course of ten years of use, nuclear power technology has also had some vicious accidents. For example, the core of a certain nuclear power plant in the United States has melted down, and the Red Empire has also learned the painful lesson of Chernobyl. However, human beings will not suffer because of this. Just stop, and even talk about nuclear discoloration. These accidents have prompted us to study safer and more environmentally friendly nuclear reactors."

"So, President Wang, is there such advanced nuclear reactor technology now?"

"Yes, this is a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor. Its biggest feature is safety. Regardless of any accidents, this nuclear reactor will shut down safely."

"Then tell us the audience."

The slideshow appeared on the screen, and Principal Wang's voice came.

"In the past, nuclear reactors burned uranium rods. When they were used up, they needed to be replaced. This took a lot of time and faced the risk of nuclear radiation. Our current nuclear reactor burns spherical nuclear materials. Just like briquettes, if they are not enough to burn, they can be added at any time.”

"Principal Wang, how big is this briquette?"

"The diameter of the fuel ball is about 60 millimeters, and the size is similar to a tennis ball. The outer layer of the fuel ball is graphite, and the middle is surrounded by fissile material."

In the room, Qin Tao looked at Zhang Zhong who was explaining excitedly, very satisfied.

"Zhang Zhong's performance is really great." Qin Tao said with emotion: "He is that kind of natural orator."

"Yes, no matter what he says, the audience will believe it, and the intelligence systems of other countries are also paying attention to him." Xu Zhengyang continued.

There were only the two of them in the room. After all, everyone else was busy with work, and they wouldn't come back until eleven or twelve o'clock in the evening.

"Okay, it's out!" Qin Tao excitedly looked at the screen.

At this time, a design drawing of a submarine appeared in the PPT. The nuclear reactor at the tail of the submarine was exactly the same as the first slide just released.

"This is the application model of our high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor. We are currently building a 10-megawatt test reactor. Its power is the same as that of our current nuclear submarine. Therefore, it can be transplanted to nuclear submarines. At the same time , we can also increase its power."

"Principal Wang, there are many types of nuclear submarine reactors, right?"

"Yes, the Western world led by the United States has been using pressurized water reactors for a long time. This method is the most secure, but its performance is not advanced enough. It belongs to the golden mean. The old man is more radical. He once developed a liquid metal reactor. The submarine has reached a speed of more than 40 knots underwater, and the western torpedoes can't catch up. It is simply the MiG-25 in the sea. However, these technologies are all behind. The nuclear reactor of the submarine in the future must be a high-temperature air-cooled reactor. This is the fourth-generation nuclear reactor. It is inevitable for the development of nuclear reactor technology."

"Mr. Qin, do you think we will lead others into the ditch if we say it openly?"

"I don't know, but we have to fool around. Those that are under development, we will keep them highly confidential. Those that are not in the research and development sequence, we have to publicize them with great fanfare. Our strategic fooling bureau has to do this."

Strategic deception bureau?Xu Zhengyang was extremely puzzled, there is no such department in our country, right?

"Now, that batch of steel has almost been shipped over, right? Next, there will be another bloody storm!"

Maple Leaf Country, a metal laboratory.

"Mingzhou Group is the most powerful heavy industry group in the East. Their steel plant is also very powerful. They are the second in the world that can produce Invar steel. Therefore, it is normal for them to be able to produce high-strength steel." Lesk With a smile on his face: "It's normal for you to go to other steel factories and get nothing. After all, other steel factories are state-owned."

Lesk was clearly here to show off. After all, he was the only one who successfully brought back ten tons of steel. It is said that the yield strength is as high as two gigapascals. This thing has already surpassed everyone's understanding.

His success stands in stark contrast to the others' lack of success.

His consolation, on the surface, was well intentioned, but in fact, it was clearly Chi Guoguo's show off.

Of course the big guys are not convinced.

But there is no way.

"Now, let's test it." Thomas, the person in charge of this operation, said: "Let's see how strong the steel that we bought for 5000 million dollars is."

Although in China, a group of metal experts questioned that it is impossible for two thousand megapascal steel to exist, but their sonar will not be wrong. The other party has indeed dived to a depth of 600 meters. Only steel can achieve this deep dive, and ordinary steel has long been crushed.

Now, they have to test.

"Test it." Lesk replied, at this moment, he was full of confidence.

Then, the steel sample was placed on the testing machine.

One hundred megapascals, two hundred megapascals, three hundred megapascals... Crack!

Samples are off!

"Lesk, is this the high-strength steel you mentioned at [-] MPa? Why is it only at the level of civilian steel?"

"The quality of their batch of steel is unstable, and it is understandable that there are a few scraps among them." Lesk said: "Let's change a piece and continue testing!"

Thus, the second steel sample was clamped up.

It shouldn't be this bad luck, right?

Maybe this piece is the kind of advanced steel that can reach two gigapascals?

The test starts again.

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred...Looking at the soaring numbers, Lesk's heart gradually relaxed.

However, when it was just over [-], there was another bang, and this sample was also broken!

For the grade of steel, conscientious companies all have low standards, and Mingzhou Iron and Steel Works is like this.

If the mark is 250 MPa, then the worst piece inside can also have [-] MPa, the good one can be [-] MPa, and the extreme one can be [-] MPa.

The piece in front of me is definitely the best, but it is still far from high-strength steel!
"Lesk, you must have been deceived by someone, right? That President Qin is said to be very good at deceiving people."

"How is it possible, I have been doing foreign trade for so many years, it is impossible to be cheated and exchange for a new one!"

Although he insisted on his words, Lesker was already panicking in his heart.

Can't go wrong again!
Taking apart the new steel, Lesk looked at the bright colors on it, it should be all right now, right?

Who knows, after going up, it will be broken when it is more than 200!

Lesk's face turned completely dark.

Thomas' face was also ugly: "Leske, you spent 5000 million US dollars on us, and you bought these things?"

"No, no, there must be something wrong with it!" Lesk said, "We'll get new ones. The quality isn't stable. We can always find good ones!"

Batch after batch.

All the steel plates have been disassembled, and the best one only has a yield of more than 400 MPa, which simply cannot meet the requirement of [-] MPa!

"Lesk, you have been cheated." Thomas also came to a conclusion: "Your Owen Shipyard will bear part of this loss. This batch of steel is sold to you for 2000 million, and the shipbuilding is still no problem."

"No, no, there must be something wrong, I have seen the test with my own eyes!"

He clearly saw with his own eyes that the test yielded a sky-defying number, but now, how could it be like this?

"I'm going to call!"

The phone can't get through.

In this era of transoceanic phone calls, how can it be so easy to get through.

"I'll go there myself!"

"The quality of the steel provided by the other party is not up to standard. You can go through legal procedures and sue them in the nationality court and make them pay the price!" A fellow spectator suggested.

Go through the legal process?
Lesk thought of what Qin Tao said at the time, the quality of these batches of steel varies, so they cannot guarantee that they can all meet the requirement of [-] gigapascals.

So, if you can’t achieve it, how much is it that you can’t achieve it?
[-] megapascals have not been reached, [-] megapascals have not been reached, [-] megapascals, [-] megapascals have not been reached.

Even if this contract is taken out to sue, it may not be possible to win the lawsuit!
Moreover, the key is the signing of the contract.

"What about the contract?" The person in charge of the Owen Shipyard looked at Lesk with a serious face.

Lesk could only take out the contract.

"Damn it, this kind of contract can be signed, and you still say that you are a professional trader? Also, what is going on with this China 250 import and export company? Shouldn't it be signed by Mingzhou Group?"

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(End of this chapter)