Chapter 1385 Tritium Proliferation Module

One week later.

The lights in the magnetohydrodynamic laboratory of the Torch Laboratory were still on. Chang Haonan took off his protective mask and stared quietly at the helium-cooled solid ball bed that was heating up.

Liquid lithium flows slowly in the circular pipe, emitting an eerie luster under the dark red warning light, like a metal snake trapped in a quartz tube.

After spending a fulfilling but idle week at home, he finally returned to the laboratory and started the next stage of work -

Of course, his superiors would not allow him to build a nuclear reactor in the urban area of ​​Beijing, but some radioactive research related to nuclear technology was still possible.

"Teacher, the vibration spectrum analysis of the No. 3 circulation pump has been completed.

"A doctoral student in a dark blue jumpsuit suddenly poked his head out from the equipment room, with a little metal powder on the file board in his hand:

"The abnormal vibration at 0.87Hz is 37% stronger than yesterday. Do I need to stop the machine to check the magnetic bearings?"

Chang Haonan glanced at the real-time monitoring screen and saw that the temperature gradient of the magnetic fluid channel was fluctuating within the green safety zone.

"No need... Today's test conditions are different. It's normal for the vibration to be a little louder. Also, raise the sampling frequency to 200kHz. Ask Teacher Li to take you to the second basement floor to get a laser Doppler vibrometer."

As he spoke, he scribbled a timestamp in the duty log, then added:

"Also, remember to reapply dimethyl silicone oil to the vacuum flange. Last time, the helium mass spectrometer leak detector had its ion source blocked by lithium vapor."

At this moment, Li Yabo just walked in from outside, holding a device in his arms:

"I've already brought it over... Also, teacher, there's a guy named Peng Juexian who wants to see you outside. He said he made an appointment with you yesterday."

Chang Haonan was stunned and stopped what he was doing:

"Please invite him in..."

When he pushed open the glass door of the conference room, Peng Juexian was hanging his coat on the coat rack, and the tweed fabric rubbed against the metal hook, making a rustling sound.

An officer following behind him was holding a confidential briefcase, the nuclear industry logo embroidered on his collar faintly visible in the shadows.

"Mr. Chang, I read the weekly report you sent me two days ago."

Peng Juexian took the password box and opened it swiftly:

"The tritium retention rate in the lithium circulation system is two orders of magnitude higher than the theoretical value, which cannot be explained by the abundance of lithium-6 isotope."

"Boss Peng, you are too concerned..."

Chang Haonan took out two cans of salty soda from the thermostatic cabinet. The hissing sound of the cans being opened was particularly clear in the silence:

我们中子源强度只有10?0?1?0?5n/cm?0?5s，按三锂同位素反应截面计算，这就是正常的数据范围。”

"You have grown a pool of tritium in liquid lithium."

Peng Juexian said suddenly.

He pulled out a notebook from his bag and opened it to the part he wanted. It was obvious that he had been reading it quite a lot during this period.

There was a printed spectrum on it, with the location of a characteristic peak heavily circled in red:

"Isn't this the desorption peak of the deuterium-tritium mixture?"

He tapped it with his finger, a hint of doubt on his face:

"Also, the XPS spectrum from the synchrotron radiation laboratory shows that there is a layer of lithium tritide deposited on the surface of your circulation pump impeller..."

The laboratory fell into an eerie silence.

Chang Haonan could hear the hum of the vacuum pump coming from the material analysis room next door. The newly installed Shanghai Light Source branch line station was undergoing preheating and debugging.

“When the shielding layer was replaced before, the pressure sensor of the circulation pump did detect abnormal fluctuations.”

He finally spoke, his fingers unconsciously stroking the badge on his chest:

"But you have to know that the fuel consumption of our core is less than 0.01%. It is completely laboratory-level data. You can't compare it with the standards of pilot plants or even industrial levels... Forget it, change your clothes first and come to our laboratory to take a look..."

……

“Is this the closed-loop magnetic fluid system you optimized?”

Peng Juexian's fingertips slid across the console parameter interface, watching the magnetic flux count value jump regularly at the edge of the screen.

"I remember telling you before that the key reason we conducted research on lithium was for neutron shielding... The tritium produced will of course enhance the plasma power generation process, but even in the most ideal case, the magnitude is only about 3-5%, so we will not specifically enrich it."

Chang Haonan adjusted the angle of the waveguide and added after a few seconds:

"Of course, we can also add more research topics...but Lao Peng, you have to give me a good reason."

The other party was a little anxious when he made the appointment yesterday, and today his anxiety was clearly written on his face.

Obviously something is wrong.

Peng Juexian did not hesitate, but just sighed and replied:

"At the beginning of next month, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Council will hold a working meeting to determine the test schedule for each country's helium-cooled pebble bed tritium breeding test module..."

The laboratory's ventilation system suddenly increased its power to extract the last trace of ozone.

Chang Haonan's fingers paused on the keyboard for a moment, and the code compiler's cursor flickered regularly on the screen:

"So, you are planning to develop new tritium breeding technology?"

Peng Juexian nodded, and the thermos cup he carried with him made a crisp sound on the metal table:

"At this stage, we are still using lithium oxide and ternary lithium ceramics as the main solid tritium breeders."

He pulled out a copy of experimental data from three years ago from his notebook. The defect density distribution map looked like craters on the surface of the moon:

"The current irradiation tritium production technology has serious damage defects, such as lithium vacancies, oxygen vacancies, unpaired electrons, etc., and the migration of vacancies leads to lattice distortion. Tritium atoms are trapped in the electron traps formed by oxygen vacancies, just like using a colander to catch rainwater. The final effective retention rate is terrible."

"So we need a new plan, but the Americans have classified the data on liquid proliferation agents as NOFORN (not to be disclosed to foreigners). Of course, this is normal. No one would casually disclose such things..."

The sound of the server array starting up was suddenly mixed in with the sound of rain. Chang Haonan adjusted the power of the accelerator to standby mode, and the display screen glowed with a cold blue light:

"My neutron source strength is less than one millionth of that of a tokamak. I need to accumulate valid data..."

He glanced at the electronic calendar on the wall. The red numbers showed August 2008, 8:

“It will take at least 18 months, and we also have to take into account the subsequent research process.”

Peng Juexian waved his hand:

“The key is not speed, but time window”

Then he pulled out a piece of paper from the side and drew a timeline on it:

"ITER is an international project, and for military reasons, countries will not share tritium breeding technology. They can only use the facilities within the ITER framework to test tritium breeding modules of their own design, so the scheduling is in turns... Generally speaking, each cycle is about 16-24 months. If the data of the first test is not ideal, it will take one and a half to two years to conduct the next test."

Chang Haonan immediately understood.

If the schedule cannot be accurately aligned, there is a high probability that the progress will be delayed by an additional 1-2 years due to a delay of 1-2 months.

Moreover, if the problem cannot be solved in one cycle, there will likely be a delay of 1-2 years for each cycle.

This is unacceptable to China.

Of course, controlled nuclear fusion is not just a matter of a few years.

However, tritium proliferation technology also involves the power and miniaturization level of thermonuclear weapons, which is the focus of superiors' attention at this stage.