Great warships

Chapter 418 Liquid Metal Nuclear Power Treasure

"It's amazing. In such a short period of time, an area the size of a football field has been filled!" After returning to Huating, Qin Tao was surprised to find that the father-in-law hadn't left yet. In the study, Wu Shengli praised with emotion .

"Well, everything is difficult at the beginning." Qin Tao said: "As long as this part is filled in at the beginning, it will be expanded slowly. Within half a year, the construction period will definitely be completed. However, the Sky Whale will continue to work there for a year or two. .”

"A year or two?"

"Yeah, only this one Shuangsha Island is not enough. At least two more islands have to be refilled to form a triangular structure, so that it is stable enough. If something happens, it will be convenient for mutual reinforcements."

Wu Shengli nodded: "Although our funds are tight now, the construction there must not be delayed. When there is an airport there, we can breathe a sigh of relief."

Only relying on vertical take-off and landing fighter jets is not enough. With an airport, ordinary fighter jets can take off, and various cargo planes can also fly over, which can be more secure.

Qin Tao nodded: "That's natural."

"Recently, various foreign newspapers have been making big reports, even touting the Sky Whale dredger as a magic weapon." Wu Shengli said, picking up the newspaper: "You Mingzhou Group is about to get rich again. "

Hearing Wu Shengli's words, Qin Tao shook his head: "No, this kind of equipment belongs to the strategic level. No matter how much others pay, we will not sell it. Moreover, the Sky Whale is just the beginning. In the future, we will build more equipment than the Sky Whale." more powerful dredger.”

Qin Tao's words were very serious.

Some money cannot be earned. Dredgers are the most important weapon of the country, and they can only be owned by themselves. If others have them, they can follow their example and reclaim the sea to build islands. How can that be done?
"Yes, this kind of equipment cannot be exported." Wu Shengli nodded: "You Mingzhou Group has principles and positions, which is good."

While speaking, Qin Tao's eldest brother rang loudly.

"Hey."

"President Qin, there are customers from island countries who want to come to us to order a dredger of the same level as the Sky Whale." Cong Ju's voice came from inside.

"Then you reject the customer, we won't sell it." Qin Tao said: "No matter what customer comes to buy, we won't sell it."

"The client also offered to rent our dredger."

"Leasing is not acceptable."

With the shrewdness of the islanders, after the loan is over, they will definitely be imitated. Qin Tao will not let this happen.

Putting down the phone, Qin Tao said to Wu Shengli: "I suggest that the superior give us an order not to let us rent or sell, so that we can also use chicken feathers as arrows to save future troubles."

Wu Shengli nodded: "Of course there is no problem."

"At the beginning, we didn't have a dredger, but you Mingzhou Group got back an island dredger. Now, the island people turn to us to order a dredger. This is really emotional." Thinking of this Come, Wu Shengli sighed very much.

"Of course, we must continue to develop advanced technologies. In the future, foreigners will also have to ask us. At least in the shipbuilding industry, we will lead the whole world." Qin Tao began to brag.

"By the way, the comrades in the relevant departments are very concerned about the nuclear power treasure you proposed, especially Krasnopolsky. He patted his chest and promised that this kind of thing can be made." Wu Shengli remembered another thing.

Krasnopolsky?Qin Tao hesitated for a moment: "Shouldn't he devote himself to the design and construction of our nuclear power plant now?"

The planning of the 095 submarine took a long time. For the sake of stability, a land-based nuclear reactor will also be installed. Under Qin Tao's suggestion, a nuclear power plant was simply built, and the site was selected in Dalieshan.

This project has not started yet, because the design has to be refined to ensure that nothing goes wrong. That Krasnopolsky still has the energy to do this?
"He said that these are the same as the nuclear reactors used on the Type 705 nuclear submarines of the Red Empire era. At that time, he also participated in the construction of such nuclear reactors and has rich experience." Wu Shengli said.

Qin Tao frowned: "This is a big project, we must conduct detailed demonstrations."

"Yes, we think so too, so we will hold a related meeting in the near future. If you are interested, you can come and participate together." Wu Shengli said: "At present, many people are optimistic about this project. If this device can If the research and development is successful, it is absolutely possible to add such an AIP cabin to our conventional diesel-electric submarines."

This is just a euphemism. The AIP cabin is clearly a transformation of a conventional diesel-electric submarine into a nuclear submarine, okay?With this large nuclear power treasure, it is no problem for the submarine to go underwater for a month without coming out.

Qin Tao nodded.

When it was decided to build the Dalian Islands nuclear power plant, it was destined to be a major event in the nuclear industry.Mingzhou Group can't manufacture it by itself, and a lot of equipment has to be purchased from brother factories.

Therefore, the entire nuclear industry system has taken action.

Krasnopolski has also been in constant contact with these people during this period of time. Now he has fully adapted to life here and said goodbye to the past long ago.

The meeting was held in the capital, and along the way, Krasnopolski had already discussed it with Qin Tao.

"When we started designing nuclear submarines, we studied three nuclear reactor technologies, namely pressurized water reactors, liquid metal cooling reactors, and helium cooling reactors. Among the three, we are most optimistic about liquid metal cooling reactors. , can also be called a neutral energy neutron reactor."

Speaking of which, Krasnopolsky was eloquent.

This is a piece of history that has been forgotten, but people who have come from that era will never forget the price they paid for exploring advanced technology in the early days.

At that time, the United States was at the forefront. As early as 1952, General Dynamics built a liquid metal cooling reactor land simulation reactor in West Milton, code-named SIR-A. In 1953, the US Navy had already built the first ship Based on the nuclear submarine Nautilus, it ordered its first liquid metal cooled reactor nuclear submarine, named it "Sea Wolf", code-named SSN-575.

That's right, this code name is also the sea wolf. The sea wolf after decades, I don't know if it is to commemorate this nuclear submarine.

The Americans moved very quickly. The submarine was in service in 56, and liquid metal sodium was used as a coolant in it.

The advantage of this kind of coolant is its high heat transfer efficiency, which is dozens of times that of water. Therefore, it is small in size and powerful in power. After the submarine was launched, it immediately reached 30 knots. The Nautilus at that time was only 25 knots. It's only at the maximum speed, and it immediately becomes an underwater ghost.

Yes, it was a ghost, and the thing quickly made the submariners and engineers miserable.

The reason is, of course, the liquid metal sodium, which will corrode the pipeline. Once it leaks and comes into contact with water, it will catch fire and explode! (Huadong Zhixiong said before that the thing thrown into the toilet should be sodium, not lithium.)
The Americans struggled for a few years and finally gave up, while the hard-headed old men continued.

Lao Maozi's first liquid metal reactor submarine was the Type 645, which was decommissioned after three years of service and sealed up.

Afterwards, the second generation of the 705 model began to be built again. They learned from experience and lessons, and no longer used metallic sodium as a coolant, but used a lead-bismuth alloy. Its biggest advantage is that it will not explode when it encounters water, and it is safe. Sexually at least better.

"Our 705-type nuclear submarine can already reach a speed of [-] knots underwater, which is faster than many torpedoes." Krasnopolsky said: "We have always believed that pressurized water reactors are only developed when the technology is immature. An alternative to the time, when the time comes, the nuclear submarine's reactor must be made of liquid metal!"

Qin Tao glanced at him approvingly. This sentence was not wrong. In later generations, Lao Maozi announced with great fanfare that the next generation of nuclear submarines also plans to use liquid metal reactors. It seems that they are used to using this kind of thing.However, at that time, it was not clear whether it was a PPT project.

As far as the country is concerned, Qin Tao feels a little flattered to launch such a project because of Qin Tao's proposal.

The meeting in the capital finally started. In this meeting, Krasnopolsky became the protagonist. He looked at everyone and introduced the technology of this liquid metal reactor with great excitement.

"It can greatly reduce the volume of nuclear reactors. If we build a 1-megawatt nuclear power plant, its volume may only need half a container, and even 10 megawatts can be realized within the volume of a container."

"And, more importantly, it is a fast neutron reactor. It only needs to burn uranium-238. In this way, the uranium ore directly taken from nature can be used directly after purification. Such a nuclear reactor is very fuel-efficient."

Ordinary nuclear reactors are thermal reactors and can only burn uranium 235, so a large number of centrifuges are needed to extract uranium 235 from uranium 238. You must know that the former accounts for only a few tenths of percent of uranium. The latter is 90.00% nine.

Some people have calculated that the uranium in the earth's crust can be burned for only 100 years if thermal reactors are used, but fast reactors can burn for thousands of years.

"In this way, the nuclear materials inside can be fully burned, and at least a service life of more than ten years can be guaranteed." Krasnopolsky was very excited when he talked about this.

No weapons-grade uranium, not even uranium from nuclear power plants, just burnt uranium rods from nuclear power plants can be used!

"As for the problem of disposal. Just do a one-time disposal. After use, it will be sealed and buried as a whole, and there is no need to disassemble it for disposal."

The biggest problem with this kind of reactor is that bismuth absorbs neutrons to form highly toxic polonium 210. Litvinenko, who defected back then, was poisoned to death by this kind of thing.In nature, this thing is rare, but if this kind of nuclear reactor is used, it will produce a large amount of plutonium 210.
Krasnopolsky had known about the problem for a long time, so the solution was given.

In fact, Lao Maozi's liquid metal reactors were all handled in this way, and they didn't dare to disassemble them at all. They were directly packed together and buried as a whole.

After Krasnopolsky's introduction was over, everyone's discussion began.

"Compared with sodium reactors, this alloy has a high density. If this liquid metal is used as a coolant, its weight will be heavy, and the strength of the pipeline is a problem."

"This kind of reactor has to work all the time, and once it stops, it will freeze. Once it is established, there is no possibility of shutting down the reactor."

"It is safe because it will solidify. Once it leaks out, it will become solid and block the leaking part."

"Liquid metal can be self-circulating, no circulating pump is needed, and the noise will be very small."

Everyone had different opinions and heated discussions, but Qin Tao suddenly felt bored at this moment, and he already faintly felt that he was cheated by his father-in-law.

He just mentioned it at the beginning, and then it was over, but Wu Shengli took it seriously.

If this kind of thing is developed, it will be of great use to the army.

These islands and reefs stationed now need stable power. If the nuclear power treasure is taken over, it can be used for ten years at once!Moreover, it also eliminates the problem of frequent fuel delivery for diesel generators, sufficient power supply, and even seawater desalination plants can be set up on islands and reefs.

There are many places in the motherland that need this kind of thing. Whether it is a plateau or a desert Gobi Desert, it would be great to have such a power generation device.

Even conventional submarines can be used, just use it as an AIP cabin.

In this way, the development of such a device is necessary.

But who puts the money in?
Sitting here, Qin Tao is very professional and can't understand, but he has understood the meaning: they Mingzhou Group, I am afraid they will become the research and development unit of this project!
Qin Tao can use the nuclear experts present. Anyway, the big guys are also participating in the construction of the Mingzhou Group's nuclear power plant. However, the funds needed for the development of nuclear power treasures must be provided by the Mingzhou Group!
"Mr. Krasnopolsky, we heard that this liquid metal corrodes the pipeline. Is there a good way to solve it?"

Why is the pipe leaking?It is the problem of corrosion. Therefore, if the problem of corrosion is not solved, it will still not be a qualified product.

"We have researched that this corrosion problem is related to the oxygen content of the lead-bismuth alloy, but it has not been pursued."

"That is to say, for our project at present, the most important thing is to develop a qualified coolant and solve its corrosion problem?" Qin Tao finally spoke.

This summary is quite accurate.

Seeing everyone nodding, Qin Tao continued to make a decision: "Then, we need to study this coolant first, and wait until the related coolant technology has made a breakthrough before researching nuclear power treasures."

This thing sounds beautiful, but Qin Tao has never seen it before. Moreover, the Mingzhou Group really doesn't have much capital now, and the spread is too big. If the chain is broken, the trouble will be big.

Therefore, it is better to pre-study the key technologies.

Facing Qin Tao's proposal, Krasnopolsky did not object: "That's right, we should indeed study this coolant technology first, and when this technology breaks through, our nuclear power project can be officially launched. , By that time, the Dalieshan Nuclear Power Plant will have been in stable operation, and we can devote ourselves to developing this product.”

For Krasnopolsky, liquid metal reactors have been soaked in his heart, and he also hopes that this technology will continue to develop, of course, need to be more reliable and safer.

Therefore, in this meeting, the two technologies "Comprehensive Experimental Circuit for Lead-Based Reactor Coolant Technology" and "Oxygen Measurement and Control Technology for Lead-Based Reactor Coolant" were determined, and the relevant units were responsible for the research and development. As for the funding, in addition to the national investment In addition, Mingzhou Group will also bear part of it.

"Boss Qin, can we build an ADS reactor while developing these systems?" Just then, another nuclear physics expert made a suggestion to Qin Tao.

Qin Tao shook his head: "I don't know what you're talking about."

I thought that Qin always disagreed, but he didn't know. The expert quickly explained: "This kind of reactor is not a working reactor. It does not have any output energy, but is used for scientific research and teaching. It has no High-quality nuclear materials, and no neutron source, it is mainly driven by an accelerator, which is convenient for our scientific research.”

If and only when external high-energy neutrons enter the core, the reactor can undergo nuclear fission reaction, but it is not a self-sustaining chain reaction. In this way, since the incident neutron flow can be calculated and controlled, so Can perform various calculations and establish corresponding models.

Qin Tao nodded. This kind of scientific research does not cost much, and it can be further verified. Of course, it can be done.

After the meeting, it was already evening, and everyone came to the restaurant to discuss the application of this technology while eating.

"When this technology matures, can we apply it in large quantities, such as our tanks, which can be equipped with this nuclear power device."

"In previous science fiction, there was talk of nuclear-powered vehicles. Now, our technology may facilitate this science fiction to become a reality."

Everyone is thinking about the future.

Qin Tao didn't pour cold water on the big guys, he had to dare to think. If he really figured it out, it would be more environmentally friendly than the kind of electric car that runs around with thousands of batteries on its back.

After eating, Qin Tao sat in the returning car, opened the window and looked at the scene outside.

"Since when did Santa become popular outside?" Qin Tao asked looking at the uniquely dressed people passing by on the street.

"In the past one or two years. Christmas is coming soon, and even Apple's price has increased." Xu Zhengyang said.

"This is not good, we should promote our own traditional culture." Qin Tao said.

This kind of thing has nothing to do with him, but since I saw it, I always want to mention a few words, and Xu Zhengyang will report it to the relevant units.

The ancient traditions are all lost, so just study abroad blindly, okay?
While speaking, the big brother rang loudly.

Qin Tao picked it up and listened to the words inside, his face was full of joy: "What? There is such a good thing? Well, I will go right away."

Xu Zhengyang glanced at Qin Tao curiously, and heard him say: "Zhengyang, go to the airport to pick up someone."

Airport access?

Xu Zhengyang was very different. However, he didn't express his doubts. Instead, he drove around at the intersection ahead, and then drove straight to the airport.

After arriving at the airport, I saw Wu Shengli who had arrived ahead of schedule.

"What's the matter with Ermao? He actually learned to sell door-to-door?" Qin Tao said to Wu Shengli.

"Yes, they are currently looking for buyers all over the world. After they scare Ah San away, we should be the most suitable ones to take over." Wu Shengli said: "Besides, you and Makarov are still good friends. Therefore, they want to sell the Varyag for a good price, so they pin their hopes on you."

Makarov, Varyag?
Xu Zhengyang's heart was also filled with excitement.

For this project, Qin Tao has made a lot of preparations and has been waiting for an opportunity. This time, has the opportunity really arrived?
Qin Tao was also filled with emotions. Originally, he planned to go to the door to buy at the right time, but he did not expect that Er Mao would come to the door on his own initiative. This was something he never expected, which also showed that Er Mao was really in a hurry .

Can I buy it back this time?Still need to wait?
A Tu-114 passenger plane landed on the runway of Huating Airport, and a few old men appeared in the special VIP exit.

The one in the lead has white hair and a hunched back, which makes people feel distressed. A few years ago, he was still in high spirits, but now he is in this state!
The long flight made Makarov a little tired, but he still smiled when he saw Qin Tao.

"Mr. Qin, I'm very glad that we meet again."

"Old Ma, let me introduce you. This is our leader Wu, who came here to pick you up." Qin Tao hurriedly introduced his father-in-law.

Although we are all old acquaintances, this is not a private communication, of course we have to introduce them according to their status.

"Mr. Makarov, you've worked hard all the way." Wu Shengli stretched out his hand.

"It's not hard. I've always been curious about what kind of country China is. This time, I finally have the opportunity to come here and have a look around." Makarov said: "This is a magical country. Place, by the way, let me introduce you, this is Asnayev, the person in charge of our trip."

Asnayev stretched out his hand: "Leader Wu, I am very glad to meet you. We believe that the Varyag must be your best choice. We hope that an agreement can be reached this time."

They came here with only one purpose: to sell the Varyag.

Because the asking price was too high, Ah San ran away. Although they made friendly requests several times, Ah San had already decided to go all out to build the Novorossiysk, and never talked to them again.

Now, they can't wait to trade with the East.

"Since you are here, I will take you to the Aircraft Carrier Park tomorrow." Qin Tao said, "Look at the former Kyiv."

Makarov nodded.

The Kyiv was Lao Maozi's first attempt to build a large surface ship. Unfortunately, he died young, and now it can appear as an aircraft carrier park, which is also a kind of rebirth.

However, he felt that Qin Tao had another intention in saying this.

Can their sales go well?
(End of this chapter)