Chapter 1649: Anchor Point for the Future

"electricity?!"

Not only Xiang Huaping, but even Luan Wenjie, who had just been listening, cried out in surprise, his face instantly filled with astonishment.

They just thought it was just a casual chat or discussion about the overall situation on the road, with some academic discussion at most.

No one expected that Chang Haonan would suddenly come up with a specific idea.

And the subversiveness and imagination are far beyond expectations.

Xiang Huaping took a deep breath and was the first to recover from his shock.

He realized from Chang Haonan's expression and tone that the other party must be serious.

Therefore, we quickly entered a rigorous working state.

"Electricity...as a fundamental energy commodity and the lifeblood of modern industrial society, it does in part meet the characteristics of an anchor."

After thinking with his eyes closed for more than ten seconds, Xiang Huaping was the first to affirm its value.

But then the topic changed, and the expectations became solemn: "However, there are two key issues that are very fatal."

Chang Haonan continued to ask: "Tell me about it?"

"First of all, it's about mobility and acceptance. Electricity is not oil. It can't be transported freely in containers like liquids."

Xiang Huaping pulled out a piece of paper, drew an oil drum on it, and then drew a high-voltage power tower next to it:

"The transmission of electricity is highly dependent on a vast, complex, cross-regional, and even cross-border power grid infrastructure. The difficulty, cost, and geopolitical obstacles of building, maintaining, and operating such a vast 'power internet' far surpass those of laying a few oil pipelines or operating a few tankers. This significantly limits its mobility as a global anchor."

"Furthermore, getting countries around the world, especially those accustomed to the petrodollar system, to accept the 'electricity standard' as a new monetary cornerstone and building its recognition and trust will be a long and uncertain process..."

"..."

Halfway through his words, before Chang Haonan could react, he was interrupted by Luan Wenjie:

"We can advance in stages, without considering covering the entire world all at once."

Obviously, the latter only appeared calm on the surface, but in fact, he was concerned about this issue just like Chang Haonan.

He then explained:

"What I mean is that we can focus on regions first, such as those around my country, such as Southeast Asia, Central Asia and West Asia. Relying on the regional power grid interconnection projects we are vigorously building, such as ultra-high voltage cross-border transmission and a unified intelligent dispatching platform, the transmission problem may not be unsolvable."

Xiang Huaping nodded: "If we don't consider crossing the ocean, it is indeed feasible."

But the expression on his face did not look relaxed:

"However, the second problem is the real crux of the matter."

"Although my country's total electricity generation already ranks first in the world, it only accounts for less than one-third of the global total. Considering our population of 14 billion, our per capita electricity generation is even lower than that of the United States, and is only comparable to countries like Australia and Russia. This will greatly undermine the representativeness of electricity as a symbol of national strength."

Luan Wenjie was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly.

Obviously, he was a little emotional just now, and for a moment he forgot that China is still far from gaining an absolute advantage in the power generation share.

But Xiang Huaping hadn't finished speaking yet:

"Another issue is our energy structure. Thermal power now accounts for nearly 70% of our energy production, which means that the source of value for our electricity—coal, natural gas, oil...—is highly dependent on imports. We lack pricing power and control over the supply chain for these primary energy sources!"

The carriage fell silent again.

Especially Luan Wenjie, who lowered his head and looked a little absent-minded.

Xiang Huaping is right. In this case, electricity is essentially a processed product of fossil energy.

The foundation of its "value" is still firmly rooted in fossil energy, especially oil, a system that is firmly bound to the US dollar.

Using electricity generated by fossil energy to anchor a currency is in no way more authoritative than oil, which is a fossil energy source itself, not to mention that the latter also has the status of a chemical raw material.

Even if it is promoted in a small area, it is still tantamount to indirectly recognizing the authority of the petrodollar system and cannot reflect our own absolute dominance and independence of economic strength.

This is like using someone else's foundation to build your own house, which is ultimately unstable.

In this slightly heavy silence, Chang Haonan spoke again:

"It's definitely not possible right now."

"But what if... we can be the first to achieve controlled nuclear fusion power generation and have exclusive access to this technology for a long time in the future?"

His voice was still steady, yet it contained earth-shattering power.

"what?!"

Luan Wenjie turned his head suddenly, his eyes wide open, as if he was meeting Chang Haonan for the first time.

Xiang Huaping was so shocked that he almost dropped the pen in his hand. For a moment, he even suspected that he had heard it wrong.

After about a minute, the former tentatively confirmed:

"You just said... controlled nuclear fusion?!"

"That's right, controlled nuclear fusion." Chang Haonan nodded affirmatively. "Once successful, it will mean nearly unlimited clean energy, which can completely reshape the global energy landscape and geopolitics."

"This..." Luan Wenjie was speechless for a moment. The huge shock made his mind go blank.

Of course, he knew the supreme power behind the three words "nuclear fusion".

That's the energy source that keeps stars running.

But at least until today.

Or strictly speaking, at least until a minute ago.

He had not seriously evaluated the impact this technology would have on the world once it became a reality.

After all, the research progress of this thing is not optimistic, it is said that "there are still 50 years to go"...

Xiang Huaping also held his breath completely and looked at Chang Haonan in disbelief.

Chang Haonan didn't wait for them to digest the shock and continued to explain calmly:

"In fact, China is not completely new to fusion-related fields. In terms of magnetic field control technology and large-scale superconducting coil design, we have made significant progress and accumulated a wealth of unique experience, relying on several major scientific facilities and key laboratories, as well as the design process of the Lingxiao engine."

"The real bottleneck at present lies in plasma dynamics. The turbulence and instability of high-temperature plasma under the confinement of a strong magnetic field have extremely complex physical mechanisms. Simulating and predicting them is extremely difficult, almost a blind spot."

Luan Wenjie subconsciously continued, "ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is also being delayed again and again. The latest news says that the core ignition will be postponed until at least 2018..."

Chang Haonan waved his hand gently and said decisively, "We have already demonstrated the new generation of deuterium breeding technology through ITER. There is no need to wait for them."

He paused, and then delivered even more shocking news:

"After the successful maiden flight of the 'Zou Yu', I gained some key insights while pondering the complex fluid dynamics involved in its ultra-high-speed flight. I've basically found a way to solve the existence and smoothness problems of the NS equations... After returning to Beijing, I will focus my efforts and begin to tackle these problems."

If this news had come out in the past, it would have been big enough to shock people for a while.

But today, on this minibus, Luan Wenjie and Xiang Huaping were completely numb, even a little dazed.

"So... then what?"

Chang Haonan explained, "If successful, it would mean that the motion of any viscous fluid, no matter how complex, would theoretically become predictable and precisely controllable... This would naturally include the turbulence and instabilities of high-temperature plasmas that plague fusion research."

At this time, the convoy had slowly driven into the gate of the Tianjin Haihe New District base.

The vehicle decelerated smoothly but Luan Wenjie seemed completely unaware.

His entire mind was occupied by the picture described by Chang Haonan, and the huge amount of information made him feel dizzy.

"Wait!" Luan Wenjie snapped back to his senses, leaning forward unconsciously as he pressed on eagerly, even ignoring the car coming to a complete stop. "Even if we figure out how to control the plasma, generating a confining magnetic field of that intensity would require an astronomical amount of current! How do we address the energy consumption? How can we achieve this engineeringly?"

Chang Haonan had clearly considered this: "Magnetic field systems consume a lot of energy, and the key lies in superconducting materials."

He unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up and prepared to get out of the car while explaining:

"The Torch Laboratory has extensive experience in single-atom metal interface design and material simulation, and the State Key Laboratory of Superconductivity at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences just happened to discover a new type of copper-oxygen material last year that exhibits very promising properties under high-pressure environments."

"We are currently planning to collaborate with the goal of pushing the superconducting critical temperature of this type of material above 150K under certain pressures. Although this still requires cooling, the engineering difficulty and energy consumption are significantly reduced compared to the traditional liquid helium temperature range, making it entirely possible to put it into large-scale application."

The driver gently opened the car door from the outside, and slightly cold air rushed in.

The welcoming crowd was already lined up outside the car, and Luan Wenjie had to stand up.

But his mind was still on the fusion blueprint outlined by Chang Haonan, and his movements seemed a little absent-minded.

He had just stepped off the ladder when he couldn't help but look back. He lowered his voice and asked Chang Haonan anxiously, "Then... should we immediately initiate a project to build a brand new, more powerful tokamak experimental device, like a fully upgraded version of EAST, or a completely new design?"

Chang Haonan also got out of the car with him and stood beside the car.

"Director Luan, what we need now is probably not just a research device." He narrowed his eyes, facing the eastern sunlight, "but a complete fusion power generation test demonstration reactor..."