As a nuclear fusion research institution, the Qinling Plasma Research Institute certainly has heavy water reserves.
As for tritium, it needs to be specially manufactured by a tritium manufacturing factory. After all, tritium has a half-life of a little more than 12 years and is radioactive. It will not be produced when it is not used.
The wealthy Galaxy Consortium has a tritium manufacturing plant near the Qinling Plasma Research Institute, which is one of the supporting facilities of the Plasma Research Institute.
Since this was the first test, the dT reaction materials added up to 10 grams, so the factory quickly produced enough tritium, and together with the heavy hydrogen (deuterium) electrolyzed from heavy water, the raw materials were ready.
February 3rd.
"Just wait and see, the materials are ready." Fei Anming came to the side of the neutron press and said.
"That's great, bring it over and give it a try." Liu Jingguan suddenly became excited.
"Don't worry, after all, dT is radioactive. We don't want to be here anymore. Just let the robots take over the work." Fei Anming pulled Liu Jingguan and said.
"Okay!" Liu Jingguan is not an ignorant person. After all, 10 grams of dT nuclear fusion will produce a huge amount of energy, and the laboratory may be blown up accidentally.
So how much energy can 1o grams of dT nuclear fusion reaction produce?
In fact, we can deduce from nuclear fission that the energy released by the complete fission of 1 kilogram of uranium-235 is equivalent to the energy released by the combustion of 2700 tons of standard coal.
A nuclear fusion reaction of the same mass can generally produce four times the energy of nuclear fission. A 1 kilogram of dT nuclear fusion reaction can produce an energy approximately equal to 108,000 tons of standard coal.
10 grams of dT is equivalent to the energy of 108 tons of standard coal. The United Nations stipulates that the calorific value of standard coal is 7mcag), and the domestic stipulation is that the calorific value of every kilogram of standard coal is 7,000 kcal.
Let’s talk about a common energy unit in our daily life, the electrical energy unit is kilowatt-hour (degree). In theory, 1 ton of standard coal is equivalent to 813o kilowatt-hour.
In other words, the nuclear fusion reaction of 10 grams of dT can theoretically produce 878o4o kilowatt-hours of electrical energy. Of course, the word "theoretically" represents a value that is difficult to achieve.
In order to release 870,000 kilowatt-hours of energy in an instant, they must be careful in this case. After all, it was their first time to play with something like a neutron press, and they knew a lot about it, so be careful and you would not make a big mistake.
All the researchers left the laboratory where the neutron press was displayed. In a control room where Fei Anming, Liu Jingguan and others came, the staff were controlling the robot remotely.
"Inject d material."
"Inject T material."
Inside the football-shaped vacuum chamber, dT gas is quickly injected into it.
"After the injection is completed, start the condensed matter vacuum chamber."
Crackling... This is the sound of the sudden formation of condensed matter nn-8-1 and the neutron ionization phenomenon of the dT raw material, and a part of electrons and plasma hitting the wall of the outer vacuum chamber.
"The condensed matter vacuum cavity has been formed, and we can proceed to the next step." The staff turned to look at the two bosses, Fei Anming and Liu Jingguan. After all, in this historic moment, the bosses should be respected.
"You are the director, you can shout!" Liu Jingguan said with a smile.
In the quiet neutron press, the dT gas that had been wrapped in the condensed matter vacuum chamber was squeezed in the middle of the vacuum chamber by the sudden nn-8-1.
In an instant, dT was ionized into plasma by nn-8-1, but it was not over yet. nn-8-1 was squeezing dT even further, as if it was going to crush them.
"The temperature and optical radiation of the vacuum chamber are rising."
As soon as the staff finished speaking, dT inside the condensed matter vacuum chamber had been pressed to the extreme. After breaking through the critical point, the nuclear fusion reaction instantly produced a chain reaction.
In the vacuum chamber, countless dT began to react wildly. The d nuclei and T nuclei were squeezed together. The Coulomb barrier between the nuclei could no longer withstand the pressure and was forced to begin fusion.
The d nucleus has one neutron and one proton, while the T nucleus has two neutrons and one proton, and their product is helium 3.
Helium 3 is composed of two protons and one neutron, so two neutrons must be released during the dT reaction.
But inside the condensed matter vacuum cavity, neutrons cannot leave here, and the dT reaction suddenly becomes more intense, because except for photons and neutrinos that can penetrate the walls of the condensed matter vacuum cavity, other electrons, neutrons, protons, and atomic nuclei cannot
Escape.
These substances are concentrated crazily in the vacuum chamber, causing the pressure inside to surge again. The surge in pressure makes the nuclear fusion reaction easier.
[Alarm! Alarm! Light radiation exceeds the set range.]
"What's going on?" Fei Anming asked quickly.
"The optical radiation dose has exceeded our estimated value, it has exceeded 60%, and is rising rapidly." The staff also started sweating profusely.
"Quick emergency refrigeration."
"The refrigeration equipment has been started."
Although the staff responded quickly, the layer of graphene composite fiberglass material outside the condensed matter vacuum chamber was inevitably burned through.
This shows how intense the nuclear fusion reaction inside is.
"How could this happen?" Fei Anming said in confusion.
"If we guessed correctly, the pressure in the vacuum chamber should be too high, causing helium 3 to fuse." Liu Jingguan touched his chin and expressed his thoughts.
"Are you saying that helium 3 also undergoes nuclear fusion?" Fei Anming thought about it and felt that this was the most likely possibility.
The energy produced by the dT nuclear fusion reaction can be calculated based on the mass-energy equation. They are all leaders in the field of nuclear fusion, and it is impossible for them to make such a big mistake.
If the predetermined value is not reached, it can be said that the reaction is insufficient, but if the value is exceeded, the possibility of helium 3 participating in nuclear fusion is very high. After all, energy cannot appear for no reason, right?
The entire reaction lasted 267 seconds, and the rugby-football-shaped graphene fiberglass layer had been burned to pieces and appeared to be melted in many places.
Many surveillance cameras and sensors in the laboratory were also destroyed by the leaked light radiation. If anyone was in the laboratory, they would definitely be killed or injured.
"The energy of light radiation exceeded expectations and was 2.7 times the original calculated value."
"Loss of detection equipment..."
All departments promptly report relevant situations.
"Don't close the condensed matter vacuum chamber for the time being, as strong radiation may remain inside." Liu Jingguan ordered.
"OK."
The staff were busy and the experiment was completed, but there were still many unfinished tasks.
After proper treatment, there was indeed a very large radiation dose in the condensed matter vacuum chamber.
Liu Jing looked at the analysis report of the reaction product and was a little shocked: "There is a large amount of carbon 14 in the final product."
"No wonder, the light radiation value is 2.7 times higher than expected. The dT nuclear fusion reaches carbon 14. This is already several levels of nuclear fusion reactions." Fei Anming was very shocked by this result.
"If there are enough reaction materials and the pressure is increased, it may be possible to directly fuse nuclear fusion to the level of iron atoms." Liu Jingguan sighed.
Fei Anming nodded and said: "It is indeed possible, but this experiment still exposed some problems with the neutron press, and we need to deal with these problems."
"Let's hold a discussion meeting!" Liu Jingguan thought for a while and said.
Soon Fei Anming convened a meeting with researchers and engineers from the Qinling Plasma Research Institute to discuss the neutron press.