Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 130 Leader’s summons
"Oh, I got it." Squad leader Wang was staring at Qin Jingru and said absentmindedly.

Li Weidong didn't want to say anything when he saw how useless Squad Leader Wang was.

There was no conversation along the way. When they arrived at the research institute, Li Weidong went directly to the office to get a marriage certificate for Squad Leader Wang, gave it to Squad Leader Wang, and told him to get out.

After Squad Leader Wang and the others left, Li Weidong took out a piece of paper and drew a topographic map of the mountain. He then marked the defensive weapons and other facilities that needed to be installed on the map, and then marked the roads. He drew buildings on the flat areas, marking the various materials used in the buildings and their uses. Li Weidong also planned to build an underground experimental base under the buildings, but there was no need to rush for the time being. He could take his time, as there was plenty of time later.

I had just finished drawing the building I wanted to build and was about to pick it up to look at it when I was interrupted by a phone call.

"Hello, I'm Li Weidong."

"I am Minister Wang from the Ministry of Industry. Weidong, a car will come to pick you up later. Just follow him. The leader wants to see you." Minister Wang said.

"Okay, I understand, Minister," said Li Weidong.

Minister Wang didn't say anything and just hung up the phone.

Li Weidong guessed it was about controlled nuclear fusion, so he put the base's blueprints into his briefcase, ready to take out if needed. After packing them, Li Weidong went to find Zhou Xiaolin.

"Xiaolin, I may have to go out for a while. You can go back by yourselves then. If you come back late at night, you don't have to wait for me." Li Weidong said to Zhou Xiaolin.

"You found another one from outside?" Zhou Xiaolin said with a frown.

"What nonsense are you talking about? The leader wants to see me. My father-in-law, Minister Wang, called me. Where can I find him?" Li Weidong said angrily.

"Oh, is that so! Okay, then go ahead." Zhou Xiaolin said embarrassedly, and then defended herself.

"You can't blame me for this. Who made you have a criminal record?"

Li Weidong didn't say anything. He just walked up to Zhou Xiaolin, patted her on the butt twice, and then left.

"You rascal!" Zhou Xiaolin said with a red face.

Li Weidong didn't have to wait long in the office before a car arrived and two guards got out.

The two men saluted Li Weidong and said, "Hello, Commander. We are here to pick you up."

Li Weidong returned the salute and said, "Minister Wang, I've been informed by phone. Let's go."

"Okay, Chief." The two guards took Li Weidong into the car and drove out.

The vehicle was not driving fast, but it was very stable, heading towards Xiyuan.

Arriving at Xiyuan, Li Weidong passed the inspection at the gate and was led inside by a guard. He was led to a house. After the guard announced his arrival, Li Weidong walked in. He saw four people gathered around a table, looking at him. Among them were his two fathers-in-law, and the remaining two were the head and second-in-command of the shop. Although Li Weidong had been prepared, he couldn't help but feel excited.

"Hello, Chief! I am Li Weidong, Director of the 011 Institute. I am here to report for duty. Please give me your instructions." Li Weidong saluted and said loudly.

The chief and second-in-command saluted in return. The chief said, "Don't be nervous, young comrade. We called you here mainly to ask about your power plant project. After all, it's your project, and we want to hear your thoughts."

The second shopkeeper also smiled and said, "Comrade Li Weidong, your two fathers-in-law and I have been comrades-in-arms for many years. I will call you Weidong."

Li Weidong scratched his head and said, "Commander, please do as you please. Do you know everything?"

"Haha, your two fathers-in-law have told us that since ancient times, talented men have loved beautiful women. You two are in love with each other, so we don't care." The second shopkeeper said with a smile.

The head shopkeeper smiled and nodded. He said, "Weidong, tell us what you think. We don't know much about controlled nuclear fusion power plants. We only know they're dangerous, but we're not sure about their specific uses. Tell us what you think, and we'll consider it."

“Okay, Chief.

First of all, I want to talk about traditional power generation. For example, most of the power generation in our country now is thermal power, that is, generating electricity by burning coal. This method of power generation is very polluting, and the amount of coal is limited. The more it is used, the less it will be.

Another option is hydropower, which is more suitable for us because our country has two major rivers and we could build a hydropower station to supply us with electricity. However, this project is too large for our institute. We don't have that many people, and the investment is huge, so I rejected it. However, I feel that once our economy recovers, we will definitely build a hydropower station, not just for power generation, but also for flood control and many other purposes, which I won't go into detail here.

Then there is the recently developed photovoltaic power generation. The investment cost of this power generation is too high. Although this photovoltaic material is independently developed by us, the production cost is not low either. So I rejected it.

Wind power generation also requires huge investment and has slow returns.

Here we are talking about nuclear energy. When we understand nuclear energy, the first thing that comes to mind is the mushroom bomb. Of course, the principle of our nuclear fusion power station is somewhat different from that of our mushroom eggs.

Our mushroom bomb uses nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is the process of a large mass atomic nucleus splitting into two or more smaller mass atomic nuclei, while nuclear fusion is the process of two smaller mass atomic nuclei combining into a larger mass atomic nucleus.

Both release enormous amounts of energy, but nuclear fusion releases more energy than nuclear fission.

Nuclear fission requires less external force, and some nuclear fission is a spontaneous process. Unlike nuclear fusion, nuclear fusion requires extremely large external force, ultra-high temperature and pressure or high density conditions to occur.

The nuclear fusion reaction process and its products do not pollute the environment or pose a risk of nuclear leakage. During the nuclear fusion process, if any of the reaction conditions are removed, the reaction will cease completely, preventing nuclear leakage. Furthermore, the substance produced by the nuclear fusion reaction is helium, an inert gas, which is non-radioactive and environmentally friendly. This is the first advantage of nuclear fusion power plants: their products are safe and clean.

Its second advantage was the key to my final decision. The raw materials for nuclear fusion are deuterium and tritium. I've calculated that one liter of seawater contains 30mg of deuterium. Through nuclear fusion, the energy produced is equivalent to that of over 300 liters of gasoline. In other words, the energy released by nuclear fusion from the deuterium extracted from one liter of seawater is equivalent to the energy released by burning over 300 liters of gasoline. I estimate that there are 45 billion tons of deuterium naturally present in seawater. If all of it were converted into energy through nuclear fusion, at current global energy consumption, it could meet humanity's energy needs for billions of years to come. It's practically inexhaustible.

This is why I chose controlled nuclear fusion, Commander."

Li Weidong seriously explained in detail the advantages and disadvantages of various power generation methods and the advantages and disadvantages of controlled nuclear fusion so that the leaders could have an intuitive impression.

(End of this chapter)