From the Institute of Materials being implicated, to his visa being revoked, to China withdrawing from ITER, Xiao Le's mood had been on a slide for the past month. He had never felt better.
Xiao Le had been waiting at home for a month, but he had also been idle for a month. Other than scrolling through arXiv and tracking the latest research developments of major research institutes, he was also helping his mother walk the dog.
Only he himself could understand how uncomfortable it was to be dragged out of an unfinished research project.
There was no news from Professor Lee yet. Lu Zhou didn't know if Professor Lee hadn't adjusted himself, or if he hadn't found a new research project, or if he was too busy to think about Xiao Le.
The Institute of Materials didn't have any further arrangements for the PhD students that were sent back from General Atomics. It seemed like they hadn't figured out what to do yet.
After all, after withdrawing from ITER, many of the cooperative research projects with ITER were suspended. There were many people that needed to be reassigned.
Unfortunately, the country had tightened its investment in the tokamak field. The existing funding simply couldn't support that many research projects …
Apparently, the institute was in chaos. Xiao Le wasn't sure if he should go back or not. However, he couldn't let go of the institute, so he planned on going to Lu Yang to take a look.
After all, his brain was getting rusty from being idle …
However, after he packed his luggage and even bought a ticket, he suddenly received a call from the institute.
"Where are you right now?"
"Beijing … Did Professor Li ask you to contact me?" Xiao Le quickly asked when he heard the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Professor Lee, we've already contacted him. He recommended you to us. There's a research position in Jiangsu that is suitable for you. We want to know if you're interested. "
Xiao Le was muddled. "Wait a minute, I don't know what you guys are talking about. Research position? Jiangsu Province? "
"Yes." The man on the other end of the phone didn't sound impatient at all. He explained, "The coordinates are in Jiangsu Province, it's about controllable nuclear fusion."
Xiao Le asked, "STAR Research Institute?"
"I can't tell you."
Xiao Le said with a headache, "Even if you tell me you're researching nuclear fusion, that's too broad. At the very least, you have to tell me the specific content of the research and the specific location of the work. "
"The specific content of the research depends on the arrangements over there. The work location is still confidential," the man on the other end of the phone said, "You just need to answer me whether you want to go or not."
This …
What a difficult request.
Xiao Le smiled bitterly in his heart and shook his head.
However, even if that was what he thought, he only hesitated for two seconds whether to go or not …
"Go."
This kind of opportunity only comes once in a lifetime.
His intuition told him that if he missed this opportunity, it would be gone forever.
The man on the other end of the phone replied very straightforwardly, "Alright, I'll help you with the relevant procedures. Also, your ticket has been changed. Remember to board the train at 3 p.m. tomorrow. "
After that, he hung up the phone.
Looking at the phone in his hand, a strange expression appeared on Xiao Le's face.
Not only did they find out the ticket he bought, but they even helped him change the ticket for free with just one sentence. The background of the person who called him was probably not simple …
At the very least, it was definitely not someone from the Material Research Institute.
…
The next afternoon, Xiao Le got on the train and arrived at his destination. He dragged his suitcase out of the train and stood outside the train station for less than half a minute. Then, he saw a black Jetta stop in front of him and take him to the mysterious work location.
After he arrived at his destination, he was immediately shocked by the scene.
It wasn't that the place was too quiet, but rather, it was the opposite. It was ridiculously "lively".
More than a dozen buses were parked in the open space outside the factory, along with all kinds of engineering equipment.
There were more than a dozen logos that he could recognize. They were either the top research institutes in the field of plasma physics or the giants in the field of nuclear power, such as the China National Nuclear Corporation or the China National Nuclear Corporation.
Vaguely, he seemed to understand what kind of project he was involved in.
However, he didn't expect, nor did he dare to believe, that the progress of the STAR research institute was this fast.
The entire world was guessing how far away they were from the demonstration reactor, and they had already quietly begun.
Suddenly, an old man in his early fifties walked over with a resume with a photo on it and stopped him.
"Your name is Xiao Le?"
Xiao Le nodded and said, "Yes."
"Okay then, come with me."
Xiao Le looked at the driver who drove him over and gulped. He then immediately dragged his suitcase and followed the old man.
He barely managed to keep up with the old man and couldn't help but ask about the situation here.
"I'm in the tokamak industry. You guys are probably in the stellarator industry, right? Why did you ask me to come here …"
"What you said has nothing to do with me." The old man walked him into the research institute and said with a blank expression, "I'm only responsible for bringing you in. If you have any questions, just ask that person. "
That person?
Which person?
Even though Xiao Le really wanted to ask, he saw that the old man didn't have any intention of answering his questions about the research institute. Therefore, he silently shut his mouth.
After looking around, he asked an unimportant question.
"There are so many people here, how do we solve the problem of confidentiality?"
Hearing this question, the expressionless old man suddenly chuckled.
"Young man, do you know what your great-grandfather's name is?"
"… I don't know."
Who the hell remembers stuff like this?
Xiao Le complained in his mind.
The old man pointed at the driver who drove him here in the Jetta.
"If you want to know, you can ask him."
…
The site selection requirements for a nuclear power plant were very high.
According to the internationally accepted site selection principles, geological, surface, meteorology, hydrology, environmental protection, civil engineering, transportation, power station technology, power grid, and social factors all had to be strictly considered.
First of all, geographically, there must be no fault zone in the deep part of the plant site, and there must be no active faults within a few kilometers of the nuclear power plant. Within 100 kilometers of the sea and 50 kilometers of the mainland, there had never been an earthquake of magnitude 6 or above.
Secondly, there was transportation.
The entire reactor design was several times more complex than a fission reactor, and it was also much larger. The various components involved couldn't be produced in the Su Province. They could only be produced in various places and then transported to the site for assembly.
Considering all of these factors, there weren't many places in the entire Su Province that could meet these requirements.
After discussion at the expert meeting and consultation with the provincial government, the site of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was finally set to be near the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Haizhou.
First of all, there were ready-made resources that could be used. The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant's third phase of the project could be used as a demonstration reactor experimental site. Second of all, the engineers here were experts in the field of nuclear power. They had a wealth of experience, and they could help with the design of the demonstration reactor.
As for the security issue, Lu Zhou didn't have to worry about it at all.
While the demonstration reactor site was being selected, a platoon of combat units arrived in the area and completed their deployment.
On the other hand, after the site selection was completed, Lu Zhou immediately rushed to the site. He conducted an on-site inspection with the engineers from the China National Nuclear Corporation and exchanged opinions on the design of the demonstration reactor.
At the same time, in less than a week, thousands of researchers and engineers from various research institutions had gathered here.
In order to ensure that this project could proceed smoothly, the state had basically met all of the conditions that Lu Zhou proposed.
If he wanted money, he would give money. If he wanted people, he would give them.
"I brought him." The old man brought Xiao Le into the laboratory and placed his resume on the table.
Lu Zhou nodded at him.
"Thank you."
The old man waved his hand.
"No need to thank me for this small thing. You guys go ahead, I'm leaving. "
The old man left the office and closed the door.
Lu Zhou looked at the nervous Xiao Le and smiled.
"Relax, don't be so nervous. I just want to ask you a few questions."
Xiao Le smiled and said, "I'm meeting my idol, how can I not be nervous?"
Idol?
Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly.
This kid has good taste.
He also thought that he had the potential to be an idol.
However …
This was obviously not the time to joke around.
Lu Zhou coughed and stopped joking. He then asked, "I heard from the Institute of Materials that you've studied at the General Atomics Company's DIII-D laboratory?"
"Yeah …" Xiao Le felt like his answer was too simple and disrespectful, so he quickly added, "I've been there with Professor Lee ever since I started my PhD. I've been there for four years. I've been there for the longest time."
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I know, that's why I asked you to come."
At this point, he paused for a moment before continuing.
"Since you've been there for four years, I'm sure you know a lot about the situation there. I want to know more about their heating technology. What direction are they mainly researching? How far are their research going? "
When Xiao Le heard Lu Zhou ask about the field he was familiar with, he immediately replied, "They are mainly researching ion cyclotron resonance heating, currently …"
Lu Zhou carefully listened to Xiao Le's explanation. He rubbed his chin and nodded from time to time.
He had to admit that the DIII-D laboratory's heating technology and plasma diagnostics technology were very strong.
The latter had been replaced by the He3 atom probe technology, so there was no need to consider it for now.
As for the former, even though it wasn't critical, it was still worth paying attention to.
After all, the demonstration reactor was different from the experimental reactor. The latter could be made do with, but the former had to be made do.
Any deficiencies in the technical details would eventually be reflected in the energy output efficiency.
Not to mention, through these details, combined with his own controllable nuclear fusion research experience, he could roughly infer how far General Atomics was in controllable nuclear fusion research and how far they were from a demonstration reactor.
After that, Lu Zhou asked a lot of questions about the progress of the DIII-D experiment. Xiao Le also answered all the questions that he knew about.
In the end, Lu Zhou thought for a second and spoke.
"The tokamak heating device doesn't match the stellarator, but the heating principle is similar.
"We plan on redesigning the ICRF heating antenna on the EAST machine into a version that can be used on the stellarator.
"If you're interested in staying, I can introduce you to the research team."
Is this …
Did I find someone to rely on?
Xiao Le was extremely excited, and he immediately nodded and said, "I'm willing!"
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