Chapter 429 Atomic City (Third update, please subscribe)
Atomic City, as the name suggests, is a place where atomic energy is studied.
In fact, it is the place where atomic bombs are studied.
In order to ensure that atomic bomb research would not be leaked, in the past two years, more than 50,000 Japanese prisoners of war built this atomic city in the hinterland of the rainforest in Borneo. It is said to be a city, but in fact it is just a city. It's just a small town with over 6,000 people.
In addition to the more than 2,000 garrison troops, there are thousands of Nanyang's top physicists, chemists and other experts in various fields gathered here, and new researchers are added every year .
"Three years ago, under your order, we started basic research on atomic energy. In the past three years, great progress has been made..."
Following Li Yian, Gustav Hertz, a Nobel Prize winner, is not only the chairman of the physics department of Nanyang University, but also the head of the Nanyang nuclear program.
“Last year, we built Nanyang’s and Asia’s first uranium-graphite experimental reactor at Nanyang University and put it into production. The reactor is capable of conducting controlled nuclear fission spontaneous chain reactions. When starting the reactor, it is necessary to The reactor core is filled with the maximum dose of plutonium blocks - 1 to 2 milligal. With the help of the experimental reactor, our researchers have found a way to quantitatively monitor uranium and use its physical properties, and use this method to monitor the atomic city. Quality review of the loading and unloading process of the Element 94 factory production reactor"
The "Element No. 94" in Gustav's mouth is "plutonium". Compared with the production of uranium 235, plutonium's Production is simpler, which is why India, Korea and other countries chose plutonium for their first atomic bombs. After all, the most difficult thing about nuclear weapons is not the design problem, but how to obtain fuel.
“The delivery date of the Element 94 Factory Project is set before July next year. Unlike the experimental reactor, the production reactor requires about 150 tons of uranium metal and more than 1,000 tons of graphite. It also has a volume of Thousands of cubic meters of forced water cooling system..."
Introducing the progress of Element 94 Factory, Gustav emphasized at the end.
“According to our calculations, if everything goes well, we will obtain enough plutonium by the end of May 1st.”
“That will be May 2nd!”
Li Yian turned to look at Gustav and asked.
"Before the end of 1952, sir, Dr. Wu's work was very effective. With her help, we made considerable progress. Combining some of the information we obtained before, we are now basically Mastered the theoretical design of the atomic bomb.”
Li Yi'an was not surprised by this result. Nanyang's nuclear program gathered a group of Germany's best physicists and chemists, plus some intelligence information provided by "Hydra", allowing this work to be carried out Very smooth. The arrival of Wu Jianxiong also accelerated the research progress.
In 1952...
Although we have to wait for another three years, we can still afford to wait for these three years. After all, the real changes should be in twenty or three years. Ten years from now, with the development of science and technology, what level will humankind's technological level reach in 20 to 30 years? It is unpredictable, and whether that height will bring any black technology and ruthless work is also unpredictable.
Before that, under the deterrence of "nuclear peace", the Cold War should not turn into a hot war, but Nanyang also needs to prepare for that uncertain future.
Under the introduction of Gustav, Nielas and others, Li Yian spent a day visiting this atomic city, and after having a basic grasp of the progress of nuclear weapons research in Nanyang, He did not return to Chang'an immediately, but went to a friend's house. Now Yuan Jialiu and his wife are both in Atomic City. Although they are still teaching at Nanyang University, they spend almost one-third of their time here.
"Perhaps, the schedule will be completed in the end, but things are not that smooth."
In Yuan Jialiu's restaurant, he put down the chopsticks in his hands, Yuan Jialiu said.
“We encountered a problem in extracting uranium,”
“Oh? Uranium? What’s the problem?”
“In the Nanyang nuclear plan, the atomic bomb is only the first step. Next there are atomic power plants. In this case, uranium is used more widely, so in terms of raw material extraction, we must put uranium first.”
Yuan Jialiu then continued to explain,
“Because the content of uranium-235 in natural uranium metal is only 0.711%, in order to increase the uranium-235 content to more than 90%, uranium hexafluoride must pass through the porous partition repeatedly for several times. Thousands of times. In order to obtain 1 kilogram of highly enriched uranium, 175 to 220 kilograms of pure natural uranium and about 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy are needed to provide the power required by the compressor motor. "That is, the gas diffusion method. Building a plant to enrich uranium using the gas diffusion method is an extremely complex engineering and technical problem. When solving this complex problem, mistakes or difficulties are bound to be made in the development of technical equipment, especially porous separators.
“Although the tubular filter projects developed under the leadership of Hertz have achieved great success. However, according to calculations, the concentration of enriched uranium obtained by gas diffusion method does not exceed 75% , but the uranium concentration rate required for uranium bombs should be no less than 90%. In order to enrich uranium to the concentration required for nuclear charges, we also need to build a special electromagnetic device, which requires at least six to seven thousand tons of copper. Such an expensive cost is definitely a very heavy burden on Nanyang from an economic perspective."
Yuan Jialiu's judgment surprised Li Yian, and he did not expect that he would consider this matter from an economic perspective first.
"Sir, you have mentioned to the outside world more than once that the most important thing for Nanyang now is the economy. Jialiu has calculated that just the gas diffusion plant and the electromagnetic refinery will require an investment of at least 200 million yuan. Economically speaking, In terms of cost, it is very expensive and may even hinder the economic development of Nanyang."
Wu Jianxiong also said on the side. The experience of the United States tells them that all scientific research is based on the economy. After all, scientific research requires a large amount of funds to support it.
Economy is the foundation of scientific research!
"Yes, your worries are right."
Li Yian nodded and said.
"Is there any good way?"
"The project team I lead is currently studying the centrifugal method. We have made some progress, but the entire project will still take time to complete. If this method is adopted If so, the cost of obtaining uranium 235 will be lower."
"The centrifugal method you mentioned was introduced by Hertz, and he mentioned that Americans don't seem to be optimistic about this method."
"The Americans are not optimistic about it because there is a problem with the thinking."
Mrs. Yuan, who participated in the Manhattan Project, further explained on the sidelines.
"They thought it was too difficult to make a large centrifuge, so they finally turned to the gas diffusion method to obtain U-235. This method took up a lot of space, was complicated, and was costly. Jialiu studied the centrifuge method seriously, and he It is believed that there is no need to build a large uranium centrifuge. Small centrifuges can be used, but the same effect can be achieved by using hundreds or thousands of them working together. It only needs to be invested in a sufficient number so that each machine can be increased by a small amount. The production of U-235 is concentrated and the content of U-235 is gradually increased. Moreover, these machines must be continuously operated for several years, which is not only economically cost-effective, but also technically difficult.”
Listening to Mrs. Yuan’s explanation, Li Yian finally came to his senses.
Isn’t this the uranium centrifuge that is often referred to in later generations. In another world, there is always news about Iran restarting uranium centrifuges. This method is indeed the most cost-effective method.
"Jialiu's idea is very good, we can definitely try it."
Li Yian asked after thinking that Hertz had not mentioned this method before.
"Jialiu, do you need me to do something?"
In fact, what needs to be done is very simple, which is to stop the construction of the gas diffusion plant. After all, it is an investment of hundreds of millions of yuan. Once the uranium is centrifuged If the machine succeeds, all the factories worth hundreds of millions of dollars will be wasted.
"Zhiyuan, Nanyang is not a big country like the United States or Russia. We don't need to take two paths at the same time. With plutonium bombs, after solving the problem of having or not having them first, we can take our time with uranium bombs. After all, Nanyang is a small country, and many things must first consider the economy!”
Yuan Jialiu’s suggestion was very euphemistic. In fact, it was to remind him that Nanyang is a small country, and there is no need to read the big picture.
Indeed, uranium bombs are atomic bombs, and plutonium bombs are also atomic bombs. There is no need to pursue both paths simultaneously,
After thinking for a while, Li Yian nodded and said.
“I know how to do it!”
(End of this chapter)