"Achoo!"
Luo Zhanyuan: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing …"
Did the air conditioner turn down a bit, it's making me feel a bit cold …
Zhou Chengfu took a deep breath and muttered in his mind.
He was sitting on a flight back home. He didn't know that he was being targeted by someone.
Around ten hours ago, he and Deputy Director Luo, as well as several other experts from the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended an informal closed-door ITER meeting in Saint-Paulet-Durance, France.
The final result of the meeting wasn't optimistic.
However, compared to the attitude of the American representative, he was more worried about the situation in China.
"Director Luo."
"Yeah?"
Zhou Chengfu asked tentatively, "What do you think the higher-ups want to do now?"
Luo Zhanyuan had a lot of respect for this academician level controllable nuclear fusion expert. After hearing this question, he explained.
After hearing this question, he explained, "The higher-ups basically don't have any hope in ITER. The Europeans and Americans have shown their sincerity. Even if we disclose this technology, there is still a risk of being excluded. Before coming here, the head of the ministry specifically called us for a meeting. They emphasized that we should delay for as long as possible and that we can't give in on the technical issues. Either they give us their technology in exchange, or we don't even need to talk about it. "
Hearing this, Zhou Chengfu sighed inwardly.
As expected, what he was most worried about was happening.
He saw that his decades of hard work could be destroyed. Even though he knew that once the higher-ups made a decision, his expert opinion would be useless, he still couldn't help but speak.
"Then we're just going to withdraw from ITER? Back then, in order to join, we paid such a huge price … "
Luo Zhanyuan shook his head and said, "What else? If we don't stop our losses in time, our losses will only be greater. "
Director Luo paused for a second.
"Also, even though I shouldn't be the one saying this, withdrawing from ITER might not be a bad thing. At least we can invest the money we gave to the Europeans into domestic nuclear fusion projects.
"Not to mention, Professor Lu promised to complete the demonstration reactor before 2025 … If he succeeds, we won't necessarily be passive. We might even have the initiative in our hands."
Lu Zhou again …
Upon hearing this name, Zhou Chengfu's eyebrows twitched violently.
"What if that kid is boasting?"
Although he really wanted to say that.
But in the end, Zhou Chengfu did not say this out loud. He just kept it in his heart.
After all, although he couldn't take this lying down, he wasn't stupid …
…
According to Murphy's Law, the more one worried about something, the more likely it would happen.
Even though the Chinese representative of ITER was trying to buy as much time as possible, what was going to happen was going to happen eventually.
The last day of August.
The first 'victim' appeared.
Before seeking the cooperation of their allies, the US intended to exert a little pressure on China unilaterally.
Perhaps it was because they were usually too high-profile and wanted to make the headlines every year, but the Fuyang Institute of Matter, which had nothing to do with the STAR Research Institute, was implicated just like that.
Xiao Le dragged his dusty suitcase and stood in front of his house with a complicated look on his face.
Three days ago, he was still studying at the DIII-D laboratory of the General Atomics Corporation. He originally planned on coming back at the end of the year.
However, he didn't expect a document signed by the president to send them back to China.
Professor Lee, who was leading the team, gave them a week off and told them to stay at home and wait for the news. The person in charge of the General Atomics Corporation said that they would negotiate this matter with the Department of Energy and the local court. After all, the General Atomics Corporation didn't want to lose their investor, but it probably wouldn't make much of a difference …
Anyways, I'll take a break for a while and report to Fuyang later.
He rang the doorbell, and the security door opened.
When Xiao Zhiping saw his son standing at the door, he paused for a second.
"Aren't you coming back for Chinese New Year? Why are you back now? "
"What? My son is back? " His mother's voice traveled from the living room. Wang Li looked at her son and happily walked up to him. She grabbed the suitcase from his hand and said, "Come in and rest. Seriously, you came all the way back, and you didn't even call me. Tell your dad to buy two pork knuckles, mom will braise them for you. "
Xiao Le forced a smile and said, "The situation was a bit sudden. Our communication devices were taken away and were only returned to us before we boarded the plane."
After that, he didn't have time to make a phone call.
Xiao Zhiping paused for a second and frowned. "Taken away? What's going on? "
"Maybe … it has something to do with the recent trade war, I don't know the specifics." Xiao Le shook his head and sat on the sofa. He picked up a cup of water and said, "The morning before yesterday, we were about to attend a plasma physics conference. The professor who was responsible for receiving us suddenly told us that the conference was canceled. Then, when we returned to the hotel, several people who claimed to be FBI agents confiscated our communication devices and searched our room … "
Wang Li's face was full of astonishment. "… Could it be that you guys met with robbers?"
Xiao Le shook his head and said, "No … They have a search warrant from the local court, so it shouldn't be fake, right?"
Even though it wasn't fake, it didn't make any difference.
After he took back his phone, he found out that the photos he took at the General Atomics Company had all been deleted. However, he only used those photos to post on his WeChat friend circle, so it wasn't a big loss.
Wang Li: "This, this is too scary … Why don't you not go next time when the institute sends people to study abroad?"
Xiao Le shook his head and said, "Why would I go? My visa was canceled!"
With this wave of repatriation, the few of them would probably be blacklisted. Not only would they not be able to go on a study trip, even their normal travel would be affected.
Honestly speaking, he was still a bit confused. He didn't know what was going on with the Americans.
In his opinion, controllable nuclear fusion was just a shadow. He didn't even know if it would take another 50 years. Suddenly, the fusion reactor people were like the fission reactor people, and their specialty became sensitive technology.
He even suspected that this was some sort of hawkish president trying to show his toughness toward China.
After all, it was almost 2020, and there was going to be another election.
Hearing the unfair treatment his son had suffered, Xiao Zhiping's face was filled with anger, and he spoke with righteous indignation.
"Ah, it's good that they don't go. I don't believe that the Earth can't spin without them. Didn't they create atomic bombs and satellites? "
Xiao Le shook his head and said, "Fine, fine, you wouldn't understand anyway."
A lot of people didn't know, and of course, the news wouldn't advertise this. The EAST device on Science Island wasn't actually designed by a domestic research institute. The main reference was the DIII-D tokamak device from the General Atomics Company.
After all, there was a difference between scientific research and farming. Just because someone gave you the seeds and hoes didn't mean that you could plant your own crops.
If this was a mature technology, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, this was an unfinished technology, especially since controllable fusion was a large-scale scientific research project that involved many disciplines. How to conduct the follow-up research and what to do next were far more important than what had already been done.
And now, their cooperation with the General Atomics Company was suspended.
The EAST device could still be used, but what to do with the follow-up research …
They could only rely on themselves.
Of course, Xiao Le wasn't without confidence.
Learning was a part of scientific research. It was important to recognize one's own shortcomings, but there was no need to belittle oneself. In fact, their EAST device had also made a lot of innovations. For example, the full superconducting D section technology was pioneered by the Fuyang Institute of Matter Research.
However, compared to a win-win cooperation, they could only do it alone from now on.
This made him a bit worried about the future of China's controllable fusion industry …
Xiao Zhiping: "I don't understand what you're studying, but your Fuyang Institute of Matter Research is the leader of China's controllable fusion research, right? Do your best and fight for me. Let those Americans come over and beg us to go back. We don't even want to go back! "
When Xiao Le heard his father's encouragement, he shook his head and continued to eat.
Easy for you to say, but it wasn't that easy.
Not to mention, they weren't leaders anymore.
Now that ITER was going to turn to the stellarator, the Americans and Europeans didn't want to lead them anymore. It was unknown if the Chinese CFTER project would continue.
Maybe China was going to focus on the stellarator as well.
I think it's called STAR-2?
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