Zhou Chengfu didn't expect that as soon as his plane landed and he rushed back to the Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics, an unexpected person would show up.
And this person was the last person he wanted to see …
"… Our stellarator is still being repaired, so we'll have to borrow your HL-2A. I've already applied to the higher-ups, and the Energy Bureau has also given their approval. Director Lu said that you guys will fully cooperate with my experiment, so I couldn't wait to come over. As for the paperwork, it should arrive tomorrow at the latest. " Lu Zhou sat on the sofa in Zhou Chengfu's office and casually explained his intentions. He then played with the purple clay teapot on the coffee table and said, "Your teapot is pretty, where did you buy it?"
Zhou Chengfu stared at Lu Zhou and said with a blank expression, "Aren't you in the stellarator industry? Why are you here for an experiment?"
Lu Zhou: "Pulse ignition."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Chengfu immediately exploded.
"No way! Igniting an experimental reactor? Are you f * cking crazy? "
Lu Zhou was indifferent to Zhou Chengfu's yelling. He only smiled and spoke.
"I've read the relevant theses. The HL-2A can completely meet the ignition conditions. I need to simulate the neutron radiation environment inside the reactor to test the performance of the new material, so I can only rely on you guys. "
"Don't worry, don't worry about funding. We will provide the isotopes consumed for the experiment. You just need to cooperate with us."
When Zhou Chengfu heard Lu Zhou's request, he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
What do you mean we'll provide the funding?
Is this a problem of money?
Zhou Chengfu's heart ached when it came to money.
Especially when Director Lu said to "fully cooperate", it made him even more furious. He was the one who started this, but now, he was the one who became the stepchild.
"If you want to do a neutron radiation experiment, why don't you go to Daya Bay?"
Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "Whether it's Daya Bay or the neutron source in Dongguan, they don't meet the requirements."
Currently, the latest international controllable fusion research plan was to build a point neutron source device based on the D-Li interaction to simulate the neutron radiation environment in fusion reactors. So far, however, the device was still in the conceptual stage. Now, it was mainly the Americans who were doing the research. As for the specific steps of the research, only they knew.
"What about Science Island?" Zhou Chengfu panicked. In the spirit of saving himself, he said anxiously, "You can also do the EAST on the Science Island, why don't you —"
"I want to use yours."
Lu Zhou's words directly blocked all the words he had in his stomach.
Lu Zhou put down the teapot in his hand and stood up from the sofa.
Looking at Zhou Chengfu, who looked like he had just eaten a fly, he smiled and said in a relaxed tone.
"Anyway, I've probably already offended you, so I'll just offend you again today."
Zhou Chengfu's face gradually darkened, and his voice gradually lowered.
"You have to think carefully, if our HL-2A is destroyed in your hands, and your demonstration reactor can't be built …"
Lu Zhou's expression didn't change at all. He said, "You don't have to worry about that, I'll take responsibility."
"Hmph."
Zhou Chengfu snorted and stood up from his office chair. He didn't say anything else and walked out of the office with a gloomy face.
As Lu Zhou watched the old man leave, the smile on his face disappeared, and his expression returned to normal.
Maybe there was a more tactful way, but he had no choice, time was tight.
Therefore, he could only apologize.
…
Including the University of Science and Technology of China's inertial confinement device that was under construction, there were a total of 16 controllable nuclear fusion experimental devices in China.
However, there were only a few that could make the temperature of the reaction chamber reach hundreds of millions of degrees, which was the temperature of fusion.
HL-2A was one of them, and it was obviously the result of countless researchers' hard work.
Zhou Chengfu looked at the technician who was responsible for repairing the device, and he didn't even need to ask; he knew that this thing was probably broken.
He stared at Lu Zhou angrily. His stomach was full of anger.
Even though he wanted to throw this guy into the tokamak along with the dozens of samples, the experiment was already done, and he had to know that it wasn't a waste.
Zhou Chengfu gritted his teeth and stared at Lu Zhou.
"What's the result!"
Lu Zhou ignored the resentment in Zhou Chengfu's voice. He stared at the SEM images for a while and sighed.
"The situation isn't looking good."
This time, he brought a total of more than 20 samples, all of which were installed on the surface of the first wall of the tokamak.
These images were all obtained after the experimental reactor was shut down and cooled down. Staff wearing chemical protective suits went into the reaction chamber and took these materials to a specialized department for testing.
Based on the data obtained so far, these materials didn't perform well in the reactor.
However, Lu Zhou didn't expect to succeed in one experiment. Any research was done through repeated trials and errors.
Hearing this, Zhou Chengfu was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
What does the situation isn't looking good mean?
We're going to do it again?
Lu Zhou gently rubbed his chin and carefully stared at a few of the images. He said, "The neutron irradiation in the fusion environment is too strong. Even though the SiC and porous graphene aerogel have good neutron beam transmission properties, the neutron beam that penetrates the material still forms multiple Frenkel defect pairs inside the material."
Zhou Chengfu: "What the hell?"
Lu Zhou paused for a second and looked at him with surprise.
"Frenkel defects, right? In a crystal structure, atoms or ions that originally occupied a lattice leave the lattice position and become interstitial atoms or ions, leaving a vacancy in the original lattice position … This is a very basic concept in crystallography. "
Zhou Chengfu's face turned red, and he wanted to retort.
However, he suddenly remembered that this guy in front of him was a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Anything he said would be humiliating. Therefore, he swallowed his words and only muttered.
"I'm in the field of nuclear physics and plasma physics, not materials …"
After all, there were very few people who knew everything.
As the person in charge of the project, Zhou Chengfu might know a little bit more, but he definitely didn't know that much.
Not to mention that the structural material of the HL-2A wasn't this stuff. He had only heard of ceramic-based composite materials being used in reactor structural materials at conferences.
"For example, here, and here." Lu Zhou didn't care if Zhou Chengfu understood or not. He pointed at two locations on the image and said, "Do you see these white spots? When you look at them together with the infrared spectroscopy data, you can infer that hydrogen has occupied the vacancy left by the displacement of the interstitial atoms. This means that the material's neutron passage rate isn't good enough, and the neutrons trapped in the material have decayed. "
He could understand this part. Zhou Chengfu said with a livid face, "So what's the use of this thing of yours?"
"Whether it's useful or not depends on who's using it."
Lu Zhou saved the data on the portable hard drive and didn't look at Zhou Chengfu's face.
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