Shangjing.
In the studio of CTV's Road to Science, a program about controllable nuclear fusion was going on.
"Welcome to this episode of Road of Science, I'm your host, Cheng Nan.
"We can always see descriptions of controllable nuclear fusion in science fiction films and television or literature. The word controllable nuclear fusion seems to be the embodiment of all of our fantasies about energy …
"The theme of this episode is the fascinating future energy source — controllable nuclear fusion.
"For this reason, we specially invited Academician Zhou Chengfu from the Southwest Institute of Physics, the director and chief engineer of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center, to explain the past and present of controllable nuclear fusion … Everyone, welcome!"
Clap clap clap!
With the host leading the way, the audience applauded enthusiastically.
Zhou Chengfu walked from the backstage of the studio to the front of the stage. He smiled at the audience and nodded. The host then invited him to sit on the sofa.
He had been attending meetings in Beijing for the past few days, and he happened to receive an invitation from the program team of Road of Science. Since he wasn't very busy lately, he decided to come and take a look.
Even though scientists and actors weren't the same, and they didn't need exposure, it was still necessary for researchers in the future to be interviewed.
After all, they had spent so much money, so they had to let the public know what they had done and what their research could change.
"The audience may have heard that a few months ago, the STAR stellarator in Jin Ling City successfully completed the ignition experiment. Including this stellarator, including the magnetic confinement HT-7 and EAST tokamak devices, the inertial confinement God's Light, and the recently proposed reverse-field pinch, our country's researchers have pretty much covered all the technical routes of controllable nuclear fusion research. We're at the forefront of the world. "
"Before the STAR machine, our country's research on stellarators was almost non-existent. I would like to ask Academician Zhou, what do you think about the first stellarator in China? "
When Zhou Chengfu heard this question, he smiled and said humbly, "It's too much of an exaggeration to say it's ignition. After all, tritium is very expensive. Before we solve the problems of tritium retention and plasma irradiation damage to the first wall material, we usually use hydrogen for experiments."
Host: "Do you know anything about the STAR machine?"
Zhou Chengfu smiled faintly. "I don't know much, but I do know a little."
Host: "Then can you please tell us about the characteristics of this STAR device?"
Hearing this question, the corners of Zhou Chengfu's mouth curled up slightly as he replied.
"As you said, it's probably the first stellarator in China."
"As for its prototype, you may not have heard of it, but I can tell you that it is actually the German WEGA device. The device was decommissioned in 2013 and had been stored in Frankfurt, Germany. Later, when Professor Lu went to Germany to study, he probably took a fancy to it, so he lobbied in both countries and spent 500 million euros to buy it from the Germans. "
The host looked surprised. "500 million euros? That's close to 4 billion RMB … Is controllable nuclear fusion research really that expensive? "
The audience also had surprised expressions on their faces.
Four billion!
Poverty limited their imagination.
Zhou Chengfu smiled. He didn't really care about the number he just said.
"That depends on what you're comparing it to. It's definitely a lot more expensive than mathematics research, but compared to the space station and the Hadron Collider, it's still slightly cheaper."
Of course, it was hard to say how much this was.
Host: "Then do you think the reborn STAR machine can replicate the 30-minute miracle created by the Wendelstein 7-X?"
It seemed like Zhou Chengfu wasn't satisfied with the term reborn, so he frowned. However, he quickly realized that he was on a show, so his frown instantly disappeared.
"30 minutes?" Zhou Chengfu smiled and shook his head. He said, "It's not easy to run it for two minutes in a row."
The host looked at Zhou Chengfu with surprise and asked, "Are you not optimistic about this STAR machine?"
When Zhou Chengfu heard this question, he said, "It's not about whether I'm optimistic or not. The reason why the Wendelstein 7-X was able to complete the 30-minute plasma confinement was mainly due to its special external field coil design and the most important water-cooled divertor.
"Even though the WEGA machine also has a water-cooled divertor, that was more than 20 years ago. It's far inferior to the one currently in service on the Wendelstein. If the STAR Stellarator wanted to replicate the success of the Wendelstein 7-X, they would have to innovate on the cooling system. But obviously, they didn't succeed. "
He wasn't lying. The success of the Wendelstein 30-minute plasma confinement was mainly due to the water-cooled divertor. At least, that was what the Germans claimed.
The newly designed water-cooled divertor obviously wouldn't appear on the WEGA machine.
Not to mention, even if he ignored these factors, it had been almost two months since the scientific review article came out, and the STAR Stellarator Research Institute still hadn't made any moves.
Zhou Chengfu was now certain that it wasn't that Lu Zhou didn't want to refute him with facts, it was that the STAR machine couldn't do it.
Because of this, he didn't feel any pressure when he said this.
"… So far, the mainstream of international controllable fusion research is still the tokamak, followed by the inertial confinement of laser ignition, as well as the reverse-field pinch that you just mentioned.
"Theoretically, every technological route is feasible. As long as we solve the various problems we face along this route, the final destination will be the fusion energy that we're pursuing. Just like a pickup truck or a sedan, they both have four wheels. As long as they pass through the toll booth, they can still get on the highway. "
The audience was amused by this metaphor, and they smiled knowingly.
Zhou Chengfu paused for a second before he spoke.
"The engineering difficulty of the stellarator is too high. In comparison, the design of the tokamak is more concise, and the engineering difficulty is relatively low.
"We don't have to try every technological route. Instead of trying every possibility, it's better to focus our limited resources on the most feasible directions.
"Instead of trying random experiments, this is the more practical choice!"
…
After the interview was over, Zhou Chengfu recalled the applause from the studio. He felt relaxed as he left the studio, and he felt an indescribable sense of joy.
Even though speaking on a science show like this didn't have much practical effect, when he thought about the young man who didn't even care about him, he felt a sense of satisfaction.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket began to ring.
He took out his phone and saw that it was a call from Jia Liang, so he pressed the answer button and stuck the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Dean, Dean Zhou!"
"What?" When Zhou Chengfu heard the panicked voice, he frowned.
"It's the STAR research institute!"
Zhou Chengfu said impatiently, "Tell me what's going on at STAR Research Institute."
"Yesterday, they restarted the experiment!"
When Zhou Chengfu heard this, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately spoke.
"They restarted the experiment? Why haven't I heard anything about this? Tell me, how are the results of their experiment? Did they do it for thirty minutes? "
When Jia Liang heard this barrage of questions, he had a bitter smile on his face.
"It wasn't thirty minutes …"
When Zhou Chengfu heard that it wasn't thirty minutes, he sighed in relief.
However, before he could even sigh in relief, he knew that he wouldn't be able to.
On the other end of the phone, Jia Liang continued to speak with a bitter and incredulous tone.
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