Chapter 542: Choosing a Site in Tianwan

From lying innocently at the Institute of Matter to his visa being revoked and then to Huaguo's withdrawal from the ITER group, Xiao Le's mood in the past month has been like riding a slide, all the way to the end, and has never been better.

After waiting at home for a month, Xiao Le was basically idle for a month. In addition to browsing Arxiv and tracking the latest research trends of major research institutions every day, I just help my mother walk the dog.

How uncomfortable it is to be brutally dragged out of an unfinished research work, and only he can experience it.

There is no news from Professor Li for the time being. I don't know if it's because he hasn't adjusted his status, or he hasn't found a new topic for the time being, or he's too busy to think about him yet.

The Institute of Matter has no further arrangements for the Ph. D.s sent back from the General Atomic Energy Corporation. It seems that they haven't figured out what to do with them.

After all, with the withdrawal from ITER, many cooperative research projects with ITER have been suspended, and there are still many people who need to reschedule their work.

Unfortunately, the state has tightened its investment in the field of tokamak, and the existing funds cannot support so many subjects at all...

It was said that the institute was in chaos, and Xiao Le wasn't sure whether he should go back now, but in the end he still couldn't let go of the affairs in the institute, and planned to go to Luyang after resting for two days.

After all, I have been so idle, my head is almost rusting...

However, just as he packed his luggage and even bought his ticket, he suddenly received a call from the office.

"Where are you now?"

"Shangjing... Did Professor Li ask you to contact me?" Hearing the voice on the other end of the phone, Xiao Le asked hastily.

"Professor Li, we have already contacted you. He recommended you to us. There is a research position in Jiangsu Province that is suitable for you. We want to know if you are interested."

Xiao Le said with a confused face: "Wait, I don't understand what you mean, research positions? Suzhou Province?"

"Yes," the man on the other end of the phone explained without any impatience in his voice, "The coordinates are in Suzhou Province, about controllable nuclear fusion."

Xiao Le tentatively asked, "STAR Institute?"

"No comment."

Xiao Le said with a headache: "Even if you tell me that you are studying nuclear fusion, this direction is too big. At least, you have to tell me the specific research content and the specific place of work."

"The specific research content depends on the arrangement over there. The place of work is still in the confidentiality period," said the man on the other end of the phone. "You just need to answer whether I will go or not."

This……

It is really a difficult request.

Xiao Le smiled wryly in his heart, and shook his head secretly.

However, even if he thought so in his heart, he only hesitated for two seconds between going and not going...

"go."

This opportunity is only once in a lifetime.

Intuition told him that if he missed it, he would never have it again.

The man on the other end of the phone answered very simply, and said, "Okay, I will help you with the relevant procedures. In addition, your ticket has been changed. Remember to get on the train at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

After speaking, the phone was hung up.

Looking at the mobile phone in his hand, a strange expression appeared on Xiao Le's face.

Not only did he only find out the ticket he bought, but he even changed it for free with just one sentence. The person who called him may have a difficult background...

At least, definitely not from the Institute of Matter.

...

In the afternoon of the next day, he got on the high-speed train and arrived at his destination. After getting off the train with his suitcase, Xiao Le stood outside the train station for less than half a minute when he saw a black Jetta parked in front of him He sent to that mysterious workplace.

After arriving at the destination, he was immediately shocked by the scene.

It's not because this place is too deserted, but on the contrary, the "lively" here is a bit outrageous.

More than a dozen buses were parked in the open space outside the factory building, as well as various engineering equipment.

There are more than a dozen of the logos he can recognize, and they are either top domestic research institutes in the field of plasma physics, or nuclear industry groups, nuclear engineering construction giants in the domestic nuclear power field.

Vaguely, he seemed to understand what kind of project he was involved in.

It's just that he didn't expect, and couldn't believe, that the progress of the STAR Research Institute is so fast.

The whole world is guessing how far they are from the demonstration pile, and theirs has begun quietly.

At this time, an old man in his early fifties came over with a resume with a photo on it, and stopped him.

"Your name is Xiao Le?"

Xiao Le nodded: "Yes."

"Okay then, come with me."

Glancing at the driver who sent him over, Xiao Le swallowed, and immediately followed with his suitcase.

Barely keeping up with the footsteps of the old man, he couldn't help asking about the situation here.

"I'm working on tokamaks, you probably are working on stellarators here, ask me to come here..."

"What you said has nothing to do with me." Leading him into the institute, the old man said blankly, "I'm only responsible for taking you in. If you have any questions, just ask that person."

that person?

who?

Although Xiao Le really wanted to ask this question, seeing that the old man had no intention of answering his questions about this research institute, he silently closed his mouth.

Looking around, he asked an unimportant question.

"With so many people, how can we solve the problem of keeping secrets?"

Hearing this question, the old man who had been expressionless all this time suddenly laughed.

"Young man, do you know what your great-grandfather's name is?"

"……do not know."

No one remembers this.

Xiao Le complained in his heart.

The old man pointed to the driver who drove him over in the Jetta not far behind.

"If you want to know, you can ask him."

...

The siting requirements for nuclear power plants are very high.

According to the internationally accepted site selection principles, factors such as geology, surface, meteorology, hydrology, environmental protection, civil engineering, transportation, power station technology, power grid, and society must be strictly considered.

First of all, geographically, there must be no fault zone passing through the deep part of the site, and it is required that there are no active faults within a few kilometers of the nuclear power plant. In the nearby 100 kilometers of sea area and 50 kilometers inland, it can be tested that no earthquake of magnitude 6 or above has occurred in history.

Then there is transportation.

The design of the entire reactor is several times more complicated than that of the fission reactor, and the volume is also larger. It is impossible for the various components involved to be produced locally in Jiangsu Province. They can only be shipped to the site for assembly after being produced in various places.

Considering the above factors comprehensively, there are not many places in Suzhou Province that can meet this condition.

After discussions at the expert meeting and consultations with the provincial government, the site selection for the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was finally determined to be near the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Haizhou.

First, there are ready-made resources available here, and the site reserved for the third phase of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant can be used as an experimental plant for demonstration reactors. Secondly, the engineers here are all experts in the field of nuclear power with rich experience, and can also help a lot in the design of the demonstration reactor and specific engineering issues.

As for the security issue, there is no need for Lu Zhou to worry about it.

At the same time as the site selection for the demonstration reactor was completed, a regiment-level combat unit had arrived in the area and completed its deployment.

On the other hand, after completing the project site selection, Lu Zhou also rushed to the site non-stop, conducted a field inspection of the construction site with the engineers of the nuclear industry group, and exchanged opinions on the design of the demonstration reactor.

At the same time, in less than a week, thousands of researchers from major research institutions and engineers in related fields have gathered here.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of this project, the country has basically met all the conditions proposed by Lu Zhou.

Ask money to give money, ask people to give.

"I brought him here," leading Xiao Le into the laboratory, and the old man put his resume on the table.

Lu Zhou nodded to him.

"Thanks a lot."

The old man waved his hand.

"Thank you for this little thing. You are busy, I will go first."

When leaving the office, the old man closed the door behind him.

Looking at the nervous Xiao Le, Lu Zhou smiled and said.

"Relax, don't be so nervous, I just came here to ask you a few questions."

Xiao Le laughed dryly and said, "Can you not be nervous when you see your idol?"

Idol?

Hearing this sentence, Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly.

The lad has good eyesight.

He also believes that his looks have the potential to be an idol.

but……

Here, obviously, is not the time to make jokes.

With a light cough, Lu Zhou restrained his joking expression, and asked, "I heard from the Institute of Matter that you visited the DIII-D laboratory of General Atomics?"

"Yes..." Seemingly feeling that his answer was too simple and not respectful enough, Xiao Le hurriedly added, "I have been with Professor Li since I was a Ph. Years, the longest time in the institute.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I know, that's why I let you come here."

Having said that, he paused for a moment, then continued.

"Since you have been there for four years, I believe you should know a lot about the situation there. Regarding their heating technology, I would like to know, which direction are they mainly researching now? What step has the research reached? gone?"

When Lu Zhou asked about the field he was familiar with, Xiao Le immediately replied: "They are mainly studying the direction of ion cyclotron resonance heating. At present..."

Listening carefully to Xiao Le's explanation, Lu Zhou rubbed his index finger against his chin and nodded from time to time.

It must be admitted that DIII-D's heating technology and plasma diagnostic technology are very strong.

The latter has been replaced by the He-3 atom probe technology and need not be considered for the time being.

As for the former, although it is not critically important, it is still worthy of attention.

After all, the demonstration pile is different from the experimental pile. The latter can make do with it, but the former can't.

Any lack of technical details will eventually be reflected in the efficiency of energy output.

What's more, through these detailed problems, combined with his own experience in controlled nuclear fusion research, he can roughly infer how far General Atomics has come in research on controlled nuclear fusion, how far away is the demonstration reactor? how far.

In the following time, Lu Zhou asked many more questions about the progress of the experiment at DIII-D, and Xiao Le answered all the things he knew well.

At the end, Lu Zhou thought for a moment and said.

"The heating device of the tokamak does not match exactly on the stellarator, but the heating principle is similar."

"We intend to redesign the ICRF heating antenna on the EAST device to a version that can be used on the stellarator."

"If you are interested in staying, I can introduce you to join this research group."

This is considered to be...

Did you hug your thighs?

Hearing this sentence, Xiao Le was very excited, and immediately nodded: "I am willing!"

Sure enough, agreeing to that phone call back then was an extremely correct choice...