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

Chapter 773 You little brat, you've been eyeing my people for a long time?

At the Institute of Materials Science, Xu Qingzhou is having tea with Academician Li Gang from the Institute of Plasma Physics.

"They're making quite a few moves; the US is panicking."

Li Gang smiled gently.

The series of measures recently announced by the United States are sending a signal to the public: the United States is not lagging behind. Look, we have even considered future Mars colonization.

"The United States still has a strong foundation, but it will take some effort to catch up."

Xu Qingzhou smiled. In the past year of experiments, he had used quite a lot of cutting-edge technology.

In other words, America's adversary is not only his superhuman intellect, but also the accumulated science and technology of the next decade or so.

Currently, they can only use the most primitive method, investing a lot of manpower and money, and accelerating the development of fusion devices through repeated iterations.

"Not to mention Americans, even we were shocked when we heard the news."

Li Gang gave a wry smile. "They went straight from the second-level to the hour-level. Who can keep up with that?"

"We were lucky."

Xu Qingzhou said modestly.

The reason Li Gang and his team are here is to discuss future experimental collaborations. The EAST experimental data covers the critical range of the Lawson criterion, which can be used to cross-verify the engineering feasibility of the 1.18×10 keV·s/m triple product target value of the demonstration reactor with Qiankun-1, and can also help predict the risk of electromagnetic interference.

Most importantly, Xu Qingzhou was somewhat tempted by the researchers there.

Looking at the young man in front of him, Li Gang couldn't help but sigh, "You've probably really embarrassed Academician Zhang. He probably gets a headache just looking at you now."

"We were just conducting the experiment step by step; we didn't intend to embarrass anyone."

Xu Qingzhou shrugged.

Of course, if someone deliberately offers their face, then there's nothing you can do.

Li Gang took a sip of tea and said, "If you need people, just say so."

It's unclear how far EAST still has to go to achieve net energy gain.

Aside from regret, they were mostly excited. After decades of working on fusion, they now had the opportunity to witness controlled nuclear fusion become a reality.

"Hehe, I was just about to tell you about this. Right now, with the construction of the demonstration reactor and the design of the equipment, I'm really stretched thin with just a few people."

"Well, so you've been eyeing my people for a while now."

11 month 15 day.

For Xu Qingzhou and his team, the one-hour maintenance of Qiankun-1 was just the beginning.

The demonstration reactor is not just a scaled-up version of the experimental reactor.

Experimental reactors can be shut down at any time, but demonstration reactors are required to maintain stable operation for months under extreme conditions.

"These are four sets of data from the isotope substitution experiment."

Zheng Xu handed over a stack of reports.

The isotope substitution experiment was conducted to address the problem of hydrogen isotope retention.

Particle retention leads to the accumulation of impurities, reducing plasma purity and performance, which in turn reduces the stability of the demonstration reactor operation and also affects the first wall material.

实验堆的1小时验证，算是解决氢同位素滞留的“从0到1”突破，但示范堆需验证“从1到100”的工程成熟度。

As for why isotope substitution is necessary, the demonstration reactor needs to use radioactive tritium (H) fuel, but tritium is highly radioactive, and direct experiments require strict protection and complex approval processes.

Therefore, deuterium (H) is generally used instead of tritium (H) in experiments. Deuterium is non-radioactive but has similar chemical properties and can be safely used to verify the retention behavior of hydrogen isotopes.

Deuterium permeability – 1.2 × 10⁻⁶ mol/(m·s)
Peak temperature of thermal desorption: 798K
As Xu Qingzhou reviewed the report, Zheng Xu slowly said, "During the experiment, we found that the experiment still has limitations when running with the current parameters. For example, there are deviations in the deduction of tritium behavior. The mass of a tritium atom is 50% larger than that of deuterium, and the diffusion barrier is higher. I think we still need to calibrate the model through direct tritium injection experiments."

"That's a problem."

Xu Qingzhou nodded and pondered, "Moreover, the current test only covers a 1000-second pulse, while the demonstration reactor needs to run continuously for tens of thousands of seconds. We still need to do a few more tests."

"However, the isotope substitution experiment of Qiankun-1 can still preliminarily prove that the erbium oxide coating we designed can significantly inhibit the penetration of hydrogen isotopes."

Zheng Xu grinned.

Looking at Zheng Xu, who had dark circles under his eyes, Xu Qingzhou said, "You tested all four samples in a week. You must have stayed up several nights. Leave the calculations to me. You should go back and rest."

The experimental test results of these samples are consistent with the data predicted by his model.

"Okay, I really can't hold on much longer."

Zheng Xu didn't insist. Although he really wanted to start the next phase of the experiment immediately, his legs were starting to feel weak after staying up for three consecutive nights.

After Zheng Xu left, Xu Qingzhou was left alone in the office again.

"We still need to achieve dynamic calibration of intelligent models."

Before starting the next phase of the experiment, Xu Qingzhou plans to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the data.

In these days of experiments, he basically requires everyone to do the most precise and meticulous work, and he himself first uses various models to conduct mathematical simulations before putting them into the equipment for testing.

It saves money, so it's not shameful.

Starting a fire costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it's a piece of equipment worth over a billion dollars. We should use it sparingly, as there's still a long road ahead.

Apart from necessary data collection, Xu Qingzhou would always run through the model himself first in all other cases.

In mid-November, the researchers from the Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics arrived late. There were 10 of them in total, and they were responsible for assisting Xu Qingzhou and his team with their experiments.

Although Zhang Zhigao was reluctant, he still sent a team over.

Among them was Shao Yilin, Zhang Zhigao's prized student.

On Saturday night, the 13th, Shao Yilin was dragged out for drinks by Li Yi.

A food stall outside Kyoto University.

Li Yi raised his wine glass and clinked it with Shao Yilin's. The two were kindred spirits, but because they belonged to different "camps," it was rare for them to get together.

After a few rounds of drinks, Shao Yilin began to sigh, "To be honest, Lao Li, I'm really a little envious of you guys. You have plenty of funding and you can work on topics that interest you."

"Working under Professor Xu is indeed very enjoyable."

Li Yi remained noncommittal.

Professor Xu is efficient and decisive in his work, and although they face pressure, they also improve very quickly.

At the very least, he felt that his current practical skills were far superior to those of himself two years ago.

Not to mention Shao Yilin, even he himself often felt fortunate to have made the decision to return to China. After a pause, he couldn't help but say, "Why don't you come and come to our side?"

As Zhang Zhigao's student, Shao Yilin is undoubtedly one of the best among young people in terms of ability.

If we can dig it up, that would be great.

It is our duty to contribute to the talent development of the research institute.

Moreover, he genuinely felt that working at the Materials Research Institute was better than following Zhang Zhigao.

(End of this chapter)