Technological power starts with upgrading lenses.

Chapter 388 Steampunk Romance

The purpose of holding a technical analysis meeting on the General Fusion accident was to try to avoid repeating the same mistake, but after reading this report, Kang Chi felt that there was nothing left to discuss.

This was no longer radical or adventurous. In order to complete the ignition of the magnetized target circuit before Kang Chi, they were simply desperate...

But anyway, if you look at it from their perspective, it's not hard to understand.

After all, since the birth of science, any experiment attempted by scientists has a certain degree of risk.
Even many experimental accidents occur when the experimenters insist on carrying out the experiments despite knowing that there are great risks.

For example, in the field of space exploration, Country M’s space shuttle exploded three times.

To put it nicely, this is called the spirit of scientific exploration. To put it bluntly, it is like a gambling addiction where one wants to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle and thinks he will definitely be the winner.

Even in a nuclear accident like Chernobyl, it was the same. Some people knew that there was a problem with the design of the control rods, but they still wanted to take a gamble, thinking that nothing would go wrong.

After Kang Chi came to Luzhou Plasma Research Institute, although the progress of the Jinwu No. 1 project was affected by some general fusion experimental accidents, it was generally proceeding according to plan.
Especially when Kang Chi proposed the experiment, he let the Reaper humanoid robot act as the operator of the experimental site, and then moved the experimental command room 500 meters away. All safety issues seemed to be no longer a problem...

In this case, even if it explodes, there will be no casualties.

The only drawback is that researchers need to familiarize themselves with robot operations in advance.

However, compared to the arduous task of reinforcing the control room against nuclear strikes, this is the safest, most convenient and quickest method.

Time quickly came to February 9th, and there were only ten days left before Kang Chi signed the four-month military order. After many debuggings, Jinwu No. 1 finally completed the final assembly work.

[Item: Magnetized Target Nuclear Fusion Reactor]

[Manufacturer: China (participation rate 32%)]

[Item Level: 1 (Cannot be upgraded if participation is less than 50%)]

[Item status: intact]

[Item parameters: Maximum operating speed is 120 times per minute, and the maximum energy released per reaction is 1500 megajoules]

[Analysis items: no analysis items]

[General experience: 2043345]

[Mastery Points: 133 (+120)]

When Kang Chi saw the system pop-up panel, he felt reassured.

Jinwu No. 1 is stable!

Unfortunately, this time, Jinwu No. 32 was built through cooperation among multiple parties, so the manufacturer was determined to be China. The system also clearly marked that Kang Chi’s personal participation was only %, so it could not be upgraded directly.

But it's not a big problem. Kang Chi has already used the best materials for it. In addition, the system has the nature of upgrading large items. Even if it can be upgraded by one or two levels, the improvement in performance is estimated to be not significant.

In other words, as Kang Chi's engineering design capabilities became stronger and stronger, with obvious bottlenecks in materials and lines, there was limited room for improvement in the things he made.

Now that the thing is made, the next step is naturally to try it out. After a meeting and discussion, Kang Chi finally decided to conduct the ignition test on the 12th.

After receiving the experimental report from Luzhou Plasma Research Institute, the Luzhou Municipal Government immediately attached great importance to it, quickly mobilized various departments to cooperate, and reported it to the higher authorities.

On the 12th, the area within a two-kilometer radius centered on the Luzhou Plasma Research Institute was blocked by traffic police, special police, and military personnel.

The Luzhou Plasma Research Institute was originally located in the suburbs, and on the Science Peninsula next to the Dongpu Reservoir. It is surrounded by water on three sides. Normally, it only needs to block the only way in, and that's basically it.

However, due to the accident in the General Fusion experiment, the local and Yanjing leaders were not very reassured, so they set up cordons not only at the entrance, but also on the three opposite banks of the reservoir. There were also patrol boats constantly passing by in the reservoir to prevent people and ships from approaching.

As for the area near the institute, besides military vehicles, police cars and ambulances, the most exaggerated one is the fire truck.
The Luzhou Fire Department directly mobilized two fire brigades, with a total of 12 fire trucks parked in a row, and a fire helicopter hovering in the sky...

Kang Chi, who was sitting in the car, saw this and couldn't help but complain: "It's as if we are really building a nuclear bomb..."

Zhong Weijian immediately smiled and said, "It can't be helped. The General Fusion accident happened just over a month ago. It's normal for the leaders to overreact."

After passing through layers of checkpoints, the vehicle finally stopped at the experimental control room, which was more than 500 meters away from the reactor.
As soon as Kang Chi got out of the car, he saw several reporters carrying cameras, who were interviewing the director of the Energy Bureau who had rushed over from Yanjing, and a group of local leaders from Luzhou at the door.

"Why are there reporters here?"

"This is what Commander Lu meant." Chen Hai, who was following behind Kang Chi, immediately explained, "He meant that if the ignition can be successful today, it will be a major moment of epoch-making historical significance. It would be best if it could be recorded in all directions with video footage. But don't worry, there will be no live broadcast today..."

"Okay." Kang Chi nodded thoughtfully, "So there's no live broadcast... are you afraid that we'll fail?"

Chen Hai just smiled and did not answer the question.

"Academician Kang is here!"

While the two were talking, a reporter quickly spotted him and called for a photographer carrying a camera to come over.

"Hello, Academician Kang. I am Su Shanshan, a reporter from China News. May I have a few minutes to do a simple interview with you?"

Kang Chi nodded: "Hello, reporter Su, I didn't expect we would meet again."

Hearing Kang Chi's words, Su Shanshan couldn't help but said with some surprise: "So you still remember me."

"Of course I remember." Kang Chi smiled, "You were the one who interviewed me the first time I was on China News, how could I not remember it."

Susan also smiled, and couldn't help but feel a little emotional. When Dahan Silicon Industry first developed the floating belt single crystal furnace, she thought Kang Chi was already very impressive.

However, who would have thought that was just the beginning of the legend...

Knowing that Kang Chi was about to conduct an important experiment, Susan also knew that now was not the time to reminisce or express feelings, so she took out her notebook and glanced at the photographer.

After getting an OK look, she turned back to look at Kang Chi and asked the question she had prepared in advance: "On December 2025, 12, one month ago, a serious nuclear fusion experiment accident occurred at Maple Leaf General Fusion Company."

"This accident not only makes people worry about the prospect of controlled nuclear fusion, but also the safety of magnetized target nuclear fusion devices. I would like to ask Academician Kang, what do you think about this matter? Is the magnetized target device really a very dangerous hydrogen bomb as the outside world says? What is the difference between Jinwu No. 26 and LM-?"

Susan asked three questions in a row, but they can actually all be summarized as a safety issue.

This is also what everyone is most concerned about.

"Strictly speaking, the reaction principle of the magnetized target device is indeed very similar to that of a hydrogen bomb. If the device gets out of control, an accident like the General Fusion will occur. It is not wrong for everyone to regard it as a hydrogen bomb."

After hearing this, Susan seemed to be hesitant to speak, as if she wanted to interrupt Kang Chi, but fortunately, Kang Chi quickly gave her a satisfactory answer.

"But the reason why controlled nuclear fusion is called controlled nuclear fusion is because it is 'completely controllable'. If it cannot be completely controlled, it will be no different from an ordinary nuclear fusion experiment."

"As you can see, even if General Fusion's LM-26 exploded, its power would be much smaller than a real nuclear weapon, and even smaller than most conventional bombs."

"At the same time, if a nuclear fusion reactor has a nuclear leak, not only will the amount of nuclear radiation leaked be very low, but it will also be a one-time event. It will not be like a nuclear fission reactor that will have a continuous nuclear reaction for more than ten years or even decades, emitting nuclear radiation continuously."

"This is mainly because the magnetized target device burns very little nuclear fuel each time, usually only a few milligrams, and it is gone after it is burned. Therefore, we do not have to worry about serious nuclear leakage accidents after an accident in the nuclear fusion test reactor. Even if everyone is still worried, as long as the distance is kept at more than one kilometer, it is absolutely safe."

"At the same time, because the fuel for each reaction is very small, the energy released by the fusion reaction is limited, which gives us the possibility to control it, and the performance of the device determines our control over the fusion reaction."

"In fact, the magnetized target device is like a car engine. If the material and design are not good, it may explode. The reason why the LM-26 accident happened is that their experiment was too radical and the operation was not correct. I think the most fundamental reason is that the performance of the device is far from enough to fully control the fusion reaction."

Susan couldn't help but ask, "What about Golden Crow No. 1?"

"You will know after the experiment."
-
An hour and a half later, in the experiment command room.

After taking the pre-operation analysis report of the device handed over by Zhong Weijian, Kang Chi immediately read it carefully.

Although the system pops up a panel, the necessary procedures and cautious attitude are still required.
History always tells us that waves never have a good ending.

While Kang Chi was reading the report, Zhong Weijian also verbally reported: "The temperature, pressure, time and other data of the ten nitrogen experiments have an error of no more than 0.0001%, which meets the design standards of the device."

Kang Chi nodded, put down the analysis report and said, "Then let's officially start the experiment."

After hearing this, Zhong Weijian couldn't help but look up at the device monitoring on the big screen.

The laboratory that originally housed the Eastern Super Ring has become a large device with a much more complex structure than the Eastern Super Ring. Its style is quite rough, with all kinds of densely packed wires and pipes crisscrossing it. There are also three humanoid robots walking around the device.

The whole picture gives people a sense of déjà vu, as if entering a steampunk world full of violent aesthetics.

In fact, the principle of the magnetized target device is indeed a bit steampunk...

But as a major participant in this device, Zhong Weijian is very clear that this device is much more powerful than the EAST in terms of material properties and sophisticated mechanical structure design, and is not of the same species as the traditional steam engine.

At the same time, the Jinwu No. 1 steam hammer designed by Kang Chi is not a simple steam hammer, but a combination hammer of steam + motor.

When working under pressure, the motor plays the role of fine-tuning the speed. When the fusion reaction needs to reduce pressure, the motor can not only buffer the pressure, but also make the pressure curve more linear and smooth.

This design not only solves the problem of inconsistent steam hammer speed caused by air pressure deviation, which is the same problem as the General Fusion LM-26, but it can also generate some electricity at the same time, further improving the future power generation efficiency of the entire device.

Although the entire project involved at least tens of thousands of people, Zhong Weijian still felt like a dream. It was hard to imagine that under the leadership of Kang Chi, they built this huge machine with ridiculously powerful performance in all aspects in just less than four months.

If Jinwu-1 can be successfully ignited, it will undoubtedly become the greatest engineering miracle of this century, without a doubt!

To be honest, if possible, he really hopes to be able to stand there and witness this great moment with his own eyes.

The screen made his unreality even more obvious...

Zhong Weijian took a deep breath, then slowly turned on the microphone and said, "All departments are preparing for the first official ignition experiment. The fuel is set to 0.1mg of deuterium-tritium mixture."

"Roger that!"

Following Zhong Weijian's order, all departments immediately took action.

In fact, from the test of 0.1mg starting fuel, it can be seen that the performance of Jinwu No. 26 is completely different from that of LM-.

Although for the sake of experimental safety, the initial test must use as little fuel as possible, but less fuel means that in the same space, there are fewer deuterium-tritium atoms and the probability of fusion reactions produced by collisions is lower. At this time, the device is needed to create more ideal reaction conditions.

This places higher demands on the performance of the device. Similarly, this will also result in higher input power but lower output power, so the Q value will be lower.

In order for Jinwu No. 3.5 to achieve the most economical and safe combustion efficiency, 23 mg of deuterium-tritium mixture needs to be injected for each reaction, and the Q value can be as high as at this time.

The limit fuel is 4.42mg, at which point the Q value will further increase to 28. However, if it runs at the limit for a long time, the damage to the equipment will be relatively large and the safety will also decrease.

However, this limit actually corresponds to the maximum single energy output of 1500 megajoules. Although the system panel says this is the highest, in fact, according to Kang Chi’s calculations, the limit should be 1800 megajoules. Therefore, the data given by the system is likely to be a relatively safe and conservative data.

Of course, Kang Chi would not commit suicide by testing how much fuel it needs to explode...

(End of this chapter)