Chapter 1464: National Destiny is Our Destiny

Peng Juexian showed a hint of surprise on his face.

In his experience, Europeans were notoriously stingy with reactor time, especially with the Chinese team.

He recalled the advice given by the leaders of the Ministry of Science and Technology before he left: this cooperation concerns China's voice in the ITER project, and only success is required.

"Academician Peng..."

Huang Zhitao suddenly stopped talking.

"What's wrong?"

The young man's eyes lit up: "Can you tell me about your feelings at the military parade? That day we..." He looked at Fang Jianming, and after getting his tacit approval, he continued: "We borrowed a small conference room to watch the live broadcast, and more than 17 foreign colleagues came. When the news about the Dongfeng- came out the next day, the entire research center was discussing it."

Fang Jianming added with a smile: "Even the lady in the cafeteria asked me what 'the missile that can turn' is. The most exaggerated one was Mueller from the German group. He insisted on replaying the parade with us and even insisted on learning Chinese. In the end, he was persuaded to give up after the stroke part..."

Peng Juexian couldn't help but imagine the shocked expressions of the foreign military attachés on the viewing stand.

Because of his special work experience, he knows better than ordinary people what the penetration capability of DF-17 means - it is not simply "the ability to turn", but the hypersonic gliding trajectory change technology achieved by humans for the first time.

"It's hard to see the details at the scene, and the visual effect is not as good as the TV broadcast."

Peng Juexian said softly, the roar in his memory still ringing in his ears:

"But the atmosphere was very much there... and the sound, the sound of hundreds of planes, and the ground was shaking when heavy vehicles passed by."

He paused and said, "I heard that the Institute of Mechanics received a lot of cooperation invitations the next day, many of which were from institutions that had previously ignored us."

"Same here."

Fang Jianming glanced meaningfully at the research center in the distance:

"The test plan submitted last week was approved within 48 hours. It is said to have set an efficiency record for HFR..."

"..."

……

Fifteen minutes later, the group got off the car and arrived at the main building entrance. Peng Jue adjusted his tie and said, "Let's go see Ms. Shulting first and finish the business."

Yulia Shulting's office is in the east wing of the fifth floor, with spacious floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the entire reactor complex.

This Dutch woman, who is only in her early forties, has a typical Germanic face, her blonde hair is neatly tied behind her head, and her handshake is just the right amount of firmness.

"Academician Peng, welcome."

She spoke in English with a slight Nordic accent: "During this time, the work of Professor Fang's team has left a very deep impression."

"Rigorous and meticulous work is what we always pursue."

Peng Juexian made a brief and polite response, then handed over the sealed document bag:

"This is a test application report involving reactor safety, including the emergency response plan you requested."

Shulting took the document and rested his fingertips on the seal for a moment:

"I noticed earlier that you used an unconventional tritium release module."

After all, we are all in the same research center and we know each other very well, so the major technical choices are basically transparent to each other.

This is also the original purpose of establishing ITER.

Of course, the specific tritium release technology may involve weapons-grade applications, so it is kept strictly confidential under the "advice" of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and even the Netherlands has no right to access it.

"Based on previous work," Peng Juexian replied calmly, "we believe that there may be loopholes in the traditional solid tritium release mechanism, otherwise it would not be possible that so many previous experiments were always fruitless. Liquid tritium release agents also have engineering deficiencies."

The air in the room seemed to freeze for a second.

Europeans have always been skeptical about China's progress in the field of fusion materials, especially the "traditional solid tritium release mechanism" mentioned by Peng Juexian, which was proposed by European scientists, or strictly speaking, by French and Dutch scientists.

But Shulting had to admit that the other party's analysis made sense.

"We will give you a response within three days."

Shulting finally said, locking the document into the safe behind him, "The security director will give you a tour of the HFR control center at three this afternoon."

After leaving the office, Fang Jianming breathed a sigh of relief: "She is much kinder than the rumors say. When the Korean team came last year, they were said to have been harassed for two whole weeks."

Peng Juexian looked thoughtfully at the flags of the ITER member countries on the corridor wall: "Times have changed, Lao Fang. Now we have what they need." He turned to Huang Zhitao, "Xiao Huang, take me to see our laboratory."

The East Laboratory of the Research Center was more spacious than Peng Juexian had expected. Six precision instruments were neatly arranged on a shockproof platform, and the wall display screen updated the operating parameters of the HFR in real time. The most eye-catching thing was the three sets of sealed containers on the central laboratory table, which contained ceramic microsphere samples of different colors.

"The red one is lithium orthosilicate, the white one is lithium alumina, and the gray one is lithium oxide." Huang Zhitao introduced them one by one, "For each group of samples, we have three particle size distributions, ranging from 10 microns to 150 microns."

Peng Juexian put on gloves and carefully picked up a sample bottle to observe it under the light. The microspheres slowly rotated in the transparent solution, just like the snow globes we played with as children. But what was inside might be the hope for human energy in the future.

“What day is the irradiation test scheduled?”

"If Shulting approves, it will start next Tuesday." Fang Jianming pulled up a schedule, "First, do 72 hours of low-flux irradiation, and then..."

He was suddenly interrupted by a rapid alarm. The red light in the laboratory flashed and a Dutch broadcast came from the loudspeaker.

"It's just a routine fire drill in the work area." Huang Zhitao answered skillfully. It has nothing to do with us.

"We come every Wednesday at 11 a.m., which is even more punctual than our group meetings."

Everyone laughed, and the tense atmosphere relaxed. Peng Juexian noticed a small model of the national flag in the corner of the lab table, and next to it were a few printed photos of the military parade.

"Your 'trophies'?" He pointed at the pile of souvenirs.

Fang Jianming smiled embarrassedly: "It was given to me by a foreign colleague. Ryashenko from the Russian team gave me a nesting doll with a code, saying that the innermost layer is a model of a tokamak device - although I got stuck when I disassembled the third layer, and I never had time to study it afterwards."

Lunch was had in the research center cafeteria, and Peng Juexian was surprised to find Chinese labels on the menu.

"After we came here, especially after the military parade, there are suddenly many more Chinese elements here."

Fang Jianming whispered:

“Even the coffee machine has a new green tea option.”

While we were eating, a tall white man came over with a tray. Judging from the flag hanging on his collar, he must be from France.

"Academician Peng? I'm Marcus Lefevre from the Institute of Nuclear and Particle Research (IN2P3)." He said in English with a thick accent, "We met at a conference in Marseille in 2002."

Peng Juexian recalled that this man was a neutron physics expert from the French Atomic Energy Commission, who had scoffed at China's liquid lithium-lead experimental data.

After sitting down, Lefevre went straight to the point:

"I heard that you have improved the radiation stability of lithium ceramics? We have recently encountered a bottleneck in lithium silicate doping..."

"..."

After twenty minutes of brief communication, the French left with satisfaction, and before leaving, they warmly invited Peng Juexian to visit their laboratory in Nice.

"The sun rises from the west." Fang Jianming was stunned. "Lefevre used to be a well-known Eurocentric theorist."

Peng Juexian wiped the corner of his mouth and said: "Science has no borders, but scientists do."

He looked out the window at the reactor dome gleaming in the sun: "Now, the weight in our hands is even heavier."

The afternoon tour of the HFR control center went according to plan. The security director, Van der Wiel, a meticulous Dutchman, spent a full hour explaining the emergency procedures, even including details such as "how to protect data hard drives during earthquakes."

Although the Netherlands has never experienced an earthquake above magnitude 6 since written records began.

On the way back to the laboratory, Huang Zhitao suddenly received a call and his face changed suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Peng Juexian keenly noticed something unusual.

The young man put down his phone and said in a trembling voice: "I just received an email... The samples prepared by the German group using the melt spray method all broke during the test at the Max Planck Institute. They postponed the publication of the paper originally scheduled for next week."

Fang Jianming and Peng Juexian exchanged a look -

This means that the process route adopted by the Chinese team is likely correct and is at least half a year ahead.

"Don't make it public yet." Peng Juexian said in a deep voice, "Xiao Huang, reanalyze our mechanical test data tomorrow, especially the fracture toughness data."

"..."

As night fell, Peng Juexian stood alone at the window of his room. On his mobile phone screen was a message from his wife asking him if he had adapted to the weather in the Netherlands.

The outline of the HFR reactor in the distance was faintly visible in the night, and the flashing aviation warning light on the top was like a lonely star.

He remembered Shulting's subtle expression when he heard Chang Haonan's name today, Lefevre's sudden enthusiasm, and Huang Zhitao's unconcealable pride when he was reporting.

When he first entered the field thirty years ago, Chinese scientists had to consider other people’s opinions before asking questions at international conferences. But now, they bring their discoveries to the world’s top laboratories, communicating, cooperating and competing on an equal footing, or even in a dominant position.

"The fate of the country is my fate..."