The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 1467 An episode that surprised everyone

Later in the day.

Inside the HFR Precision Research Center, more than a dozen researchers from the Huaxia team took their positions, and the air was filled with a restrained and anxious atmosphere.

Academician Peng Juexian stood in front of the central control console, his eyes scanning the real-time data of various systems displayed on the huge screen. More than a dozen monitors were tracking key parameters such as temperature, pressure, and neutron flux, confirming that all parameters were within the preset range.

Despite having been working non-stop for several days, the nuclear engineering expert, who is nearly 70 years old, kept his back straight and his gray temples shone silver under the fluorescent lights.

He looked at the electronic clock on the wall: 14:25, and then gave the order to prepare in -5 minutes.

"All positions have been finally confirmed." Professor Fang Jianming's voice came through the internal communication system, deep and clear.

Huang Zhitao pushed up his glasses, which were not falling down at all, and beads of sweat were already oozing out of his forehead:
"Neutron detector calibration completed."

This was his first time directly involved in such a high-level research project, and he was assigned to monitor the neutron yield and flux data.

This work is not difficult, but it is the core of the entire testing work.

"Cooling system on standby."

"The Dutch control system confirmed access."

"..."

The translator relayed the feedback from the control room -

After all, the HFR reactor itself is still the property of the Dutch government, so although each country may conduct tests, the core operating conditions and control procedures are still managed by the Netherlands Nuclear Regulatory Authority.

After all, when using other people's resources to conduct experiments, it is impossible not to give them any benefits.

At 14:30, Peng Juexian turned to Fang Jianming:
"let's start."

The latter's finger hovered over the red start button for a second before pressing it firmly.

Inside the reactor containment vessel, a low mechanical humming sound suddenly rang out, as if some giant beast had awakened from its slumber. The huge drum set began to rotate, and the sound of gears meshing could be clearly heard.

In the control room far away, the indicator light on the No. 2 platform turned from dark to red, and then jumped to yellow, indicating that the drum group was rotating outward and starting.

"The drum group is started, the angular velocity is 0.5 rad/s, and the positive reactivity is being introduced." Fang Jianming stared at the screen and said in a steady voice, "The reactor has entered a slow supercritical state."

At a scale that is unobservable to the human eye, high-energy rays bombard the reactor shielding layer and the core nuclear fuel like a rainstorm. Each collision is like a miniature supernova explosion. They do not detour or hesitate, but directly penetrate the barrier of the electron cloud and slam into the atomic nucleus.

The strong interaction between nucleons is shaken, and the "glue" that binds neutrons begins to loosen, until the nuclear structure is torn apart, releasing free neutrons.

These uncharged ghosts escape from the broken core and fly toward the core directly or after being reflected by the beryllium reflector.

On the main screen, a blue neutron flux curve appeared at the bottom of the coordinate axis and slowly extended, like a dormant snake stretching its body.

14: 35.

"The initial neutron yield was detected." Huang Zhitao's voice slightly raised, "4.0×10^4 n/s, in line with expectations."

The voice of a Dutch engineer in the HFR control room followed closely: "The core temperature has risen. The current power is 0.13MW. The secondary cooling system has been activated."

The corners of Peng Juexian's mouth curled up slightly, but soon returned to normal.

This is just the beginning.

"Continue to monitor neutron yield growth rate."

In the observation room, in addition to several staff members responsible for operation and status monitoring, several HFR managers were also watching everything through the monitoring screen.

Cody Snyder drummed his fingers on the armrest, and Vanderveer paced back and forth at the back of the room.

Although the two ladies maintained an elegant sitting posture, their slightly forward leaning bodies revealed their inner nervousness.

"Damn it, they actually did the first step."

Schneider muttered, picking up his coffee cup only to find it empty.

"The initial neutron production is the easy part..."

Shulting's eyes were fixed on the data stream:
"Of course, in theory, as long as the neutron multiplication coefficient is greater than 1, the reactor can operate spontaneously..."

She did not participate in the gambling, and there was no sound of sadness or joy in her tone.

Vanderville didn't say anything, his eyes quickly switched between several key parameters, and his brain quickly calculated various possibilities.

And, he still didn't understand why the Chinese needed so much beryllium.

If it were only used to reflect neutrons, the inner layer of the shielding shell would be sufficient.

As time goes by, the slope of the blue curve gradually increases.

14:45，中子产额达到5.20×10^4n/cm3；

15:00，3.57×10^5n/cm3；

15:15，4.84×10^6n/cm3
"Oh my god..." Marika de Jong sighed softly and subconsciously grabbed the armrest of the chair, "Can they really do it?"

Although she was not optimistic about the Chinese plan from the beginning, she was engaged in nuclear industry research after all, and they had a relationship of shared success and shared failure. At this time, it was inevitable that she had some hope in her heart.

Van der Weil's eyes were even brighter as he stared at the neutron flux data:

"9.89×10^6... close to the critical point."

At this point, everyone in the control room seemed to have accepted the successful result of the test. De Jong and Schneider almost simultaneously took out their wallets, took out 20 euros from them, and secretly put them into Van der Wiel's hands...

……

However, at this moment, Huang Zhitao's voice suddenly became urgent:

"The neutron production growth rate has decreased! The current rate is 9.91×10^6, and the growth rate has slowed by 30%."

A nuclear reactor is not a nuclear bomb, and it is impossible to accelerate a chain reaction endlessly. Therefore, when the neutron yield reaches a certain level, it will definitely gradually slow down.

But it shouldn't be now anyway.

For HFR, a neutron density of less than 10^7cm3 is definitely not enough to sustain a spontaneous chain reaction.

This can also be seen from the responsiveness curve on another screen.

Only when the externally introduced reactivity is eliminated, that is, the total reactivity of the reactor reaches or exceeds 0, can the reactor be considered to enter a critical state.

And now, the data is still clearly below the X-axis.

The atmosphere in the research center froze instantly. Peng Juexian quickly walked behind Huang Zhitao and said, "Check the detector!"

"The detector is working fine, Sensei."

Huang Zhitao's voice trembled a little:

"The growth rate continues to decline...9.93...9.94..."

The data stream was refreshed so quickly that he couldn't even read out the complete scientific notation, so he could only use the previous digits instead, but the range of change was getting smaller and smaller.

Fang Jianming immediately adjusted the parameters of the drum group:

"Introducing additional reactivity, 50pcm."

On the screen, the rise of the blue curve almost stopped.

HFR control room reports: "Core reactivity -0.001, power growth stopped."

Peng Juexian's forehead was covered with beads of sweat. He turned to Fang Jianming and said, "Try plan B and adjust the angle of incidence of the rays."

After another twenty minutes of intense adjustment, the neutron yield finally climbed to 9.94×10^6, and then stagnated again.

Fang Jianming looked at Peng Juexian, his eyes full of questions.

"Add another 100pcm." Peng Juexian gritted his teeth.

In fact, at this time, simply increasing external reactivity would hardly affect the overall situation. However, such a sudden change occurred when the situation was so good that even Peng Juexian, who had been through many battles, still found it difficult to accept.

Especially in an occasion like this.

In the observation room, Schneider's expression changed from surprise to gloating, and then to confusion:
"What are they doing? This is not in accordance with any standard procedure..."

Shulting sees it more clearly: "They are trying different modes of neutron multiplication... but judging from the results, it is probably difficult to reverse the current situation."

She shrugged slightly, still maintaining a neutral expression:
"Of course, the bright side is that there is indeed no problem with the safety they promised, and no radiation data exceeding the permitted amount was detected outside the radiation area."

Van der Weil had a complicated look on his face. He took out the two 20-euro notes that were already in his pocket, filled out two more 10-euro notes, and secretly stuffed them back into the hands of the other two from behind.

当电子钟显示17:40时，经过整整两个小时的挣扎，中子产额最终定格在9.96×10^6n/cm3，距离自发运行所需的临界值仍有大约一个数量级的差距。

For a normal chain reaction, one order of magnitude is actually a very small distance.

But now, it seems like an insurmountable chasm.

"Stop testing."

Peng Juexian took a deep breath, but his voice was unusually calm.

"Teacher, this..."

Failure is inevitable in any experiment, but as a doctoral student, Huang Zhitao has never encountered such a situation:

"Could it be our test plan..."

Peng Juexian shook his head:

"Don't think too much about it for now. Save all the data and prepare to transmit it to China."

Now that things have come to this, instead of worrying about that little bit of face, it is better to think about where the problem lies.

It is embarrassing when a plan goes wrong, but it is also the simplest outcome.

What he was worried about was a worse situation.

Although the entire technical route was proposed by Academician Chang Haonan and approved by a group of experts including him, and judging from the other party's past "record", there is almost no possibility of going in the wrong direction, but nuclear energy application is a relatively complex field after all, and no one dares to say that they will not make mistakes.

In the observation room, Marika de Jong let out a long sigh, not sure whether it was disappointment or relief.

"They almost succeeded..." Shulting said softly.

"'Almost' means nothing in research." Vanderveer shook his head. "But one thing is certain—"

He turned to his colleagues and said:
"The Chinese must know something that we don't know."

(End of this chapter)