Chapter 1383 Faraday's Grip

"The plan for the core transformation..."

After a long while, Peng Juexian asked with some concern.

He was only assisting in the closed-loop nuclear magnetohydrodynamic power generation project and was not responsible for any specific research and development work, so he was not particularly worried about the speed of this part of the schedule.

However, the renovation progress of Factory 504 was closely tied to the isotope production base that he had been dreaming of. If this affected the construction of the latter, he would suffer a huge loss.

"Don't worry...if nothing unexpected happens, the reactor modification process can still proceed as planned."

Of course, Chang Haonan knew what the other party cared about most.

However, before the other party could breathe a sigh of relief, he changed the subject:

"But you have to do me a favor."

Peng Juexian instinctively felt that this matter might not be simple.

But now that things have come to this, he can't refuse:

"You said."

Chang Haonan got straight to the point:

"I need the reactor to run at full power for a while."

The two of them had made it very clear before.

Chang Haonan has the final say on all other work, except for operations related to the core, which require Peng Juexian's approval.

Without waiting for the other party to answer, he suddenly turned around and glanced at everyone present:

"Old Han, while the core is running at full power, you can lead people to redo the power supply design analysis of the coil, and measure the distribution of the magnetic footprint impact points of the yoke frame..."

Seeing that Peng Juexian was hesitant to speak, he simply raised his hand and explained:

"Logically speaking, a simple increase in magnetic induction intensity should not lead to such obvious electromagnetic induction interference... So, I suspect that the root cause is still related to the operation of the nuclear reactor itself."

The former narrowed his eyes slightly, and although he still had an expression of noncommittal on his face, he immediately turned around and called over a few technicians.

The radioactivity of the secondary circuit is indeed very low, but that is for humans.

Now that a large amount of ionized seeds have been added to the steam pipes, no one can guarantee that there will be no impact at all.

"Raise the control rods to the maximum allowable value below criticality."

he ordered.

Chang Haonan added:

"Divide it into several stages, don't increase it to the maximum all at once..."

……

As more and more control rods were raised, the neutron flux inside the core increased, and the chain reaction rate accelerated to the maximum level within the rated range in the next few dozen minutes.

In front of the control console, several operating engineers closely monitored the distribution of particles and magnetic fields in the secondary circuit and disk generator.

Han Chenfeng had nothing to do at the moment, and was so upset that he couldn't sit still.

After pacing back and forth a few times, I simply picked up the toolbox:

"I'll go check the coils on the ground and see how they work."

As a result, this action seemed to turn on a switch.

The secondary circuit radiation warning light, which should have been green, was now flashing orange at a frequency of three times per minute.

Peng Juexian was startled and almost subconsciously made a judgment:

"Damn it, is the pipe in the primary circuit leaking?"

But my heart was full of confusion.

The thermal power of the small test reactor is very low, and the safety margins of each system are exaggeratedly abundant. Logically speaking, such an outrageous problem should not have occurred.

He strode to the main control panel and called up the radiation monitoring data. At the same time, he was ready to have people carry out Chang Haonan and other irrelevant personnel.

But found that all indicators are within the safe range.

This contradictory phenomenon made everyone present stand on end.

Unknown problems are often more deadly than the dangers of open warfare.

"Don't be in a hurry. Give me some time."

Chang Haonan's voice was unusually calm:

"The secondary circuit itself does not produce new neutrons, and our radiation value has not changed, which means it is not a leak... at least not a direct leak of steam from the primary circuit."

He called up the three-dimensional model of the magnetic fluid channel and superimposed the radiation data with the magnetic field disturbance map:

"Look here - every time there's a spike in neutron flux, there's a rotation of the magnetic field configuration by about 0.03 percent."

Han Chenfeng was still holding the toolbox in his hand, but he suddenly slapped his forehead:

"Transient plasma produced by fast neutron bombardment of ionized seeds?"

Peng Juexian also calmed down again and returned to the computer to retrieve the original data:

"That is to say, even a traditional reactor that uses water as a cooling medium will be stimulated to produce some plasma?"

“So the real culprit is…”

"Coupled resonance of nuclear fission and magnetohydrodynamic power generation."

Chang Haonan wrote a series of formulas on the whiteboard:

“No matter how good the protection is, it is impossible to prevent trace amounts of fission products from periodically infiltrating the secondary circuit… These high-energy particles not only interfere with the stability of the ionized seeds, but also amplify the distortion of the magnetic surface structure through interaction with the disturbed magnetic field.”

The control room fell into silence, with only the hum of the cooling fans vibrating in the air.

In the end, it was Han Chenfeng who broke the deadlock first:

“So the solution is…”

“A two-pronged approach.”

Chang Haonan drew two overlapping circles next to the formula:

“Although the interference source of neutron radiation cannot be completely eliminated as long as a chain reaction is involved, the shielding efficiency can be increased.”

Peng Juexian frowned:

"Boron carbide or boron-containing polyethylene coating... But your nuclear battery doesn't have a secondary circuit. You can't shield the surface of the core fuel rods, right?"

"No, use liquid lithium."

A sharp light flashed in Chang Haonan's eyes:

"Or to be more precise, adding some lithium-6 isotopes..."

Peng Juexian slapped his thigh fiercely:

"Although the neutron capture cross section of lithium-6 is small, in the fast neutron flux..."

He suddenly stopped and turned to look at Chang Haonan:

"You also want to use this process to strengthen ionization?"

Chang Haonan nodded:

"Lithium-6 will generate tritium during the process of being activated by neutrons, which just serves as a supplement to the plasma. The alpha particles released are also extremely strong ionization sources within a short distance, and there is no need to worry about the problem of penetration..."

a particles have strong ionization ability but weak penetrating power. It is generally believed that they can be blocked by a piece of paper and cannot penetrate the reactor shell at all.

"In fact, the Americans conducted a similar experiment in the 1990s, but at that time..."

"But later their magnetohydrodynamic power generation project was cancelled."

Han Chenfeng continued, his tone full of excitement:

"I will contact the institute right now and prepare to allocate the relevant raw materials..."

Chang Haonan held him down:

"Don't worry about this. It won't be too late to prepare after the renovation project starts..."

After that, he walked back to the whiteboard and pointed to another circle and said:

“And ultimately, we still have to find a way to suppress the fundamental magnetic disturbance.”

Han Chenfeng looked at the real-time monitoring data and suddenly sighed:

“So in the end it all comes down to theory…”

“But this time there will be a lot of new data.”

Chang Haonan pointed to the control console where the alarm sound gradually faded: