What was interesting was that while Lu Zhou was drinking his coffee and leisurely watching Perry speak to the reporters, Perry, who was sitting in his office at the United States Department of Energy across the Pacific Ocean, was also staring at Lu Zhou's photo.
However, he didn't look as relaxed as Lu Zhou …
Just half a month ago, China's Jinling Controllable Fusion Research Institute made a breakthrough in long-term plasma confinement, which shocked the entire plasma physics community.
Over the past half a month, he had received at least 30 written letters about this matter.
Some of them were from the National Academy of Sciences, and some were from the Princeton PPPL.
Especially the joint letter from the National Academy of Sciences; it even had the signature of Nobel Prize in Physics winner and former Secretary of Energy, Chu Diwen.
In addition to talking about the importance of controllable nuclear fusion as a future energy source, there was only one thing that they wanted to express — money.
In addition, there was also intelligence from the CIA. Even though it wasn't very useful information.
Compared to Lu Zhou's personal information and dazzling academic honors and titles, Perry was more interested in knowing how far China had progressed in controllable nuclear fusion technology and how far they were from mature controllable nuclear fusion technology.
However, the most troublesome thing was that all of this happened too suddenly.
Before the STAR machine successfully completed the one-hour magnetic confinement time, no one believed that they would succeed. Even the Chinese didn't believe it.
Didn't they say that it would be difficult to complete even two minutes?
This was said by the person in charge of China's International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center!
"What a bunch of idiots …"
Perry threw the document in his hand on the table and couldn't help but curse.
He didn't need anyone to tell him about the importance of controllable nuclear fusion technology; he knew it better than anyone else.
However, he knew better than anyone else how big this hole was.
Compared to the CIA's report and some useless advice, what he needed now was a professional's opinion.
Perry leaned back in his office chair and contemplated for a while. He made a decision in his mind. He stood up from his chair, pushed open the door, and walked out of his office.
He looked at the assistant sitting at the desk in front of his office door and ordered.
"Gather the NIF project director and the PPPL controllable fusion project director … No matter where they are, I hope to see them here the day after tomorrow."
"I understand."
Seeing Perry's serious expression, the assistant realized that this matter was very important, so he immediately reached for the phone.
Perry nodded and prepared to leave.
Before starting the meeting, he had to go to the White House.
But at this moment, he suddenly remembered something, so he stopped at the door and looked back at his assistant who was on the phone.
"Also, contact the CIA. Remember to ask them to send someone reliable over."
…
Around six or seven years ago, the 3.5 billion USD NIF ignition failed. This severely damaged the entire American controllable nuclear fusion research industry, and the entire international controllable nuclear fusion field was shrouded in a haze.
The entire technical route of inertial confinement confinement was almost scrapped. If it weren't for the fact that this laser ignition device could still be used for nuclear tests, it would have been cut by the Congressional Budget Committee.
Up until now, it seemed like only the tokamak could still be used to scam money, but the funding wasn't as easy as before.
Especially when countries were blaming each other for funding issues, and the United States intended to withdraw from ITER, the future of the entire controllable fusion industry could be described as gloomy.
However, no one expected the light under the Purple Mountain to light up the entire world …
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) director, Ed Moses, was sitting in his office at the Department of Energy.
Sitting next to him was Terry Brog, the head of the Princeton PPPL controllable fusion project, as well as several other controllable fusion experts that he was familiar with.
This wasn't the first time they were summoned by the relevant departments.
Usually, every month or two, they would be summoned by the Department of Energy or the Congressional Budget Committee to ask them why the budget was exceeded again.
For people like them who burned money, arguing with bureaucrats about project and funding issues had become part of their daily research work.
However, unlike in the past, this time the Department of Energy didn't seem to be summoning them for budget issues …
The two looked at each other and saw a bit of surprise in each other's eyes.
Obviously, the person sitting here wasn't just someone from the Department of Energy. There was also a man in a suit who didn't seem to fit in with his surroundings.
"Let me introduce myself, my name is Helms, I'm from the CIA."
Ed Moses raised his eyebrows when he heard about the CIA, and he asked with interest.
"When did the CIA become interested in the NIF?"
"I'm not interested in the NIF, or rather, I'm more interested in the PPPL laboratory." The man named Helms twirled the pen in his hand and looked at Brog. He said, "Mr. Terry Brog, I heard that you used to work with Professor Lu Zhou, is that true?"
Brog nodded and said, "Yes."
Helms: "What do you think he is like?"
Brog replied, "You should ask his supervisor or students about this question. I don't interact much with him in my daily life, and the only communication we have is basically about work."
"I'm asking about work." Helms flipped through the notes on his desk and said, "Our people noticed that around two years ago, a sum of money entered the project's scientific research account through an overseas account."
Brog: "During his tenure at Princeton, he served as a consultant for the PPPL He-3 project. Because of funding issues, it was difficult to continue the research, so he paid for the rest of the funding himself. "
Helms asked, "Can you explain the specifics of the He-3 project?"
Brog: "About launching the He-3 particle to observe the plasma motion inside the fusion device … If you're suspecting that this project is sending key technology to the STAR research institute, then you don't have to be so suspicious. This technology is very important for controllable nuclear fusion research, but the research itself is open to the public. If you don't understand what I'm saying, you can ask your physics professor. "
Helms twirled the ballpoint pen in his hand and wrote a few notes on a piece of paper as he said, "I'm sorry, I studied psychology in university, I never studied physics."
Brog muttered, "You probably studied it in high school, right?"
Helms didn't know if he really didn't hear Brog or if he was pretending not to hear. He ignored Brog's words and looked at Brog and Moses for a second.
"If they didn't rely on PPPL's technology to achieve results, I want to know how a research institute that was established less than a year ago was able to achieve such incredible results with a stellarator modified from an old piece of equipment."
Ed Moses coughed and said, "The problem is very simple, the Chinese are willing to spend money on this technology. Even though most of the problems we encounter can't be solved with money, when the money is used by the right people, the situation is completely different."
Perry, who was sitting at the conference table, said, "Your funding isn't any less than theirs, so you're saying that you didn't use the money in the right places?"
Ed Moses looked away awkwardly and said, "Of course that's not what I meant. I can guarantee that every penny was used in the right places, but … trial and error is also part of research."
Helms didn't care about Ed Moses, who was stuttering. He looked at the notebook in his hand and continued to ask a lot of questions with a blank expression.
Some of them were about the cooperation with ITER, and some were about the STAR Stellarator Research Institute.
The meeting lasted for around two hours.
After the meeting was adjourned, Perry dismissed the experts and asked Helms to stay behind.
"What do you think?"
Mr. Helms used to work in the diplomatic system, so even though Perry wouldn't take his opinions to heart, he could still refer to them.
Helms looked at the notebook in his hand and contemplated for a second before speaking.
"According to our intelligence, China has already started the controllable fusion demonstration reactor project. However, from what I just asked, other than the paper published in Science, our experts know almost nothing about the STAR research institute.
"Based on the above information, we can assume that China borrowed a lot of technology and experience from the ITER project, including the CFTER project. However, they stole our technology and didn't share their own research, or rather, they kept it to themselves. I don't think this is reasonable. "
Perry raised his eyebrows with interest and said, "So?"
"So, I suggest we negotiate with China and ask the STAR research institute to disclose more technical details." Helms paused for a second and said in a serious manner, "Or, kick them out of the ITER project."
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