Infinite Life: Trapped in a lifetime

The end of February of 2031.

The Spring Festival has just ended.

When stopping daily operation,

It took several months for the Suiren Demonstration Reactor to complete the transformation of the tritium breeding and return system.

Although this transformation only targets the parts related to tritium breeding, the overall demonstration reactor can be said to have an impact on the whole body.

For example, the heat recovery system is on the same floor as the tritium breeding system and is connected to the power generation system on the same floor as the demonstration reactor.

And the magnetic confinement coil on the outer layer of the main body...adjustment of the tritium breeding system,

The entire main body of the Suiren Demonstration Pile has been more or less adjusted.

Being able to do this is largely due to Mo Dao's mastery of turbulence and plasma confinement.

Relying on Mo Dao's turbulence model, the entire theoretical team was finally able to come up with an adjustment plan that took into account constraints, tritium breeding systems and other aspects at the same time.

"Restart all systems of the demonstration reactor and prepare for experiments."

The experiment after the modification of the tritium breeding system was completed did not look so grand.

It was just like another ordinary experiment by the demonstration reactor project team.

The reporter from China News Service was not notified to take notes, and the superiors only reported it according to the procedures.

No specific time was chosen, but the experiment started the day after all preparations were completed.

However, the researchers from the demonstration reactor theory team are basically here.

At the same time, I have great expectations for this experiment.

Mo Dao once again stood in the command hall some distance away from the demonstration reactor site, looking at the scene of the demonstration reactor site.

After the final comprehensive inspection of each system and part of the demonstration reactor is completed before the test,

Mo Dao announced the start of the experiment.

After that,

The entire test was conducted in accordance with standard procedures.

The entire test process, except for some details,

It is basically similar to the daily operation of the demonstration reactor, which is similar to starting up and running again after a routine overhaul.

The main body of the demonstration reactor is turned on and the heating system begins to heat.

Induces the fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium confined by the coil, and then outputs energy,

The generator set then began to operate, converting the thermal energy generated during the fusion process into electrical energy through mechanical energy.

This entire fusion power generation process,

The researchers and technicians who designed and built the demonstration reactor are already very familiar with it.

However, the focus of today's experiment is not fusion power generation itself.

It is a supporting device during the operation of the fusion reactor, providing the tritium breeding reaction of tritium.

"The generator set has started operating to generate electricity."

The entire command hall was quite quiet.

A group of researchers who participated in the modification and design of the new tritium breeding and return system,

There is no need for others to explain. Everyone is silently paying attention to and calculating the most important indicators.

The generator set has started to generate electricity.

This means that the deuterium and tritium in the reactor have been undergoing fusion reactions for a while.

It also means that the neutrons produced by the fusion of deuterium and tritium are already constantly impacting the liquid lithium in the tritium breeding system on the second wall.

From a microscopic perspective, tritium must have been produced.

And with the tritium return system designed in the reactor, it re-enters the core of the reactor and continues a continuous fusion reaction with deuterium.

Data on tritium breeding efficiency will soon be available.

In the entire command hall, at this moment, all the researchers seemed to have forgotten to breathe.

"The tritium self-sustainability rate currently fluctuates between 0.997 and 0.998."

The tritium self-sustainability rate calculated based on various real-time data did not meet the expectations of researchers at the beginning.

However, none of the researchers spoke up at this moment.

Just continue to pay attention to the trend of various data.

It seems that this value is actually very close to support.

However, in the long run, it seems that the difference is only a few tenths, which is a huge cost.

Currently, the demonstration reactor consumes ten kilograms of tritium every day.

Even if the self-sustainability rate reaches 0.999, you still need to actually consume about ten grams a day.

More than 3,000 grams are needed in a year.

If fusion reactors with the size of ten demonstration reactors were built, they would not be able to squeeze out the current tritium production of domestic fission reactors. It can even be said that all the fission reactors in the world are mainly used to produce tritium, and the world's tritium production could be squeezed out. Not coming out.

Not long after, the changes in the next round of self-sustainability data were naturally broadcast again.

"The tritium self-sustainability rate is currently 1.009."

The entire command hall seemed to be much quieter at this moment.

What followed closely was that although there was no sound of words, no one spoke out to celebrate.

But many people's breathing was a little heavier at this moment, and their faces were a little red.

Mo Dao looked at the data that were still changing, then at the scene of the demonstration reactor, and smiled.

Regarding the results of this experiment, he already had the answer in his mind.

And the direction and results of the subsequent data changes are indeed not beyond Mo Dao's expectations.

Self-sustainability data is affected by many aspects,

It didn't stabilize immediately,

After the first breakthrough, it fluctuated many times.

Several times, it fell to less than one.

But in the end,

After the demonstration reactor was modified, the proliferation and self-sustainment rates of tritium were still stable within the range of 1.08 to 1.09.

"Fill the replacement fluid with lithium."

Mo Dao looked at the time, then followed the original test procedure and said something aloud.

Most researchers, under Mo Dao's words, even though this operation does not require most of them to perform it,

But it still brought some inspiration.

Neutrons react with lithium 3 to produce tritium, which naturally consumes lithium.

The demonstration reactor currently uses a liquid lithium solution.

Compared with solid lithium, in addition to being more difficult to design and having harsh environmental requirements,

The advantages are also obvious.

It can have a higher reaction density, and at the same time, the liquid lithium in the main body of the reactor can be added and replaced without shutting down.

Now,

The process of adding new liquid lithium is also a very important part of the experimental process.

"New filling of liquid lithium completed."

The whole process was silent, except for the final procedural announcement.

There was no other bigger movement.

However, in this case, silence is a good thing.

If there was any unusual movement, one would have to worry about whether something had happened.

After that,

The reactor continues to operate downwards,

Continue to send back some data every once in a while as before.

This means,

All steps of the entire experiment were completed.

With the attention of all researchers,

The test operation after the completion of this demonstration reactor transformation,

After continuing to run for a while, it enters the shutdown process.

After that, a group of technicians and researchers will conduct a comprehensive overhaul of the entire system of the demonstration reactor.

While collecting some data that cannot be collected during operation, determine whether there are other problems in this transformation.

If everything is correct, the demonstration reactor will resume daily continuous operation as before.

But after this time, there is no need to worry about the source of tritium during the operation of the demonstration reactor.

"The test was successful. After modification, we achieved self-sustainability and multiplication of tritium in the demonstration reactor for the first time."

In the expectant eyes of researchers and technicians,

Mo Dao smiled and announced the results to the researchers and technicians who participated in the transformation and design.

"Haha... I said it can definitely be done."

"Academician Mo has said that if there is no problem in theory, then there must be no problem!"

A group of researchers and technicians cheered, and most people clapped.