It took around three days for the STAR Stellarator Research Institute researchers to finish organizing the experimental data.
At the same time, Lu Zhou, who was responsible for summarizing the data, also finished writing his thesis. He finally submitted the thesis, which was signed by more than 30 people, to the Science journal editorial department.
Just as he finished submitting the thesis, his phone began to ring.
Lu Zhou picked up his phone and saw that it was Academician Pan, so he picked up the call.
As soon as the call connected, Academician Pan's cheerful voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Not bad, you really gave Old Zhou a big slap in the face this time. He's probably having a headache right now, so he'll have to swallow his saliva. "
When Lu Zhou heard this, he leaned back in his office chair and made a helpless expression.
I put my face in front of Lu Zhou, so how can I blame him?
However, even if I say it was an accident, no one would believe me.
Academician Pan paused for a second and spoke in a serious tone, "Honestly, I was surprised when I heard that you set the goal of the second experiment to be 30 minutes. I didn't expect that I still underestimated you. I'm afraid the Germans didn't expect their WEGA machine to be able to make use of waste to this extent. "
Even though the time was only doubled, the difficulty wasn't as simple as one plus one equals two.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that with this result alone, their controllable nuclear fusion research was miles ahead of the rest of the world.
"What's next? What do you plan on doing next? "
When Lu Zhou heard this question, he smiled and said, "Next time, I plan on doing it for real."
When Academician Pan heard this, he was a little moved, and he spoke in a tone of disbelief.
"Demonstration reactor?"
Lu Zhou, who was holding his phone, nodded.
"That's right."
When Academician Pan heard the confirmation from Lu Zhou, he took a deep breath. He was extremely shocked.
In terms of pronunciation, the experimental reactor and the demonstration reactor sounded similar, but they were two completely different things.
The former was an experimental device that could only meet the most basic experimental needs of plasma experiments, while the latter was a demonstration reactor that required a series of steps from plasma confinement to fusion reaction and electricity output.
Unsurprisingly, this demonstration reactor would become a model for controllable nuclear fusion reactors in China and even the world for a long time to come.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that compared to the latter, the former was a toy.
Even though controllable fusion research had been going on for half a century, and various experimental reactors had emerged one after another, neither the Princeton Institute for Plasma Physics nor the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics had been able to complete a controllable nuclear fusion demonstration reactor.
As for the demonstration reactor project, it had always been stuck on the timetable of the major research institutes.
Academician Pan hesitantly asked, "Isn't it too early to start building a demonstration reactor?"
Although the one-hour high-density plasma magnetic confinement experiment was worthy of celebration, starting a demonstration reactor right now was too big of a step.
At least according to the information he had gathered, there were still many key issues that had not been resolved.
Hearing how confident Lu Zhou was on the other end of the phone, he was even a little worried that this guy was getting cocky.
Lu Zhou smiled faintly at Academician Pan's question.
"It won't be too early. There are many things that can be researched and done at the same time. We don't have to wait until everything is ready to start. What's more, we've already solved the most critical superconducting magnet and control scheme. I believe it's only a matter of time before we have the anti-radiation material for the first wall. As long as the conditions permit, I am 80% confident that I can build this demonstration reactor. "
First, they had to figure out a way to build the reactor's plasma orbit, field coils, water-cooled divertor, and other devices that could be built. Things like the first wall cladding material that couldn't be solved technically would be built and installed after they were solved.
However, the demonstration reactor was completely different from the experimental reactor. The cost of the two was also on a completely different order of magnitude.
And the funds in his hands were almost spent.
With that in mind, Lu Zhou's gaze drifted to the fountain pen at the corner of the table.
It seemed that he had to write another letter.
…
For other people, it wasn't easy to submit to world-class journals like Science or Nature. However, for Lu Zhou, it wasn't that difficult.
Even if he didn't consider his Nobel Prize aura and good academic reputation, as well as his past relationship with the Science editorial department, just the word controllable nuclear fusion alone was enough for the Science editorial department to take it seriously.
There were no problems with the data itself. Lu Zhou didn't have to wait for too long before the thesis quickly passed the review and was successfully published in the latest issue of Science.
After the publication of that thesis, people learned about the miracle that happened on the STAR machine. The entire plasma physics community was boiling over.
What did one hour mean?
Just a year ago, tokamak research around the world was still competing with each other for breakthroughs in seconds.
However, after this thesis was published, it immediately surpassed the research results of research institutes around the world.
Even though pulse ignition could be used to generate electricity without such a long confinement time, the shock brought by this one hour still shocked all of the scholars that were paying attention to this machine.
In addition to the academic community, the success of the STAR machine also attracted widespread attention from the general public. It also caused heated discussions on the Internet.
Some people liked it and thought that it was a big step towards the future.
Some people expressed concern and thought that humans were going further and further down the road of disaster.
Some people didn't care. After all, this wasn't the first time they had seen controllable fusion news. Twenty years ago, someone said that controllable fusion power could be achieved in twenty years at the latest. However, no one had fulfilled that promise.
However, no matter what, CTV paid the greatest attention to this major scientific breakthrough from a political standpoint.
In the latest edition of the news broadcast, Central TV used a special topic to make a comprehensive report on this matter.
"A few days ago, China's STAR Stellarator Research Institute published a paper in Science, revealing the relevant details of their latest controllable fusion experiment.
"In the experiment, the research team led by Professor Lu Zhou, a well-known Chinese scholar and Nobel Prize laureate, successfully achieved a one-hour plasma confinement time.
"According to industry comments, this technological breakthrough is expected to open a new chapter in controllable nuclear fusion research …"
In the news broadcast, CTV quoted a foreign interview as usual.
Sitting in front of the camera was the 1976 Nobel Prize laureate, consultant of Tri-Alpha, Stanford University professor Burton Richter. When he was asked by a CBS reporter about his thoughts on the STAR machine, he used the word "unbelievable" three times to express the shock in his heart.
"… When my colleague told me that someone achieved a magnetic confinement time of more than one hour, my first reaction was that it was a joke. That was until he found the paper in the latest issue of Science and placed it in front of me.
"Even now, my heart is still filled with shock. Especially when I learned that this device was modified based on the WEGA device, the shock in my heart was even greater. "
"There's no way that WEGA could achieve this, not even the upgraded Wendelstein 7-X.
"I think that China is already ahead of the world in controllable nuclear fusion research. If the most critical superconducting materials and plasma control scheme problems have been effectively solved, then they only need to solve the damage effect of plasma radiation on the first wall material. Perhaps it won't take long before they can truly complete a fusion reactor. After all, converting heat into electricity isn't a difficult task in and of itself. "
Professor Burton Richter had a complicated expression on his face.
"We've led the world in controllable nuclear fusion research for half a century, but it's very likely that we'll lose in the last few seconds. I'm not joking, the Department of Energy should take this seriously … "
Regardless of whether or not the US Department of Energy took this seriously, the results achieved by the STAR machine had already attracted the attention of China's higher-ups.
On the other hand, just as the Science paper successfully pushed the word controllable nuclear fusion to the forefront of the global media, a letter personally written by Lu Zhou appeared on the Senate table.
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