Chapter 277 The solution to the problem!
Qi Zhongxing's words made Xu Chuan's heart skip a beat.
He said in a deep voice: "You should have told me earlier."
This problem is serious and serious, because it may lead to the delay of the "Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion Electricity Mechanism" project.
But it doesn’t matter if it’s not serious, because it can be solved by improving the performance of the particle accelerator.
The output energy level and stability of linear particle accelerators are insufficient, which is a limitation of the times.
In his previous life, he studied this technology in 2025, and now it is 2019. Six or seven years have passed, which is enough for the physics community to improve the performance of particle accelerators by one or two levels.
In other words, the performance of the linear particle accelerator used in this life cannot meet the requirements. According to normal development, it will take five or six years to upgrade.
And this is China. Compared with Western countries such as the United States and Europe, the development of domestic particle accelerators lags far behind.
This is an objective fact that no one can deny.
Han Jin lowered his head and said: "Sorry, Professor, we thought this was not a big problem at first. After all, the linear particle accelerator is not very difficult in the entire project. Plus, considering that you are doing your own research, a project is not that big a problem." We cannot rely on you alone, so there is no report.”
"It's just that no one thought that the impact of this problem would be so big."
Xu Chuan shook his head and said: "It's useless to talk about this now. Let me see the parameters and performance of your customized particle accelerator first."
Speaking of problems, he actually has problems too.
He didn't think it through on this issue. After all, when this project was originally carried out in California, it was a linear particle accelerator provided by the California Nuclear Energy Institute. Since this problem did not occur, he did not pay much attention to the specific performance of the linear particle accelerator.
After all, it is impossible for him to pay attention to all aspects of a large-scale cooperation project.
But he didn't expect that within five or six years, there would be such a big gap between domestic and foreign particle accelerators.
Fortunately, there are still ways to remedy the situation, and I hope it's not too late.
Shaking his head, Xu Chuan followed Han Jin and Qi Zhongxing to the Nuclear Energy Research Institute.
Although the performance of the linear particle accelerator in hand does not meet the requirements in theory, it is already the best-performing particle accelerator in the country.
In the research institute, Xu Chuan flipped through the documents in his hand.
What the Institute of Nuclear Energy purchased here is an ion linear accelerator, which consists of electron cyclotron resonance ion source, large separation fan cyclotron, cooling storage ring, main ring pipeline, radioactive beam line, experimental terminal and other major facilities.
This is not a newly built equipment, but purchased from a certain national nuclear energy laboratory. It cost a total of 1.37 billion, which can be said to be the most expensive one in the entire project.
The performance of this linear particle accelerator is very good, with a total length of 850 meters, an accelerating electric field of up to 30 megawatts/meter, and an operating frequency of 3500-11000 MHz
Domestically, this performance can be said to be top-notch, even if it is placed internationally, it is still first-tier.
This kind of thing can be said to be a core treasure in any laboratory. If it weren't for the 'Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion Mechanism' project, which is a national key project, and the research institute that owns this linear accelerator is It is impossible for Xuchuan, a state-owned enterprise, to purchase this accelerator.
But now, even though this accelerator is already the best in the country, it still cannot meet the requirements. This is the biggest problem at present.
In the office, Xu Chuan, Han Jin and Qi Zhongxing discussed ways to solve this problem.
There are actually many ways to solve this problem.
For example, purchasing and re-customizing a particle accelerator from abroad, or promoting the development of particle accelerators and improving the performance of current accelerators, etc.
But these methods and means take too long, and Xu Chuan cannot wait that long.
At the beginning of this year, he went to the capital and saw the project document for controllable nuclear fusion. It was an opportunity left for him, but it might not wait for him for a long time.
If too much time is wasted on the nuclear waste project, this opportunity may be missed.
This was unacceptable to Xu Chuan.
Therefore, we must find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible.
Xu Chuan frowned and flipped through the information, looking for a solution to the problem.
The 'Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion to Electric Energy Mechanism' project has come to an end and is just a short step away from being completed, but now something is wrong.
Although a scientific research project cannot always be smooth sailing, even if the project is delayed, it is a normal thing, and the above will understand it.
After all, this is a constraint of the times. It’s just that the hard conditions of the particle accelerator equipment cannot meet the requirements, but the ideas and concepts are no problem.
Moreover, strictly speaking, the nuclear energy project only started in the second half of last year, and it has only been eight or nine months now. The nuclear energy project has now entered the stage of experimental reactor construction, which is already quite fast for a large-scale project. .
Normally, a project of this level would take at least five or six years to produce results.
But for Xu Chuan, he couldn't accept it.
The delay in the nuclear waste power conversion project will cause disruption to many of his subsequent arrangements and plans.
Moreover, facing and solving problems and emergencies encountered in the project are the abilities that a qualified person in charge should have.
"First of all, we can rule out repurchasing or customizing a new linear particle accelerator. Not to mention whether accelerators from other countries can meet the requirements and whether they will be sold, etc., there is not enough time in terms of time alone.
Similarly, it is definitely too late to develop superconducting materials now. It will take a long time, and the testing, verification and production cycles will exceed the budget."
Staring at the structural diagram of the linear particle accelerator in front of him, Xu Chuan thought about possible solutions.
To solve the problem of insufficient energy level and stable performance of the accelerator, he has many methods. For example, taking out the superconducting material and redesigning and deploying the accelerator's gyrotron is enough to increase the energy level and stability of the linear particle accelerator in front of us to the required level.
But the disadvantage is that the rectification time is too long, and it will take at least half a year to complete the entire process of R&D, production, and reset.
But now, he still has two months at most.
It's mid-April now, and by mid-June he has to finish running the nuclear waste power plant.
It is not said that it will be put into commercialization now, but at least the experimental reactor in front of him needs to be put into use and tested. This is Xu Chuan's bottom line requirement.
"If this is the case, transforming the ion linear accelerator in front of us should be one of the most feasible ways."
"What about the magnetic mirror control system?"
Xu Chuan thought of the superconducting magnetic mirror control system developed while studying controllable nuclear fusion in his previous life, which has a strong effect on the control of ultra-high temperature plasma.
But the difference is that the magnetic mirror control system at that time was based on the normal-temperature superconducting material system he developed. But now, is it feasible to use conventional ultra-low-temperature superconducting materials?
Xu Chuan is somewhat unsure about this. Although theoretically, the properties of normal temperature superconducting materials and ultra-low temperature superconducting materials are almost the same, there are actually some differences.
And more importantly, to deploy ultra-low-temperature superconducting materials, the space where linear particle accelerators are deployed needs to be modified to a certain extent. After all, today's ultra-low-temperature superconductivity is generally carried out through liquid helium freezing. Even if only a part of the area is modified, this is also a very troublesome matter.
"If we give up the control of magnetic mirrors, is there any way to enhance the energy level and stability of the particle accelerator?"
"Perhaps, I can split this problem into two to deal with it first?"
Suddenly, an idea came to Xu Chuan's mind.
This is a commonly used method in theoretical science when facing a difficult problem, splitting the problem into pieces and then solving it one by one.
Particle instabilities in particle accelerators generally occur when the average energy of an accelerated particle passing through a circular machine reaches its conversion value.
When the turning point occurs when particles spin around the ring at the same rate, they exhibit a range of energies even though they don't all carry the same energy.
This results in specific motions of particles near transition energies that make them highly susceptible to collective instability.
Just like light and a microscope illuminate the object being observed.
The stronger the beam, the easier it is for scientists to examine the objects they are observing.
But intensity comes at a price. The stronger the speed of light, the easier it is to dazzle the eyes or the strong light will cover everything, resulting in nothing being seen.
This is like driving at night and a super-bright high-beam car comes across from you. The closer you get to it, the less you will find that there is nothing in your line of sight except the light. (PS: High beam dog gives me a shark!)
This instability has been studied by the physics community for decades, but is still not fully understood.
Of course, although the physics community does not fully understand this instability, it does not mean that it cannot be controlled.
For example, through technologies such as proton-driven plasma wake field acceleration and radio frequency cavity propulsion, instability can be reduced to a certain extent.
As a top scientist in the field of high-energy physics, Xu Chuan naturally knows how to solve this kind of thing.
If you want to simply improve stability, he has many methods at his disposal.
For example, by adding an SMI control tail field at the node of the spiral acceleration chamber, the control of the particle beam can be increased to a certain extent.
Or by deploying multiple strong magnetic mirror hoops to control the orbit in a linear particle accelerator.
But no matter which method, there are limitations.
Whether it is the deployment of SMI controlled tail fields or multiple strong magnetic mirror hoops, they are limited to accelerated experiments under a certain energy level. If the output energy level is too strong, both will lose their effect.
This means that energy level and stability cannot be obtained at the same time, just like having your cake and eat it too.
This is where Xu Chuan has a headache.
Taking care of stability, the energy level of the linear accelerator cannot be increased, and the controllable fission speed of nuclear waste will be reduced a lot, which will lead to a reduction in power generation.
When the energy level is raised, stability cannot be taken care of, which is even more dangerous.
The runaway particle beam is not the ionizing radiation emitted by nuclear waste. It itself carries extremely large kinetic energy and will cause great damage to radiation gap semiconductor materials and protective materials.
"This is really a headache."
In the office, Xu Chuan stared at the design drawings in front of him and shook his head.
After staying here for several days, many large and small exchange meetings were held, but neither he nor other researchers have thought of any good way to take into account both stability and energy level intensity.
"Huh, let's go out for a walk first."
Shaking his head, Xu Chuan put down the drawings in his hands, opened the office door and walked out.
It's time to get off work now, and groups of workers and researchers are walking through the industrial park.
The nuclear energy industrial park is now quite complete, with not only accommodation areas but also various rest and entertainment facilities.
Along the way, Xu Chuan saw various entertainment facilities such as basketball courts, table tennis courts, and tennis courts, where many people were playing games.
He wasn't very interested in ball sports, but it would be fine, and he felt relaxed, so he simply found a place to sit down and watch these people play.
After staring at the court for a while, just when Xu Chuan felt a little bored and wanted to get up to eat, the movement on the basketball court made him stop.
In front of him, half way across the court, a basketball got stuck right on the edge of the basket.
The group of golfers looked at each other and tried to jump to find a way to get the ball off. However, the players in this half of the court seemed to have average jumping ability, and they did not touch the ball after struggling for a long time.
Immediately, someone ran to the other half and borrowed a basketball, apparently ready to smash it down.
However, it seemed that the first basketball was stuck a little tight. After trying it twice, it still had no effect. What shocked Xu Chuan was that after a while, the second ball was also stuck.
Okay, now the nature has changed.
Xu Chuan stopped and watched the group of people struggling with interest.
To be honest, this kind of stuck basketball can be solved by finding a pole or a ladder, but boys who play basketball usually automatically ignore these things.
And when the second ball gets stuck, their purpose is not to get the ball off.
Watching a group of people smashing the ball, watching the basketballs being stuck one by one, and finally filling the basket and being smashed down by a basketball, a flash of light suddenly flashed in Xu Chuan's mind.
"If this basket full of basketballs is regarded as an atomic nucleus, and the last ball is regarded as a high-energy particle, under the collision of high-energy particles, the atomic nucleus decomposes to form independent protons and neutrons."
"This process is very similar to the chain reaction of nuclear fission. If enough neutrons can be obtained, then the decay rate of nuclear waste can be accelerated without a high enough energy level, right?"
In his mind, a bolt of lightning suddenly split open the fog.
If increasing the energy level is not possible in a short time, then increasing the number of neutrons is also possible.
This is not a collision used for experiments. There are strict requirements for energy levels. High energy levels only increase the decay speed of nuclear waste and increase power generation. There is no need to be obsessed with energy levels.
Maybe, I know what to do!
Xu Chuan murmured and quickly ran towards the office with bright eyes.
(End of chapter)