Infinite Life: Trapped in a lifetime

"The temperature has risen to 50 million."

"The restraints are in good condition."

Before the official start of operation, or even at the beginning of the constraint experiment,

Most people in the entire EAST research team are a little nervous.

However, after the constraint experiment officially started,

The experiment gradually entered a fixed process, and most researchers' emotions relaxed somewhat from their tension.

They just either wait or perform their duties.

In the command room where the entire experiment was monitored, the only sound that was quiet was the announcement of the progress of the plasma confinement experiment.

When the plasma temperature breaks through 100 million degrees, which is also the expected temperature of this experiment,

There was a burst of cheers and even applause.

However, it soon calmed down again.

The next step is to monitor and wait for the steady-state operation and constraint time of the plasma at 100 million degrees.

Even Academician Zhang, the general director of EAST, couldn't stop staring at the time beating on the big screen at this moment.

The running constraint time will also affect the Q value to some extent.

The longer the running time, the higher the Q value will naturally be.

After the steady-state running time exceeds the last running time,

There was another round of cheers.

As long as it exceeds this time, it will already be a huge improvement compared to the last time.

Because, after adjusting according to Mo Dao's plan, the density of the plasma this time is higher.

In actual nuclear fusion, this means higher fusion intensity.

And next,

Just to see if the entire EAST device can reach the time specified for this experiment.

And in the end,

After this major adjustment and upgrade, the first constraint running time was fixed at 1000 seconds.

This is also the constraint run time and planned time point.

Although if it continues to run, it will definitely reach a higher number.

But it is impossible to stop until the plasma gets out of control and burns through the first wall and even the second wall.

"Ohmic heating transformer shut down."

According to the predetermined plan, after reaching the steady-state operating time of 1000 seconds,

The EAST device begins to shut down gradually.

The most popular EAST has shut down as a whole and the experiment is over.

…

The entire constraint experiment can be said to be completely unexpected.

But for the entire constraint experiment, there are no surprises, which is the best situation.

"Mo Dao, good job!"

After watching EAST complete the shutdown process,

Standing next to Mo Dao, Professor Hong, who had watched the entire restraint experiment, could no longer contain his excitement.

Facing Mo Dao, whose face was flushed as if he was drunk, he said happily,

"Although other data have not yet come out, the operating time and temperature are already half the battle. We have never operated and constrained in a steady state at such a high temperature for such a long time before."

Mo Dao was not that excited and smiled, but more, he looked at the EAST device that had been shut down in the indoor testing site.

Next,

For most researchers, they still have to hold back their already unbearable excitement.

Awaiting additional data.

When running a test, in addition to the time and temperature, other data still need to be summarized and analyzed.

The most important plasma density and Q value will take some time to produce results.

final,

After some more time passed,

The academician in charge of the EAST device invited Mo Dao to formally announce the most important conclusion of this experiment.

"Based on various data, we can determine that the plasma density in this confinement experiment has been significantly improved compared to before. According to the data, the neutron impact suffered by the first wall may be reduced by more than two percent. 10. We have reason to believe that higher intensity fusion can occur in magnetic confinement tokamak devices, and the degree of confinement can reach a higher level.”

"Based on the current calculations of various data, we can draw an exciting result. The Q value of EAST has been successfully increased to 0.82."

Compared with the conservative estimate of 0.82, the final experimental result achieved a higher Q value.

The entire EAST research team no longer needs to explain, they naturally know what this means.

Cheers erupted one after another at the scene, even boiling over.

All the researchers could not contain their excitement, and the applause lasted for a long time.

However, a reporter from China News Service asked one more question when interviewing Academician Zhang.

"Academician Zhang, we can see that everyone is very excited. I think this must be an outstanding achievement."

"I know that the Q value is very important in the research of controllable nuclear fusion. I want to know what the Q value of 0.82 we have achieved now means."

"It means that we have taken another huge step on the road to achieving controllable nuclear fusion through magnetic confinement."

"Generally speaking, if the Q value is greater than one, it means that the output of the controllable nuclear fusion device is greater than the input, which means that it can finally actually generate electricity, have positive benefits, and have actual energy value."

"If the Q value is greater than 5, we can probably have some expectations for the realization of commercial controllable nuclear fusion reactors."

"Now, we are obviously much closer to the previous goal. This is a leap forward."

Dean Zhang said with a smile, looked at the reporter, thought about it, and then added,

"Well, to understand it from a more direct perspective, before our constraint experiment this time, the best record of the Q value of a controllable nuclear fusion device was 0.67."

"Then this is indeed a huge improvement."

"yes."

Academician Zhang smiled and looked at the greatly adjusted EAST device in the indoor experimental field.

0.82, this is already a number worth imagining. It is very close to the Q value being greater than one and the output being greater than the input.

"Academician Zhang, after this time, how far are we from using the electricity generated by the controllable nuclear fusion device?"

The reporter asked another question that was not very professional, but very general.

"...Hmm. We used to say that controllable nuclear fusion is still fifty years away from us. Then after this time, there may be thirty years left."

Academician Zhang smiled and said something joking.

"It's difficult for us to determine the future, especially in research."

…

At this moment, Mo Dao, who was standing next to Academician Zhang, was not happy about the achievements of the EAST device at this moment.

But it’s true, it’s not that exciting and uplifting.

In fact, not only Mo Dao, but also academician Zhang, Professor Hong and other researchers who have a comprehensive and clear understanding of the plan proposed by Mo Dao,

After the initial excitement, they gradually calmed down quickly.

Mo Dao's plan is certainly very good.

It has achieved a leap in all aspects of constraint experiments of controllable nuclear fusion devices.

But the biggest problem is that

This road has come to an end.

The plan proposed by Mo Dao is the limit that EAST, or the magnetic confinement controllable nuclear fusion device, can currently achieve.

It will be difficult to see such a larger leap forward in the future.

It is equivalent to using the existing technology to the extreme by adjusting all parts of the EAST device.

This is the limit of the known state.

Even in Mo Dao's previous lives, decades later.

Even if the confinement time of magnetic confinement controllable nuclear fusion is longer and the Q value is higher, overall it is still within this range and there is no qualitative change.

Further down, there are things that have not been achieved in previous lives and decades later.

Every step requires broadening the boundaries of known technology.

Next, everything will be unknown.