Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Seeing Yannick pondering which city to drop nuclear eggs on, little Elizabeth asked unbearably. "Brother Yannick, even if you drop leaflets in advance, there will be people staying in the city, right?"

Yannick nodded. "There are always some guys who are lucky. Just like the last time our army bombed London, no one escaped even though the notice was broadcast in advance, right? Churchill also said that he would not let a bomb fall into the city of London. But I heard It is said that since the fire burned New York, most of the residents in these big cities have fled to the countryside, and there should not be many people left."

Little Elizabeth hesitated and asked carefully. "Brother Yanik, then those people who stayed behind were killed in the bombing. Don't you feel guilty?"

"What's the guilt?" Yannick couldn't help but laugh a little after hearing this. "How much land did the British Empire colonize?" In World War I, the Allied Powers led by Britain defeated the Central Powers led by Germany. After the war, Britain owned the largest territory in the world, controlling an area of ​​40 million square kilometers, approximately It is 25% of the entire world's land area. The controlled population has reached 400 million, accounting for 25% of the world's population. "Do you think the people in these colonies are happy? Do you feel guilty that your royal family's good food and drink do not absorb the blood and sweat of the people in these colonies?" If he felt guilty, he would not bomb the United States day and night. The industrial area of ​​the Northeastern United States was blown into ruins.

"..." A look of embarrassment appeared on little Elizabeth's face.

Yannick did not delve into this issue. "Even if those people are killed, they can only blame their government. If those high-level officials surrender obediently, they won't have to die. We can also save a nuclear egg. The saved raw materials can generate as many kilowatt hours of electricity as possible." The content of uranium-235 in the nuclear fuel required for nuclear power plants is about 3%, while the content of uranium-235 in nuclear eggs is as high as more than 90%. The purification process can only be described as arduous.

Because the content of uranium-235 in the earth’s natural uranium ores is only 715%, and more than 99% of the remaining uranium-235 is uranium-238 that cannot be fissile and utilized. To make an atomic egg, it is necessary to process pure uranium-235 with a content of up to 5%, which is extremely difficult. As an isotope, the chemical properties of uranium-238 and uranium-235 are exactly the same. It is impossible to distinguish the two by any chemical means. We can only use the slight difference in the specific gravity of the two to separate them by centrifugation and diffusion. Refined.

To refine 1 kilogram of pure uranium-235, at least 200 tons of high-quality natural uranium ore is needed, and tens of thousands of centrifuges are required to rotate day and night, consuming a lot of electricity and financial resources. Since the radiation of highly enriched uranium is already obvious, once the centrifuge is turned on, it cannot be repaired. If it breaks down in the process, the raw materials inside will be useless.

Hearing Yannick's words, little Elizabeth looked shocked. "This bomb can also be used to generate electricity?!"

"We don't use bombs to generate electricity, we use bomb raw materials to generate electricity. Not only can we generate electricity, it has more advantages than thermal power generation." For example, the fuel cost of a nuclear power plant is much lower than that of a thermal power plant. For a 1 million kilowatt pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant, 40 tons of fuel need to be replenished every year, of which only 5 tons of uranium-235 is consumed, and the rest can still be recovered. So fuel transportation is trivial.

A 1 million kilowatt coal-fired power plant consumes at least 2.12 million tons of standard coal every year. On average, a 10,000-ton ship or three 40-car trains are required to transport coal to the power plant every day. The transportation burden is heavy. One can imagine.

"It can also be used to power ships. The submarine that crossed the Arctic last time was powered by nuclear power. Large aircraft carriers built in the future will use nuclear power." Yanik briefly explained the working principle of nuclear power.

After hearing this, little Elizabeth said with a curious expression. "Can all ships be equipped with nuclear power in the future?"

"That's not the case." Among the surface ships of later generations, except for a few aircraft carriers, there are very few nuclear-powered ships. Although the United States and the Soviet Union built several nuclear-powered cruisers and missile destroyers during the Cold War; the United States even built a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier battle group, with the end of the Cold War, these warships were either retired or converted to conventional power and remained in service until Later generations only have Kirov-class cruisers.

The main advantages of nuclear power are that it has unlimited range, can always maintain high-speed cruising, and has sufficient power supply. But there is no shortage of fuel, and food and ammunition still have to be supplied from the outside, so why not replenish the fuel along the way? Therefore, the biggest advantage has been diluted, coupled with high maintenance costs, the cost-effectiveness ratio is not good, and it is reasonable to be eliminated.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is another situation. The fuel space saved by nuclear power plants can be used to store more aircraft and aviation fuel. More importantly, the flue facilities necessary for conventional power are omitted, and the layout of the entire hangar and deck will be more reasonable and tidy. At the same time, since there is no smoke pollution on the deck, it is also more conducive to the take-off, landing and maintenance of aircraft. Not to mention the ample power provided by nuclear power to make steam catapults more efficient. Therefore, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are obviously more cost-effective than conventionally powered aircraft carriers.

As for ships used for civil aviation, there are less than ten in the world. The reason is also that the cost-effectiveness ratio is not cost-effective. Although a lot of fuel money can be saved after installing nuclear power, the price of nuclear reactors is very expensive and not affordable by ordinary people. Renewal and maintenance also cost money; In addition, once a failure occurs and nuclear fuel leaks, it will not only endanger the lives of the crew, but also cause serious marine pollution.

After thinking for a while, little Elizabeth asked again. "Then can we build nuclear-powered aircraft and nuclear-powered tanks?"

Yannick couldn't help laughing. "You have a pretty good idea."

Although it was a wild idea, the United States and the Soviet Union in the original time and space actually launched nuclear-powered aircraft projects.

Also during the Cold War, the United States took the lead in completing the prototype manufacturing of the B36 nuclear-powered bomber and successfully conducted its first test flight. However, the Soviet Union's Tu-119 project lagged far behind and did not complete its first flight until several years later.

The test results prove that nuclear-powered aircraft are feasible. But every flight is not as easy as imagined. Every time we take off, both the crew members and the ground commanders are cautious and trembling. What if the plane accidentally breaks down and falls? Although it is not as exaggerated as a nuclear bomb, it is still a huge flying dirty bomb, and the consequences of falling will be unimaginable. Therefore, every time the nuclear-powered bombers of the Soviet Union and the United States flew on a test flight, they would be followed by a transport plane full of paratroopers. Once the plane crashed, the paratroopers would immediately parachute and establish an isolation zone on the ground to prevent irrelevant personnel from intruding.

Later, with the development of intercontinental ballistic missile technology, the United States and the Soviet Union successively canceled their nuclear-powered aircraft projects. After all, as long as you press the launch button, you can easily achieve a nuclear strike. It is unnecessary to fly to the enemy's airspace to drop nuclear bombs with large numbers of troops.