In November 1985, the US "Air Force One" arrived in Geneva. Then-President Ronald Reagan met with the new leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and began negotiations on nuclear disarmament.
Because of the Iron Curtain, this "Fireside Conference" was widely regarded by the outside world as an opportunity to break the ice in the Cold War.
However, the first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev didn't go as planned. The two sides attacked each other around the "strategic defense plan" and the "Star Wars plan", and they argued endlessly about "human rights" and "regional issues". The meeting was on the verge of ending on a sour note.
At the end of the meeting, around five o 'clock in the morning, the two sides finally agreed to issue a joint statement without any actual commitments.
At the end of the statement, almost in the footnote position, the two top leaders added a vague guarantee, which was that the two countries would develop a new energy source "for the common good of mankind".
This was the origin of the ITER program.
Therefore, the joke about the United States leaving the group …
Keriber knew in his heart that this was impossible.
Even though the United States never completed the promised 25% of the funding (they only paid 9%), ITER itself was a politically dependent scientific research project.
Under normal circumstances, the research on controllable nuclear fusion could act as an "island" away from politics.
However, the premise of all of this was that no one knew how far away the future was.
From a rational point of view, if he had to choose between the American research institutes and Professor Lu, he would undoubtedly choose the latter, who had already made major achievements in the field.
Unfortunately, as a scientific researcher, he had no say in this matter.
Even the chairman of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, who was standing next to him, had no say.
If the United States pressured ITER through the European Union and used intellectual property as an excuse, then they could kick China out, just like what happened with the Galileo program.
Keriber looked at Professor Millek, who turned around and left. He had a look of worry on his face.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't something he should be thinking about.
However, if what he was worried about really happened, ITER might face the end of the collapse of the organization.
After all, from the very beginning, this organization wasn't that reliable. Everyone was in the same bed but had different dreams.
No one really hoped to solve the energy problem by relying on controllable fusion energy. However, even though he was sitting in a coffee shop in the city, he could hear the students from the University of Greifswald talking about controllable fusion technology.
It was hard to say whether the light at the foot of Mount Zhijin had ignited the hope of future energy, or if it had extinguished the last flame on its body.
If they didn't have any hope from the beginning, maybe they could have gone further?
…
The person who knocked on the office door was a man in his early thirties. He looked a little thin and tall.
According to his self-introduction, his name was He Mingxuan, the secretary of Director Lu, the head of the Energy Bureau.
Lu Zhou had met him once when he went to Shangjing, but they had never spoken.
Even though Lu Zhou didn't know why the Energy Bureau was looking for him, he still politely invited him to come in and sit down.
He Mingxuan sat next to Principal Xu, which was across from Lu Zhou. He said in a sincere tone, "I originally went to Zhongshan International to visit you, but you weren't there. The situation was too sudden, I'm really sorry for disturbing you. "
"It's fine, you don't have to be so polite. I'm on vacation anyway, so I'm not very busy." Lu Zhou looked at Secretary He and said, "I also want to know, what made you so anxious?"
Principal Xu noticed Secretary He's gaze, so he smiled and put down the teacup in his hand.
"It seems like the two of you have something important to talk about, I won't disturb you anymore."
He had participated in major national scientific research projects many times, and many of them were sensitive topics in the field of information security. He didn't care what he listened to, but he knew what he shouldn't listen to.
After that, the old man stood up, gave up his office, and walked out of the door.
Secretary He looked at the office door close and took a deep breath. He put on a serious expression and said, "The United States is planning on kicking us out of ITER."
When Lu Zhou heard this explosive news, he paused for a second. He frowned and said, "Is the news reliable?"
Secretary He nodded and said, "The news is more than 90% reliable. In fact, they have already begun to do this."
When Lu Zhou heard this, he couldn't help but have a dignified look on his face.
This was definitely not good news for him.
Even though the STAR-2 project was similar to China's original CFTER project and wasn't part of the ITER program, research institutions around the world more or less benefited from the ITER program.
If China withdrew from the ITER program, not only would it mean that the tens of billions of "admission fees" and subsequent investments would all go down the drain, but the visits and exchanges between China's controllable nuclear fusion research institutes and foreign research institutes under the name of ITER would also be interrupted.
In addition to the research losses, the billion-dollar orders that Chinese companies were responsible for would also face the risk of being replaced by other member states.
He didn't know much about diplomatic matters, but from a scientific research point of view, this was undoubtedly a heavy blow.
Lu Zhou frowned and said, "What reason does the United States have to do this?"
"The reason is obviously intellectual property issues. At the ITER board meeting, experts appointed by the US Ministry of Foreign Affairs questioned us. They believe that we concealed our own research results while accepting the technology, which violated the spirit of the ITER agreement …" Secretary He had a bitter smile on his face as he said, "Of course, you can also say that there is no reason at all."
Yes, there was no reason at all.
After listening to Secretary He's words, even though Lu Zhou understood what he meant, he still shook his head.
"This is ridiculous. We have already fulfilled our obligation to disclose our research progress on the controllable fusion project. We have no obligation to disclose anything else. If the main control computer in the STAR machine uses Inter's chip, then can I ask them to disclose their chip technology? "
Secretary He silently took out a notebook from his pocket and wrote down this sentence.
Lu Zhou looked at him and paused for a second. "Why are you writing down notes?"
"I think what you said is pretty good." Secretary He smiled helplessly and said, "At least … we can say that in a diplomatic situation."
Of course, reasoning was never going to work.
After thinking for a second, Lu Zhou asked, "What specific requests did they make?"
Secretary He: "They requested to send an academic team composed of ITER member states to the STAR Stellarator Research Institute to participate in the research. They also requested that our company release the latest production process of the SG-1 superconducting coil, as well as all of the technical details of the modified STAR machine, as well as the most critical control scheme. "
When Lu Zhou heard this, he went into deep thought.
Forget about the superconducting material, the SG-1 material itself was a public patent. The SG-1 wire was also an export product. The only confidential part was the production process developed by Baosheng Group with the assistance of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.
Regardless of whether it was public or not, no matter what decision the country made, it had nothing to do with Lu Zhou.
However, the control scheme was a big problem.
The control scheme developed by the Jin Ling University software department couldn't possibly be better than the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory.
Half of the reason why the STAR machine could achieve plasma confinement for more than an hour was because of the SG-1 superconducting material, while the other half was because of Xiao Ai.
In short, it was impossible for him to disclose the control scheme.
Not to mention, making this request was unreasonable in and of itself.
Secretary He looked at Lu Zhou and said in a serious manner, "This matter is very tricky. After we received the news, we held meetings for two days straight, but we didn't come up with any good results. The higher-ups value your opinion. If it weren't for the fact that Director Lu was busy, he would have personally come to Jinling to visit you. "
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