novelEnergy of the Star
| ← Ch.0556 | Ch.0558 → |
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The temperature in the reaction chamber began to rise.
It was forming the most intense energy in this solar system, and the plasma that was trapped inside the magnetic field was like a thin aurora, flowing quietly inside the reaction chamber.
Once the temperature reached 100 million degrees, the plasma was instantly lit up.
The enormous energy was like a tidal wave that gushed out of the tiny nuclei.
Everyone in the control room was witnessing this moment, and they all looked excited.
However, no one was cheering.
Because all of this had just begun!
The reporter, who just took a photo, quickly retreated to the side. The researchers inside the control room were like gears inside a clock; they were busy working.
There was a fundamental difference between the demonstration reactor and the experimental reactor. One would only have to complete a few experiments for the latter to be considered successful, while the former was based on true success.
At this moment, the sleeping metal dragon was awakened by them, producing a deafening roar.
The ability to control the energy of a star depended on whether or not they could control this dragon!
"Fusion reaction detected! The neutron beam is in contact with the beryllium metal layer!"
"External field coil is being adjusted... the plasma control scheme is valid!"
"Magnetic field is stable! Plasma inside the reaction chamber is in good condition!"
"Recycling pump has detected tritium! The liquid lithium neutron recovery system is working!"
It was like the liquid lithium was circulating through the dragon's body. It was slowly injected with tritium. After that, it was pumped back into the reaction chamber for further ignition.
The staff reporting on the situation spoke with a slight tremble in his voice, "The tritium was successfully recycled!"
This was the second goal of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor, right after fusion ignition!
It wasn't just his voice; even his shoulders were shaking with excitement.
Also, it wasn't just him.
All of the researchers inside the control room were witnessing this exciting moment, and they clenched their fists.
Whether or not the recycled tritium could be used in the reactor again was the key to the commercialization of the fusion reactor.
Even though they would have to calculate the specific recovery efficiency after the experiment, judging from the current observations alone, they had achieved their expectations!
This meant that their hard work over the past year wasn't wasted...
On the other side of the demonstration reactor base, next to a facility that looked like a water pump...
An engineer was accompanied by security personnel as he checked the heat discharge pressure of the water valve. He looked at the dial and squinted.
"Oh, it looks like we're doing pretty good."
His PhD student, who was standing next to him, asked, "What's pretty good?"
The old engineer smiled and said, "Obviously it's the reactor."
The PhD student was a little surprised. He couldn't help but ask, "How can you tell?"
"Water pressure, use your brain. You're an engineering student. You can't just write theses all day." The old engineer tapped the water pipe next to him and happily said, "The water cooling system is pumping hot air, what does this mean? Tell me."
"The nuclear core is working..." The PhD student gulped and asked excitedly, "Does this mean... we've succeeded?"
The old engineer squinted and said, "It's too early to say this. Our success still depends on whether or not we can generate electricity and if the power output matches our expectations. This demonstration reactor aims to be the largest power generator in Jiangsu. Apparently, it can reach 100, 000 megawatts. So, it's not that easy to achieve this goal."
"100, 000 megawatts... Do you think this is possible?"
"It's not possible now. We've only installed four ferrofluid electric energy generators, so at most, we'll be able to output 4, 000 megawatts." The old engineer smiled and said, "But if we install another hundred ferrofluid electric energy generators, we can do it!"
This was different than nuclear fission generators.
Not only was the ferrofluid electric energy generator on the STAR-2 demonstration reactor relatively small in terms of size, but it was also surprisingly difficult to install on the STAR-2 machine.
With just four generators, it was impossible to utilize the heat generated from the fusion reaction. Most of the heat generated from the fusion was being discharged into the sea. In his opinion, it was entirely feasible from an engineering perspective to add a hundred ferrofluid electric energy generators.
"One hundred generators..." The PhD student looked at the dial on the water pipe and said emotionally, "I wonder how much deuterium would be burned in a day."
The old engineer smiled.
"Around 50 kg or so."
The most expensive price of deuterium was 4, 000 yuan per kg, so 50 kg was 200, 000 yuan.
200, 000 yuan of fuel could provide an entire day's worth of electricity to Jiangsu.
Even if the price was increased by tenfold, this investment would still be insanely profitable...
...
Of course, the demonstration reactor obviously didn't need to use that much deuterium.
The consumption of 50 kg of deuterium per day was the maximum load for the reactor.
The fusion ignition experiment happening now was measuring fuel in units of mg per second.
After all, only four ferrofluid electric energy generators had been installed. Most of the heat was discharged into the sea.
Inside the reaction chamber...
When the forty-minute fusion cycle came to an end, the heat accumulated inside the reactor was poured into the sea by the circulating water cooling system. After the fusion reaction stopped, the temperature of the gas molecules inside the nuclear core quickly dropped from 100 million degrees to less than 10 million degrees.
The reactor would be shut down for twenty minutes.
In the next twenty minutes, the outer field coil would adjust the shape of the magnetic field in order to prepare for the next fusion cycle.
Even though the fusion reactor was paused, the staff in the control room didn't relax at all; they were still in their respective work stations.
As Lu Zhou stared at the lines of data and graphs on the computer screen, he thought for a bit before he said, "Open the No. 1 electric generator."
According to the collected data, the previous round of experiments was near perfect.
Next up was to push the experiment to the next stage!
"Ok!"
After hearing this command, the staff member sitting in front of the computer immediately pressed the button to access the No1. generator.
Just like most nuclear fission power stations that were near the sea, when it was turned off, the excess heat in the reactor was directly discharged into the sea through the water cooling system. As for the special helium debris produced by the nuclear fusion, that was recovered by a special piece of equipment after the reactor was cooled down.
When they needed to generate power, the thermal energy output was directly connected to the corresponding electric generator.
If they needed a certain amount of energy output, they would burn a certain amount of fuel. All they needed was enough generators.
After the No. 1 generator was connected to the reactor, the second round of the experiment began.
The energy of a star was being produced again. Not only was this steel behemoth boiling the seawater near the cooling pipe, but it also awakened the ferrofluid electric energy generator.
The high-temperature ionized plasma gases were ejected from the nozzles, cutting through the magnetic lines. This converted the thermal energy in the reactor into a constant stream of electrical energy.
The researchers were staring straight at the computer screens as they exclaimed excitedly, "The ferrofluid electric energy connection port is working properly!"
"No. 1 generator power output is increasing!"
"No. 1 generator reached max capacity of 1, 000 megawatts!"
They couldn't contain the excitement in their hearts, and one of the researchers shouted out loud, "We did it!"
That's right, they did it!
The energy produced by the fusion reactions were converted into electrical energy.
The No 1. generator began to supply energy to the ion cyclotron resonance heating unit as the entire fusion reactor produced a cycle of continuous and stable electric energy output.
There wasn't another form of energy in the solar system that was purer than this.
The researcher's exclamation resonated in everyone's heart.
The control room exploded with sounds of cheer, and everyone was hugging and high-fiving each other.
Victory belonged to them.
Not only would history remember everyone here.
But it would also remember their victory.
Old Pan's face was red from the excitement as he clenched his fists. Even his dry lips were slightly trembling.
Academician Wang was also smiling with his mouth wide open. He patted Li Jiangang on the shoulder excitedly like he was a child.
"What did I say? Is my generator working or not?"
"Yeah yeah yeah, you're nutty!"
Academician Li raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.
Normally, he would throw a comeback or two.
But right now, he only felt excited; he couldn't even come up with a comeback.
Regiment Commander Dai stood at the entrance to the control room while looking at all of the researchers in the room. He took off his military hat, and without knowing it, his eyes began to water.
He didn't even know what the data on the computer meant.
He had no idea why the researches were cheering.
But he knew that from this moment onward, the light of controllable fusion could finally shine on the land of China.
The power of fusion energy was finally unlocked.
There was nothing that could stop them now.
They finally won this battle...
The sound of cheering echoed in Lu Zhou's ears. He had no idea how many hugs he just gave.
He stood in front of the control panel as he clenched and unclenched his fists.
He finally had a smile on his face.
"Yeah... We did it."
A translucent text bubble was floating in front of him.
[Congratulations, User, "Fusion Light" mission chain is completed!]
| ← Ch. 0556 | Ch. 0558 → |