Chapter 1466 Bet

In fact, preparations for this test had already been underway long before Peng Juexian arrived in the Netherlands. Only some unpopular or sensitive materials had not been in place, and the details of the plan had not been finalized. Therefore, as long as the plan obtains final approval from HFR, the specific work can begin soon.

Five days later, November 2009, 11.

Academician Peng Juexian and his team had just finished their last work coordination meeting with the Dutch side and were now walking through the corridor towards the experimental preparation area.

At the other end of the corridor, several HFR leaders were still gathered in the conference room.

Although the temperature and humidity system worked diligently to maintain the most comfortable environmental conditions in theory, the people sitting around the oval conference table seemed a little restless. The air was filled with the bitter aroma of coffee and a kind of indescribable tension.

After passing the seemingly shocking test plan from China, they no longer had the interest to go on vacation before the holiday, and instead kept waiting.

Waiting for the other party to officially start the test.

Of course, there are arguments.

After all, from the beginning, the attitudes of several people on this matter were different, but at the official level, the voting result of one vote made them unify their opinions...

"I still don't understand why they insist on doing this."

Cody Schneider slammed his mug down on the table so hard that a few drops of coffee spilled out. "Starting up the neutron source without an external source... It's like trying to light wet wood without a match."

Marika de Jong pushed her glasses up on her nose, and a hint of doubt flashed across her blue eyes behind the lenses:

"As Ms. Shulting said, their plan has passed all security reviews and there are no technical violations, so we chose to approve it, but the success rate..."

He shook his head, his blond hair swaying slightly behind his head.

Apparently, over the past few days, she has simply accepted the decision made by HFR, but still has not changed her original opinion.

"Don't be so pessimistic." Security Director Hans Vanderville's voice was unexpectedly calm. "Every groundbreaking new technology sounds incredible or even absurd before it is actually born. From a higher level, if we don't support such bold attempts, then sooner or later humans will run out of energy and be trapped on Earth and die."

The purpose of his statement was so lofty that it directly touched upon the issue of the survival of all mankind, leaving the other two unable to refute it for a moment. They could only curl their lips to show their dissatisfaction with such high-profile behavior, and then slightly change the subject.

"I propose a bet." Schneider put on a provocative smile. "I bet their test will fail. 20 euros."

De Jong helplessly complained: "This is unprofessional, Cody."

Having said that, after hesitating for a second, she nodded: "I'll participate, but I also think they will end in failure..."

Although Van der Wiel supports China's testing, he is actually not sure about the results.

But the topic has already come to this point, he can't spoil the fun:

"Then I'll bet on them succeeding, also 20 euros..."

Such a bet is obviously impossible to balance, but no one here is short of money, so no one cares about these details.

At the same time, compared to the three colleagues who were eager to express their opinions, Ms. Yulia Shulting, as a leader, was obviously more patient and was carefully reading the test plan submitted by the Chinese team and the minutes of the meeting just now.

Although there is nothing new in it.

It wasn't until the entire conference room fell silent that he finally spoke:

"Do you remember that when we were communicating via video last week, Academician Peng mentioned a concept called endogenous neutron source?"

She paused for a moment, but did not wait for the others to answer. Instead, she looked up at Hans:

"I went back and looked up the relevant information and found that there was very little information, but the author of several of the papers was you, Hans."

Vanderville's expression changed subtly, and he lowered his head and used a coffee spoon to stir the empty cup to hide his embarrassment.

In a discussion a few days ago, he deliberately concealed the information that he had conducted related research and pretended to be completely unaware of it, but obviously he failed to deceive the careful Shulting.

"Well... around 1992, in Delft." At this point, Van der Weil had to admit, "The so-called endogenous neutrons are based on the principle of using protons, deuterons or alpha particles in high-energy rays outside the core to bombard the shielding layer and core materials. The neutrons generated inside the reactor are used to activate the core, so there is no need for the assistance of an external neutron source..."

Schneider and De Jong obviously did not expect that there was an expert in the relevant field sitting next to them.

And he even made a bet with the other party.

The former raised an eyebrow. "And then? Magically conjure up neutrons?"

"To some extent, yes." Van der Weil ignored his colleague's sarcasm and raised his head slightly as if recalling something. "When the de Broglie wavelength of the incident particle is shorter than the average distance between nucleons, it can directly interact with the nucleus and produce hadrons - mainly neutrons."

Shulting opened a document on his computer and continued, "But your conclusion back then was that radiation below 100 MeV could not produce sufficient neutron flux?"

"To be precise, 98.3 MeV is the lowest critical value, and it is impossible to go below this value."

Although it was nearly two decades ago, Van der Veer is clearly well aware of his findings:

"Higher energy may be possible in theory, but producing such high-energy rays requires very demanding conditions. Moreover, the process only sounds simple. The actual spallation reaction process is very complicated. There is no good way to accurately calculate the physical process of particle collision with heavy atomic nuclei, and it is difficult to estimate the magnitude of the neutrons produced..."

At this point, everyone understood.

Van der Weil's conclusion was actually the opposite of his attitude at the time.

"Even so, do you still think the Chinese test could be successful?"

De Jong looked surprised.

Van der Weir sighed and told the truth:

"Well, I was a doctoral student back then. Because I was about to graduate and the experimental conditions were insufficient, many of the data were... modified. You know, in this situation, in order to avoid a big mess, we generally tend to write the conclusions more conservatively..."

The other people immediately showed expressions of understanding.

Everyone is actually well aware of the so-called "advanced data processing", and everyone has done it to some extent when facing the pressure of writing a water-down paper.

In most cases, it does not reach the level of academic misconduct.

But it was not very glorious after all, so Van der Wiel avoided talking about it at first.

"So, you now feel that your conclusion back then might be...too conservative?"

Shulting asked.

"Frankly, I don't know."

Van der Weil smiled bitterly and shook his head:

"It's just a journal with an impact factor of less than 1.5. Almost no one will read it, let alone take it seriously. It has no academic value. However, the feasibility of the endogenous neutron route is very low, which was indeed the general view at the time... That's why I want to see if China has any technology that we don't know about."

He turned to Schneider and said, "By the way, when you reviewed the materials list, did you find anything unusual?"

The latter frowned and recalled: "They are just common materials, nothing special..."

But the next second, Schneider's movements suddenly stopped:

"If anything, they requested 35 kilograms of beryllium, which is about 10 times the amount normally used for testing."

"35 kilograms?"

De Jong's fingers trembled slightly.

Among all kinds of rare metals, beryllium-9 is relatively abundant, with annual output measured in at least tons, but this number used up in a single test is still a bit exaggerated.

Hans' eyes widened slightly, but then he regained his composure. "As a neutron source, beryllium-9 can indeed produce a large number of neutrons when stimulated, but the moderation effect will limit the flux..."

He muttered to himself, seemingly thinking about something.

"Anyway." Shulting closed the lid of his laptop and looked at his watch. "In a few hours, we'll be able to see their results..."