A big country of aerospace with black technology

In the past few decades, many scientific research units have carried out technological development related to molten salt reactors.

It's just that these technologies are very complex and distributed among hundreds of scientific research units of various sizes across the country.

If Zhang Xingyang had not obtained the permission, he would be able to view almost all files and technical information in the country.

He also couldn't find so many related technologies.

"Well, this "Trace Radioactive Gas Detection Technology in the Atmospheric Environment" is somewhat useful to us."

Zhang Xingyang put down a document and said to Li Fei, who was constantly taking notes next to him.

"I didn't expect that someone would think of using denatured proteins for radioactive detection in the past."

The notebook in Li Fei's hand had already written down the names and characteristics of many related technologies, but after carefully reading Zhang Xingyang's summary, he still felt a little emotional.

This technology comes from a small institute that has been doing biotechnology research before.

This technology was not originally designed to detect radioactive gases.

However, Zhang Xingyang discovered its use in this regard.

"When everyone adds firewood, the flames will rise. Maybe these will contain the technological breakthroughs we want."

Zhang Xingyang pointed to the mountains of documents and files piled up in the corner of the office.

I don’t know where these documents were found. Some of them are more than ten or twenty years old, and some of them are as far back as the 1950s.

So it's all paper documents.

They can only use manual screening to find out what is useful to them.

"But with so many documents, when are we going to find them?" Li Fei said, rubbing his wrist.

They had been working for three days, and then the pile of documents in the corner fell into a small pile.

And there is a steady stream of documents sent from all over the country.

"If your hand speed could be faster, you wouldn't have this trouble."

Zhang Xingyang said to him while reading the technical documents.

"Someone will be here to assist you in your work next week, so you don't have to be so tired."

Zhang Xingyang's speed of filtering documents is actually very fast, and he can read several documents in one minute.

He only had to glance at the documents that had little technical value.

Only if it is of some value will you spend some time reading it.

However, most of these documents are still of little value.

Or maybe they have a better solution now.

Only a few innovative techniques were recorded by Li Fei.

The proportion is less than one percent.

"Are we finally going to officially open?" Li Fei's eyes lit up and he said.

There are only two of them in the institute for now.

Even the office space is temporarily rented.

"Barely, our temporary station has been built and can be moved there."

Zhang Xingyang still didn't stop browsing the documents, "But this is just the first group of people, mainly administrative staff."

"The professional and technical staff are still waiting for me to come for interviews. They probably won't come until the second batch."

Li Fei didn't mind, it would be good to have two record keepers to help record.

"You should go and take a look when the time comes."

After saying that, the office returned to its original atmosphere.

There was only the sound of Zhang Xingyang flipping files, and the voice asking Li Fei to record technical features from time to time.

Four days later, the institute successfully moved into the temporary office building that still smelled like it had just been built.

The institute's system also began to gradually take shape.

Half a month later, the institute welcomed its first batch of formal scientific researchers.

“Welcome to our institute.”

In the conference room that could accommodate hundreds of people, Zhang Xingyang looked at the people in the audience with a smile.

"You may still have doubts until now."

"For example, what exactly does our institute do?"

"Why go to so much trouble? I'll tell you after you join the institute."

"Don't worry, all your questions will be answered today."

Zhang Xingyang stood on the stage and talked as if chatting.

"The first is what our research is about."

"I believe someone here must have guessed this."

Many people in the audience nodded inconspicuously.

Most of them are majoring in the nuclear industry.

You can tell if you think about it a little.

Recruiting them in such trouble is definitely not to let them come to the desert to eat sand.

It must be related to the nuclear industry.

I just don’t know what aspect of the nuclear industry it is.

"Yes, our research content is related to nuclear energy."

Zhang Xingyang didn't show off to anyone, he said it straightforwardly.

"To be more precise, our research is about fourth-generation nuclear reactors!"

"Thorium-based molten salt pile!"

The scientific researchers related to the nuclear industry in the audience immediately became energetic after hearing about the thorium-based molten salt reactor.

I couldn't help but lean forward slightly, trying to hear more clearly.

However, there are also scientific researchers who are not related to the nuclear industry and are confused.

Although they know about nuclear reactors, they don’t know what the fourth-generation nuclear reactors and thorium-based molten salt reactors are.

Zhang Xingyang saw the doubts of some people in the audience, so he called Li Fei's name.

"Li Fei, please first explain to colleagues who don't understand what a fourth-generation reactor is and what a thorium-based molten salt reactor is."

Li Fei, who had been sitting in the front row, stood up and walked to the podium to start explaining.

"Most of the nuclear reactors in the world at present are second-generation or third-generation reactors."

"Although they are called second-generation reactors or third-generation reactors, there is not much difference in structure. They are mainly pressurized water reactors."

"The main difference is that in terms of safety performance, third-generation reactors are safer than second-generation reactors."

"And what we want to study is the molten salt pile."

"The molten salt reactor, as the name suggests, uses molten salt instead of water in the traditional pressurized water reactor as the heat transfer medium."

As he spoke, Li Fei looked at the small group of people in the conference room.

“There are also molten salt technicians present, so I won’t introduce too much about molten salt.”

"This technology has been rarely studied and applied before. Only a molten salt reactor was built at Oak Ridge Laboratory fifty years ago."

"Other than that, there are no actual operating molten salt reactors."

"The reason why we chose a thorium-based molten salt reactor is based on our national conditions."

"As we all know, we are a depleted uranium country and the uranium ore we can find is not very high grade."

"But we are a country with a lot of thorium mines, so developing a thorium-based molten salt reactor has a big advantage for us."

Then Li Fei briefly introduced the working principle of the thorium-based molten salt reactor.

The main purpose is to let non-nuclear professionals present have an understanding of thorium-based molten salt reactors.

First, a high-energy proton beam is generated in an accelerator and strikes a lead target to generate a neutron source.

A liquid fuel pool containing a fluoride solution containing thorium-232 and uranium-233 is then placed beneath the neutron source.

When the neutron source hits the liquid fuel pool, it triggers a fission reaction of uranium-233 and converts thorium-232 into new uranium-233. The fission reaction generates a large amount of heat energy and releases more neutrons.

These neutrons continue to promote fission reactions and proliferation reactions, forming a self-sustaining chain reaction.

Thermal energy is transferred through the molten salt circulation into a heat exchanger and generates electricity through a steam turbine. At the same time, in an online chemical processing system, fission products and newly formed uranium-233 are continuously separated from the liquid fuel and returned to the liquid fuel pool.

"Compared with traditional pressurized water reactors, molten salt reactors currently have many problems that we need to overcome."

Li Fei pointed to the numerous technical problems handwritten on the blackboard.

“These problems require all of us to work together to overcome them.”

"And our time is very limited. We only have three years to overcome the difficulties."

"So the challenges we face will be unprecedented."

Everyone present had a conversation before joining the institute.

Everyone is mentally prepared.

Knowing that they will definitely encounter many difficulties after coming to this newly established institute.

However, after seeing the technical problems listed on the blackboard, I still took a breath of cold air.

They had more or less come into contact with these issues in their previous units.

It is definitely not an easy thing to solve within three years.

This undoubtedly requires them to go out of their way to conduct research before it can be completed within three years.

Even though I was mentally prepared, I still couldn't help but have some difficulties.

At this time, Zhang Xingyang stood up and said sincerely, "Everyone, I know it will be difficult to solve these technologies within three years."

"There are more than 300 technical difficulties that we need to solve."

"But I still hope that everyone can use 100% enthusiasm and energy to solve the difficulties involved."

"Because it's not just about our fourth-generation nuclear power plants."

Zhang Xingyang said passionately: "It is also related to our future nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and many industries that require small nuclear reactors."

As soon as this statement came out, the audience was a little excited.

No one thought that their jobs could be linked to nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Those who guessed that the research content would be related to the nuclear industry also looked in disbelief.

After all, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are still exclusive to Eagle Sauce and Gaul at this time.

As for Gaul's nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, it's a shame not to mention it.

If China is going to start building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, it will definitely not follow the old path that Gaul once took.

After all, this path has proven not to be that effective.

"To be honest with you, the reason why the three-year time limit is set has a lot to do with the construction of aircraft carriers."

Zhang Xingyang continued to reveal the news to everyone present, "Our first aircraft carrier, as many people should have guessed, is a conventionally powered aircraft carrier modified from the Varyag."

For those who know a little bit about this.

It's not a secret, but no one knows the progress of the modification.

"This aircraft carrier is more of a training ship for the navy. After all, we have never had an aircraft carrier before."

"But the second aircraft carrier, which is the first domestically produced aircraft carrier, will be our combat ship."

Zhang Xingyang looked at the faces in the audience that were either full of vigor or weathered, "Whether this battleship can have a strong heart depends on our efforts in the past three years."

"If the development goes well, our thorium-based molten salt reactor has a high chance of being used on the first domestically produced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier."

Although Zhang Xingyang’s original intention to develop a thorium-based molten salt reactor was to be used in space star ports.

But this does not prevent him from drawing a big picture of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

After all, the difficulty of developing marine nuclear power reactors is actually lower.

And who said that a star port cannot be turned into a space aircraft carrier.

As a large space artifact that can dock interstellar ships, the star port can naturally also dock space fighters.

In later generations, nuclear-powered space fighters will still be an important combat force in ground warfare and interstellar warfare.

As long as it is slightly modified, the star port can become a fighter mothership in space.

And because of its geographical location, its global launch speed far exceeds that of all traditional aircraft carriers.

"Everyone, no matter what difficulties you encounter during these three years, I will be with you."

"I will be with you through any ups and downs."

Zhang Xingyang finally talked about his commitment to them.

Many people present still knew a little about Zhang Xingyang.

His promise still has some credibility.

In the conference room, after Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, there was endless applause.

The newly joined scientific researchers of the institute also added a lot of cohesion after this welcome meeting.

He began to contribute his wisdom and wisdom to the successful development of the fourth-generation reactor.

The most obvious thing is that the three rooms were originally filled with all kinds of materials.

After they join, they disappear at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The information of each category is sorted, classified and summarized.

Tens of thousands of materials were distributed to various research departments.

The materials department has obtained a lot of technical information on the preparation and processing of corrosion-resistant materials.

The equipment design department has obtained the design and manufacturing technology of key instruments and equipment for the molten salt circuit.

and the R\u0026D department, which have acquired environmentally friendly light isotope separation technology, dry separation and processing technology for molten salt reactor spent fuel, and nuclear pure thorium preparation technology.

Throughout the institute, hundreds of researchers devoted 200% of their energy to the research and development of thorium-based molten salt reactors.

"Xingyang, our current development progress is faster than expected, and some of the more critical technologies have made gratifying breakthroughs."

Li Fei was overjoyed and brought out a research progress chart.

"Everyone worked very hard." Zhang Xingyang couldn't help but sigh after watching it.

"It seems that the news about the aircraft carrier at the meeting still had a strong stimulating effect on everyone."

"Everyone wants to see our own nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as early as possible."

Li Fei nodded and said, "Yes, we have had enough of the days without aircraft carriers."

"It is the wish of many people to have a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier!" (End of this chapter)