How to deal with the neutrons produced in deuterium and tritium nuclear fusion is one of the biggest problems in controllable nuclear fusion.
High-energy neutron beams are extremely damaging to traditional materials.
And more importantly, controllable nuclear fusion requires a neutron beam to bombard the lithium target to achieve tritium self-sustainment. It cannot be reflected back with beryllium alloy, graphite and other materials like a nuclear fission reactor.
Hearing Professor Xing Xuexing's question, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "I don't plan to use the first wall material to process neutrons."
Hearing this, everyone else in the laboratory looked over curiously.
Xu Chuan thought for a while, organized the thoughts in his mind and then said: "Instead of dealing with neutron irradiation on the first wall, I think it is better to bypass the first wall and then deal with it."
"I think everyone has eaten a sandwich."
“Two layers of bread on the outside, filled with meat and cheese on the inside”
Having said this, Zhao Hongzhi, who was in charge of the Daybreak Fusion Device, had already understood. He looked at Xu Chuan with bright eyes and said, "Are you going to make the first wall material into three layers?"
"The first layer uses the radiation-resistant material you mentioned to absorb other radiation and high-energy particles other than the neutron beam. The second layer is arranged with a lithium target for neutron bombardment of the lithium target to form tritium self-sustainment; the third layer is
It is the final layer of protection to prevent the leakage of neutron radiation."
"That's what you mean!"
Looking at Xu Chuan, Zhao Hongzhi's eyes were filled with excitement.
This kind of design is not unknown in history. However, it is difficult to find a first wall material that can absorb other radiation without absorbing neutrons and reacting with neutrons. It can even be said that it is almost impossible to find.
Now, if there is a way to develop such a material, then it is completely possible to achieve overall protection of the first wall like a three-layer sandwich.
The key point is that the outermost protective material must be able to absorb other radiation and face the impact of high-energy particles, and must not react with neutrons, or less react with neutrons.
This is really difficult.
After hearing Zhao Hongzhi's explanation, other people in the laboratory also reacted and started thinking about it.
I have to say, does this approach really seem feasible?
The use of neutrons produced in the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction to bombard lithium targets to produce tritium raw materials is a key part of the entire nuclear fusion reactor technology.
After all, tritium exists in very small quantities and is very difficult to manufacture.
If tritium cannot be self-sustained and relies on external supplies, no country can afford the high price.
You must know that the price of tritium is now as expensive as 250,000 rb per gram. According to the price, one kilogram of tritium costs 250 million.
Therefore, neutrons cannot be wasted and must be utilized.
Xu Chuan looked at the other people in the laboratory and said with a smile: "The key point is to find a material that can allow neutrons to penetrate and absorb other radiation and high-energy particles."
“That’s why I said it’s better to try other materials.”
"The neutron beam is very destructive to metal bonds, and the self-healing ability of metal is too poor. Even if atomic recycling technology is used to reconstruct the metal structure, its repairing ability cannot be significantly improved."
"In contrast, some materials that can absorb energy and reconnect chemical bonds are more suitable."
"Even if it absorbs a small amount of neutrons, I think it is acceptable. After all, compared to other nuclear devices, the magnitude of neutrons released by deuterium-tritium fusion has increased by at least two levels."
"With such a huge amount of neutrons, theoretically, some loss is enough for us to achieve tritium self-sustainability."
After a pause, Xu Chuan looked at Professor Zhao Guanggui and said with a smile: "Theoretically speaking, carbon materials actually meet this requirement quite well."
"Carbon materials reconstructed using atomic recycling technology have a very strong ability to repair grain boundaries, and the carbon nuclei are relatively stable and difficult to react with neutrons."
"But unfortunately, most carbon materials have a shortcoming: they can absorb deuterium and tritium raw materials. This is unacceptable for controlled nuclear fusion."
"Professor Zhao, you have a heavy burden. You have to find a way to solve this problem."
Hearing this, Zhao Guanggui couldn't help but swallow his saliva, and his heart suddenly felt as heavy as a boulder weighing ten thousand kilograms.
This task is too heavy!!!!
Wasn't it agreed that it was just one direction? Why did it become the key now? The pressure suddenly became huge.
Xu Chuan smiled and didn't pay much attention.
Just give him some pressure. Professor Zhao still has some abilities, but it is not very likely that he can rely on him to improve the carbon material and perfect the material structure of the first wall.
It's not that he is incompetent, but that he doesn't understand atomic recycling technology.
In order to be able to absorb radiation, allow neutrons to penetrate through it, and also be able to self-repair grain boundaries, atomic recycling technology and radiation gap technology are indispensable.
At present, these two technologies have not been fully disclosed. Except for him, some researchers who worked with him on the "Nuclear Energy Beta Radiation Energy Concentration and Conversion Electric Energy Mechanism" project have a little understanding.
In the laboratory, Xu Chuan and researchers in these materials fields continued their discussions until late at night.
In today's exchange, although it was not determined which material to use as the material for the first wall, some routes and plans were initially determined.
The rest is to further sort out these plans and routes in detail, then hold meetings to discuss and finalize them, then assign them to different candidates, and proceed step by step according to the experiment.
To realize the technology of controllable nuclear fusion, he cannot do it alone.
But for Xu Chuan, he already had a corresponding plan in mind on how to achieve this goal.
This kind of large-scale project, even if it is only at the experimental reactor stage, involves more than three digits in fields and topics.
As the general person in charge and chief designer, he must split this huge project into different topics and areas, and then assign them to suitable candidates.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Of course, these are basic and relatively simple.
For example, after the deuterium and tritium raw material fusion ignition operation, the plasma turbulence numerical control model is further optimized, the cladding shielding module is optimized, how to involve a new electromagnetic observation system for helium 3, etc., these have been experimented before, or the Academy of Sciences or domestic
If there were research items elsewhere, Xu Chuan would leave them to others to handle.
As for those that are difficult and need to be discussed, they should be discussed separately before being distributed.
For example, today's selection and consideration of first wall materials includes not only carbon materials, but also other popular first wall materials such as beryllium alloys, tungsten alloys, and Austrian steels, which are also being studied by specialized groups.
Although Xu Chuan is not very optimistic about metal materials as the first wall material, he is also a human being and is not an omniscient and omnipotent god. Maybe there is something wrong with his views?
After all, it is something that is being studied all over the world, and it is necessary to set aside some researchers at dawn to do corresponding experiments.
As for himself, to be honest, he doesn't have much time left to devote to the research and development of materials for the time being.
Before getting the first wall material, he still had to solve the problems of magnetic surface tearing, distortion, and plasma magnetic islands during the fusion process of deuterium and tritium raw materials.
The previous experimental data had not been released, so he could only make theoretical speculations.
Now, although Li Xiao has only run one deuterium-tritium fusion ignition experiment for the time being, and it only lasted for one minute, the data collected was enough for him to conduct preliminary analysis.
After getting this done, Li Xiao will continue to conduct experiments and send him data, so that he can improve these things bit by bit.
At the same time, while Xu Chuan was busy researching controllable nuclear fusion.
On the other side, Kadarashirdi, ter headquarters near Marseille in southern France.
In the past two months, ter's directors have held several internal meetings that are not open to the public.
The content of the conference was naturally focused on high-temperature copper-carbon-silver composite superconducting materials and mathematical models of plasma turbulence.
As for the result, it was unhappy every time.
No one knows why China, which has not expressed much opinion on the TER project in the past and is even willing to exchange technology and pay to purchase technology, suddenly became so tough this time.
Not only was the U.S. request directly rejected, but Europe's request to exchange technology through the use of technology was also rejected.
In this case, the stalemate becomes difficult to deal with.
The United States seems to have run out of patience and is no longer planning to discuss the matter, but is preparing to directly unite with other member states to directly kick out its opponents.
Today is the time to make a choice.
At the upcoming board meeting, ter will conduct one last discussion.
Regarding the high-temperature superconducting copper-carbon-silver composite material technology and the high-temperature plasma turbulence CNC model in the Qixia controllable nuclear fusion project, the final inquiry on ter contract technology sharing was initiated.
If this meeting still fails to produce a result that satisfies most member states, the United States will initiate a council vote in the second half of the meeting.
On the grounds that the TER contract technology sharing agreement was not fulfilled, a public vote was initiated to determine whether China could continue to remain in TER.
It can be said that today is the deadline.
Sitting in the conference room, the German directors who arrived early looked at the empty seats of the Chinese representatives who had not yet arrived and sighed.
Judging from the previous discussions, it is probably impossible for the eastern country to make concessions on this matter.
More importantly, if the other party is really kicked out of TER in the future, TER's future may not be so bright.
After all, China plays a very important role in TER, whether it is the provision of funds, CRF heating antenna technology, tungsten-molybdenum alloy first wall material technology, etc., they are all crucial.
If they leave, who will fill in the gaps?
Depend on the United States?
Stop making trouble, the United States has been in arrears with the 25% of the funding guaranteed in the agreement, only provided 9%, and the remaining 16% has not been paid.
Perhaps, this will be the trigger for the disintegration of the ter organization?
Suddenly, an idea came into the mind of Director Ter of the Germanic Kingdom.
This is not impossible.
After all, this large-scale international joint project involves an important energy source such as controllable nuclear fusion. It is impossible to expect everything to be smooth sailing.
Energy is a sensitive thing, especially controllable nuclear fusion, a technology that can be said to be unlimited energy once realized. No matter which country takes the lead in this, it will cause anxiety and sensitivity in other countries.
In addition, almost all member states have their own controllable nuclear fusion projects, so they are naturally unwilling to invest more in ter.
Rather than saying that this is an international project where everyone works together to develop controllable nuclear fusion, it is better to say that this is an international trading and exchange platform based on controllable nuclear fusion projects.
Everyone takes out the superior technology in their hands, weakens it and sells it to other countries to obtain funds or the technology they want. This is the truth of TER.
Now, it's clear that the platform is on the verge of falling apart.