I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 711 Scientists Need to Have a Bit of a Gambler's Spirit

in the room.

Ren Nan took a sip of tea, remained silent for a moment, then slowly nodded and said "Pretty good." He had a conflict with Zhang Zhigao, but that didn't mean he looked down on HL-3.

One thing is undeniable: the HL-3 is the most advanced tokamak device in China and even the world.

He couldn't very well advise his old friend to leave.

As a senior researcher, Ren Nan could better understand Chen Qiguang's ideas: once controlled nuclear fusion is successfully commercialized, it would be enough to change human history.

This is undeniably tempting for researchers.

This is the result of scientific and technological development; in comparison, minor conflicts between people are insignificant.

Although Ren Nan couldn't access the internal documents of the Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics, the technical roadmap was largely the same. He said in a relaxed tone, "Your next plan, after upgrading the superconducting magnet, is to challenge the fusion triple product, right?"

"Yes, last month, the German W7-X stellarator successfully maintained the triple product peak for 43 seconds in an experiment. We can't fall behind here."

Chen Qiguang nodded.

The reason why stellarators are considered by many to be closer to the commercialization of nuclear fusion is because of their superior continuous operation capability, which significantly avoids the fatal weakness of tokamaks.

Take the risk of plasma current interruption in tokamak as an example. Although tokamak can generate plasma current through ohmic transformers, the magnetic flux change is limited and it cannot maintain steady-state current for a long time.

Simply put, it's like a toy car that's wound up – when the spring is tight, it provides plenty of power (magnetic flux is the power), but when the spring loosens, the power disappears (magnetic flux is exhausted), and you have to stop and start winding it up again.

This means that tokamaks have to be stopped after running for a period of time, while stellarators do not have this problem.

"Fusion product of three times."

Academician Ren Nan squinted and sighed, "Two years ago, when we were having dinner, we were saying we didn't know when we would have a breakthrough."

Achieving the three-product target means that the energy output of fusion will exceed the input energy for the first time, marking a fundamental turning point: moving from the scientific experimental stage of plasma physics research to the energy engineering stage of obtaining net energy.

In short: science has proven that the "artificial sun" approach can indeed generate net energy and is feasible.

"The technology in the field of controlled nuclear fusion is being updated and replaced too quickly."

"Yes, at this rate of development, commercial controlled nuclear fusion will be achieved at least 10 years earlier."

The two elderly professors sighed with emotion.

in the hotel.

Xu Qingzhou was looking down as he checked the calculations.

Today, while listening to Professor Deng Yunxiang talk about plasma heating and drive scheme design, I noticed something – a nanoporous tungsten membrane.

This is a material used in the first wall of the tokamak.

The first wall is a solid structure that encloses the plasma and vacuum regions.

Aside from the superconducting magnet system and the triangular plasma, this is one of the most important components of the spherical tokamak device.

The current mainstream type of this material is a special metal composite material based on tungsten (or tungsten alloy), which serves as the innermost barrier, directly facing the plasma and undertaking the functions of heat load management and radiation shielding.

To put it more vividly, it is the "ultimate armor" of the nuclear fusion device, like a radiation shield against cosmic rays, isolating it from billions of degrees of heat and neutron storms, ensuring that the device continues to operate in "stellar-level flames".

According to Xu Qingzhou's goal, the first wall/divertor material must achieve a heat load of 20 MW/m, a lifespan of 5 years, and near-zero radiation damage. The current best tungsten-copper alloy has a heat load of 10 MW/m and a lifespan of 2 years, which still represents a 50% performance gap.

Finding suitable materials for the first wall/divertor is now one of the most important tasks for materials research institutes.

The nanoporous tungsten membrane he is currently focusing on is an improvement method for tungsten-based composite materials.

Professor Deng from the Institute of Plasma Physics mentioned at the seminar that the experiment had failed and the nanoporous tungsten membrane technique was not feasible. He found this quite interesting and subsequently asked Professor Xiao Chenghan for some data.

The data was already discarded, but as a partner, Xiao Chenghan was generous and had it sent directly to Xu Qingzhou's email address.

"I once read a paper published by MIT on deep space thruster materials, and part of it involved this. At that time, it was roughly related to the inner wall of a nuclear fusion thruster."

Xu Qingzhou tapped his pen lightly, "Although it's the same name, the performance difference is too great. If we improve the performance, it might have unexpected effects on controlled nuclear fusion."

Nanoporous tungsten membranes have strong radiation resistance.

6 pm.

Xu Qingzhou rubbed his slightly sore temples and went downstairs to the restaurant for dinner.

Xu Qingzhou ordered a bowl of lobster noodles. As soon as he sat down, he saw a fat old European man walking towards him.

Mas Klinger, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.

Good evening, Professor Xu.

"good evening."

Xu Qingzhou greeted him with a smile, only then noticing that Klinger was holding a bowl of oil-splashed noodles.

"Xu, I must say, your Xia Kingdom has so many delicious foods! You can even make dumplings, noodles, steamed buns, pancakes..."

Klinger exclaimed, "But in my hometown, there's only bread, and even bigger bread."

"There is an old saying in the Xia Kingdom: food is the first necessity of the people. If you have time to travel around the Xia Kingdom, you will discover more surprises."

Xu Qingzhou smiled and said, "Trust me, these delicacies will be just as interesting as researching controlled nuclear fusion."

"Okay, I can't argue with that."

Although Klinger is a foreigner, he is quite adept at using chopsticks.

"Professor Xu, I've always had a question."

"Please say."

Klinger paused for a moment, then said, "Obviously, conducting research in the field of batteries, or advancing battery products, is definitely more profitable than your work on controlled nuclear fusion. So why are you entering the highly competitive controlled nuclear fusion industry at this time?"

In his view, Xu Qingzhou would have earned far more if he had focused on the battery field.

They could even build a formidable business empire in just a few years.

And a spherical tokamak.
The team was newly established, starting from scratch, and had no chance of winning in this industry.

Xu Qingzhou shrugged: "Isn't part of the significance of science to exploring the unknown and challenging fields?"

“But undeniably, your country’s main resources are concentrated on the two major tokamak devices. Your nuclear fusion experiment is essentially a lone effort, which is very dangerous. I mean, you could lose a lot of money for nothing, or even go bankrupt,” Klinger said.

Developing nuclear fusion is simply burning through money.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out."

Xu Qingzhou nodded in agreement, paused, and said, "But this reason is not enough for me to switch to another industry. At least until I have the funds, I will not stop."

"That's gambling."

"Isn't that more interesting?"

(End of this chapter)