The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 492 Water

The leader looked the computer hard drive up and down, smiled, and said, "I've received many proposals, but this is the first time I've seen one stored on a hard drive."

“There’s a massive amount of data. If I just gave you paper documents, the two of you wouldn’t be able to take them with you today,” Liu Hua explained. “But what you said is true. Using a hard drive to store files is indeed quite novel, and this thing is too big. When you make a new product, try to make it smaller.”

The general manager of CNNC slammed his hand on the table and said, "I just remembered something. Last year when I went to the special economic zone on a business trip, I heard that a company had launched a storage device that was extremely small. I think the company was called something like Netac."

Liu Hua then remembered that Netac had already invented the USB flash drive back in 1999, so there was no need for him to invent it himself.

However, the newly invented USB flash drive only has a capacity of 8MB, which is too small. For a typical company, this is sufficient, but for Liu Hua, it is still too small to store blueprints or project plans.

His projects are all massive, with a planning team that might be dozens of MBs, and the blueprints are even larger, numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands.

"Really? I'll go check it out when I have time." Liu Hua smiled. "I wonder if they'll welcome me."

"Absolutely. You are an authority in the domestic semiconductor industry. Your inspection of their work is like advertising for them. The boss of Langke will be overjoyed."

The leader smiled and said, "Go and take a look. You are, after all, an authority in our domestic semiconductor industry. Give them some guidance. There aren't many high-tech private enterprises in our country. Every one that can make it is a success. Give them some encouragement and more confidence."

"That's a lie," Liu Hua joked. "Which of my companies isn't a high-tech company? Aren't they all private enterprises?"

"There's no comparison. You're an academician. Anyone who's not stupid knows how valuable an academician's title is."

"Not entirely." Liu Hua smiled and said dismissively, "Among my group of people, there are still some who are quite incompetent, their academic level is as weak as a waterlogged sponge."

The leaders didn't dare to respond. Among Liu Hua's group, some held management positions because much of the research was interdisciplinary, while others made significant contributions to the integration and promotion of technology.

of course there are exceptions.

Suddenly, the manager of CNNC thought of something and said to Liu Hua with a smile, "Engineer Liu, I have good news for you. The day before yesterday, I met with the leaders of the geological department. They said that a thorium deposit has been discovered in the Bayan Obo area. The deposit is very large, but it is buried quite deep, more than 3,000 meters below the surface. In addition, many deposits have also been discovered in the southern region, which can account for 40 percent of the world's existing thorium reserves."

“That’s enough,” Liu Hua said with a smile. “Thorium ore is the best available raw material for nuclear power, but it is only a transitional technology. To truly realize nuclear power, we still need to look to nuclear fusion.”

Liu Hua wrote out another check for one million and handed it to the general manager of CNNC: "No trouble at all, please give this check to the geological department for me. Consider it a reward for them."

"Mr. Liu is so generous! He just casually wrote a check for one million." The general manager of CNNC said with a smile, holding the check. "We at CNNC have helped you a lot, so why don't you write us a check to reward us?"

"We can't afford to reward you. You're a large and powerful company. A million is nothing to you." Liu Hua joked, "I think that in the current situation, it should be your CNNC Group that rewards us. The technology is ours. Even if we leave you out, I can cooperate with the power group."

"Engineer Liu, my dearest Engineer Liu, please don't say anything hurtful." The general manager of CNNC quickly joked, "It's just a reward, isn't it? It's nothing! Tomorrow I'll get something special to reward the comrades researching thorium-based molten salt reactors in the Northwest." The leader then cleared his throat: "Let's talk about something else, actually quite serious, but it's not my place to say this, though I've presumptuously taken the liberty."

Liu Hua smiled and said, "You're so serious, I'm a little hesitant to answer."

"How small can you make your thorium-based molten salt reactor?" The leader gestured: "Can you make it the size of a small room?"

"Our main research focus right now is on making things bigger," Liu Hua said casually. "We haven't researched the smaller aspects yet, but I reckon the size of a shipping container shouldn't be a problem."

"A container size should be enough, but can the power be guaranteed?"

Liu Hua nodded, then belatedly realized, "Wait, you want to put it on the ship, right? Why didn't I think of that before? Such a stable reactor would be perfect for a ship."

The leader nodded in satisfaction: "During the previous meeting, the leader specifically instructed us that we must achieve miniaturization of the reactor, as this is the future trend."

"I can do an experiment first, put it on an LNG carrier, with all-electric propulsion, it's definitely worth the effort."

"It's not advisable to export for the time being." The leader waved his hand: "This is our technological advantage. It's best not to export it until we have achieved complete dominance."

Liu Hua nodded: "Then put it on another ship. I just talked to the leaders of the Navy about land reclamation a while ago. It shouldn't be a big problem to build a cutter suction dredger with all-electric propulsion."

"Submit an application." The leader nodded: "We have no precedent for using a nuclear reactor on a civilian ship. You should submit an application and we'll discuss it. I feel there's still a good chance. It's just that this kind of cutter suction dredger cannot be exported without the country's approval."

Liu Hua was very confident. In his previous life, even though it wasn't a cutter suction dredger for nuclear reactors, our country was absolutely not allowed to export it. This was a strategic item. Whoever owned this ship would have an advantage in maritime competition.

"Don't worry, once this ship is launched, I'm afraid no one will be willing to sell it."

The leader went home, and Liu Hua unwittingly took on another task for himself. After thinking it over, he decided it was better not to do it personally.

Liu Hua picked up the phone on the table: "Assistant Zheng, book me the earliest flight to Shanghai tomorrow."

After hanging up the phone, Liu Hua rubbed his hands together and said, "Let's push this task out and let Jiangnan Shipyard do it."

Assistant Zheng had notified the Jiangnan Shipyard in advance to pick him up at the airport, and the shipyard immediately sprang into action. This was Engineer Liu, and he had always been very casual when he came before, so this formal visit must mean something important was happening.

(End of this chapter)