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

Chapter 751 The Incredible Goal

The news of the first ignition at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering continues to generate buzz and is spreading throughout the field of controlled nuclear fusion over time.

The official report featured a special report, highly praising the achievements of Q1-NTST.

On Wednesday, the first group of visitors to the institute arrived not from a research institution, but from the team of An Haofeng, the main person in charge of science and technology in Xia Guo.

When the visit ended and everyone went back to rest, An Haofeng pulled Xu Qingzhou to his office for tea.

"You have tea."

Xu Qingzhou poured tea for the old man, knowing that An Haofeng probably had something else to say.

"I have read the technical report provided by the experts. The data is perfect. The higher-ups also attach great importance to the development of the Qiankun-1 device. In addition to expressing our affirmation and support for your achievements, we came here on behalf of the ministry to learn about your future plans."

An Haofeng got straight to the point.

Previously, the institute had submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology the complete monitoring curve of plasma current/temperature for 1000 consecutive seconds and the data of each part.

The person in front of me is not only a 24-year-old youth, but also a world-renowned mathematician and Nobel Prize winner.

The 14th Five-Year Plan shifted the country's strategic focus in the battery field from solid-state batteries to lithium-sulfur batteries. It can be said that this young man has changed the country's policy.

"We expect to reach the Lawson ignition threshold within two months and achieve net energy gain within one year."

Xu Qingzhou didn't hide anything and said with a smile.

"Two months of Lawson ignition threshold, one year of net energy gain?!"

An Haofeng paused for a few seconds, wondering if he had misheard. He slowly said, "Professor Xu, although I am not an expert in the field of controlled nuclear fusion, I am well aware of the difficulty of these two goals. Are you sure you can achieve them in such a short time?"

No matter how you look at it, it seems like a fantasy.

Controlled nuclear fusion has been developing for decades, and currently only three devices have clearly reached the Lawson ignition threshold, which is the triple product of 3×10 keV·s/m.

Recent breakthroughs include Circulation 3, the German W7-X stellarator, and the US National Ignition Facility (NIF).

The first two only reached Lawson's ignition threshold, while the latter, although it claimed to have achieved a net energy gain, had a very short duration and was essentially a stripped-down version.

"I am not a prophet and cannot guarantee that it will definitely succeed. I can only say that, after comprehensive consideration, it is difficult, but not impossible, for us to achieve these two goals in a short period of time with the current technology of Qiankun-1."

Xu Qingzhou has used the data from the first ignition to create several models to simulate the upcoming experiments, and the results have been quite good.

Although they shared some of the initial ignition data with the outside world, they kept the more core equipment parameters to themselves, so the public did not know the actual situation of their equipment.

An Haofeng asked in a deep voice, "How confident are you?"

"About 6%."

Xu Qingzhou smiled and gave a conservative estimate.

"It seems you are very confident in the performance of Qiankun-1," An Haofeng couldn't help but say.

If someone else had said this to him, he would have scoffed and thought the other person was crazy, but the words of the person in front of him made it impossible for him to take them lightly.

Xu Qingzhou smiled and took a sip of tea.

In fact, he was at least 90% certain that he designed Qiankun-1 himself and knew best where the limits of this device lay.

It can basically meet all the experimental conditions for the construction of the demonstration reactor.

Of course, while this is the theoretical principle, the actual experimental process still encounters many uncontrollable variables. For example, during the initial ignition process, the high-energy plasma bombards the tungsten divertor target plate, causing tungsten atoms to sputter into the main plasma, affecting the plasma's operation.

This requires adjustments before the next ignition test.

An Haofeng nodded, paused for a moment, and then asked an important question: "So... you already have the idea of ​​building a demonstration reactor?"

"Isn't this one of the purposes of our Qiankun-1?"

Xu Qingzhou nodded and said, "In recent years, controlled nuclear fusion has been developing at an extremely rapid pace. Germany's W7-X, the United States' NIF, and the ITER project jointly built by 35 countries have all brought forward the commercialization of controlled nuclear fusion. Of course, you are probably already aware of what I'm talking about. I just want to say that as the 'ultimate energy for mankind,' the tipping point for its commercialization has arrived."

"Of course, we can't fall behind."

The construction of the demonstration reactor cannot be separated from national-level support, something Xu Qingzhou had already anticipated.

A medium-sized engineering reactor like the CFETR in China requires at least 500 billion RMB in funding.

To put it another way, Xu Qingzhou can handle the funding issue himself. The patent package of these three technologies—lithium dendrites, shuttle effect, and superconducting thin films—could bring him hundreds of billions of yuan in revenue. However, land acquisition is a major problem. A demonstration reactor is not an experimental reactor, where you can just find any piece of land to conduct experiments.

The site needs to be far away from residential areas, but due to the various large-scale equipment, there are also extremely high requirements for transportation. After the site selection is determined, the construction of bridges and roads, pile driving and other constructions all require coordination from the state.

However, Xu Qingzhou is very confident about the government's support.

He believed his skills would earn him favor from higher authorities.

Even if Minister An Haofeng doesn't come to him, he will still write a letter seeking national-level support once Qiankun-1 achieves net energy gain.

"We have a technology roadmap for this, which you can take a look at."

Xu Qingzhou got up, picked up the documents that were on the corner of the table, and handed them to An Haofeng.

This is the "Technology Roadmap for the Spherical Tokamak Demonstration Reactor" that he and Academician Ren Nan led a few days ago, which basically includes the future experimental budget and the project's progress.

An Haofeng opened it and began to read it carefully.

Xu Qingzhou didn't disturb them and waited quietly to the side.

He knew why An Haofeng had come.

The "Qiankun-1" achieved 100 million ℃/1000 seconds on its first operation, filling the gap in China's spherical tokamak technology and becoming a new benchmark in the field.

In fact, together with Circulation 3, EAST has formed a three-way balance of power to some extent.

The government will obviously provide greater support.

Once An Haofeng and the others return, they will inevitably adjust their policies and reassess the status of the Kyoto Materials Research Institute.

An Haofeng then raised several questions about the technology roadmap, which Xu Qingzhou answered one by one.

The two chatted for 30 minutes before it was over.

Finally, An Haofeng got up to leave, and before leaving, he said seriously, "Professor Xu, I will convey your thoughts to the higher-ups."

"On behalf of the institute, I thank the country for its support."

"You're too kind. The government's determination to support scientific and technological innovation is unwavering and will not waver. Providing the best environment and conditions for scientific workers is our job."

(End of this chapter)