Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1314 Separate Them (4k)

"Moreover, this thing has an advantage: when you mine it, it basically won't damage the surface vegetation and soil, and it will have almost no impact on the production and lives of the local people. They can graze their livestock and farm their land as usual, without any impact." This thing is inserted into a pipe tens of meters long, hundreds of meters deep, and underground activities have very little impact on the surface.

This is a small benefit; given the current level of importance attached to this place, it's impossible to simultaneously mine it and cultivate the land for grazing. But that doesn't stop us from finding other benefits.

"If that's the case, then it will be almost impossible for others to discover and analyze our U mine in the grasslands and its production through satellites!" The leaders of the National Defense Commission were very pleased with this. Now the enemy's planes can't get in, and it's also difficult for spies to cause trouble in those places. The only convenient way is to solve the problem through satellites in space.

If this method of mining and refining is adopted, as long as a few more trees are planted next to the pumping and injection wells, they will be able to tell that this is a mine, let alone analyze the output. That would be considered impressive.

While some judgment can still be made through other auxiliary facilities, these things can also be disguised.

The chief engineer also realized the key point: "Why don't we send some cavalry over there to actually graze livestock or something? That would be even more effective in deceiving the enemy. Hahaha."

Gao Zhendong suddenly blurted out, "Actually, if the production of this stuff is too small, it's indeed inconvenient for people to control; if it's too large, it doesn't matter."

The other comrades looked at Gao Zhendong, carefully pondering his words. Interesting, really interesting!
"What you said makes a lot of sense. I hope that day comes soon."

Gao Zhendong smiled; he hoped so too. But the most important thing now was to solve the immediate problem: "After obtaining this 'high' concentration solution, you should know the subsequent steps, right?"

The two comrades nodded with smiles: "We have studied the following. We first rinse the resin to obtain a solution with a higher concentration, which can also regenerate the resin. The rinsing solution is purified with hydrochloric acid, and then mixed with sodium hydroxide solution to make Na2U2O7. Finally, we press it into yellow cake."

Na2U2O7, sodium diurethane, is the main component of yellow cake.

Once you reach the yellowcake stage, the next step can be to use traditional processes, such as generating UF6 and centrifuging.

Although the specific steps are more complicated, they are very clear that communicating with Committee Member Gao to this point is enough, and he probably knows everything perfectly well.

"That's good, but there's one problem... Actually, it's not a problem. There's a characteristic you can utilize that can reduce the difficulty and energy consumption of isotope separation in subsequent processes."

Gao Zhendong casually mentioned the last thing that needed attention.

He said it smoothly, but everyone's eyes immediately turned to him. Was there really such a good thing?
Although Gao Zhendong only mentioned isotope separation, everyone understood what he meant. Those who frequently deal with U ore know that U-235 is valuable, but U-238 is currently of little use.

It will probably be some time before U-238 can be used to produce Pu-239. And even if U-238 can be used, U-238 and U-235 must be separated first. Isotope separation technology will never be outdated here.

The misconception that U production can be analyzed by a country's electricity consumption originated from this—centrifugation is very energy-intensive, and obtaining U-235 by centrifuging UF6 gas does indeed have a certain impact on electricity consumption.

However, to say that electricity consumption can be used to analyze GDP is clearly wishful thinking, at least for a country of our size. It is impossible unless the electricity consumption data is accurate to a small area.

However, centrifugation to separate 235 and 238 is indeed a headache for our colleagues. In this regard, every little bit saved is a good thing.

"Can this still happen?"

Gao Zhendong nodded and smiled, "Yes. This involves a subtle difference in chemical properties between 235 and 238. It's certain that the leachate contains both tetravalent and hexavalent U, and if my calculations are correct, this amine oxime resin has a much higher adsorption efficiency for hexavalent U. This is why I try to oxidize tetravalent U to hexavalent U as much as possible in the perfusion-extraction method..."

As for why things turned out this way, the comrades didn't ask, and Gao Zhendong didn't say either.

"And then?" The two comrades stared intently at Gao Zhendong.

"Among hexavalent U ions, the content of U-235 is much higher than that of U-238! This is determined by the difference in their chemical properties."

Having said all that, the two comrades already knew what Gao Zhendong wanted to say! After all, although they were not familiar with chelating resins, they were still proficient in basic chemical operations.

"I understand! Liquid chromatography! Your idea is that we can use liquid chromatography and chelating resin to repeatedly adsorb and separate the U solution, purifying hexavalent U-235 layer by layer, step by step!!!! Finally, we can obtain a U solution with high U-235 abundance at the top of the chromatography column, and then proceed to the process of preparing Na2U2O7?" The two comrades stood up excitedly!
Not to mention them, even the two leaders of the National Defense Industry Committee couldn't sit still.

This is truly fantastic news for U Industries to date!

Regardless of how much the abundance can be increased, as long as there is a significant improvement, then this technology has a very good prospect.

If the abundance of U-235 can be increased as much as possible before centrifugation, the centrifuge will not have to work so hard and will not consume as much electricity.

The key is this process, which at least sounds very reliable. As long as the two conditions mentioned by Comrade Gao Zhendong are confirmed, U production can be boosted significantly.

Electricity is something that's not plentiful right now.

Although U is not very suitable for making fusion bombs, it is not unusable for fission bombs in the short term. Moreover, its greater use is for power generation.

We don't have nuclear power plants, but that doesn't stop us from preparing nuclear fuel.

"We'll go back immediately and organize our comrades to verify the two prerequisites you just mentioned! One is the adsorption selectivity of the chelating resin for hexavalent U ions, and the other is the distribution of isotopes in hexavalent U ions!" The two comrades were completely restless. If they could sit still, they would be gods.

Seeing their anxious expressions, the leaders of the National Defense Commission had no choice but to give up.

"So urgent? You just arrived here from Jincheng today." Clearly, these two had finished verifying the final results of the amylopectin chelate resin with Professor Gan at Jincheng University and immediately flew to Beijing. For them, arranging a flight was a simple matter.

"It's okay, we came by plane, it was very comfortable."

"Nonsense, how comfortable can that plane be?" Everyone knew how uncomfortable the flying tractor was. But there was nothing they could do about it. The main reason was that this plane was the safest one among the aircraft that could be used at will. Apart from being a bit slow, bumpy, and noisy, its other performance was almost unbeatable for transporting a small number of people.

As for these precious comrades in front of us, the primary concern for the plane they are on is safety.

"It's really great, everyone looks more energetic now," the two comrades joked.

To say that the plane was comfortable would be an impossible lie for the two comrades, but they changed their tune and perked up!
"Boss, really don't worry. To be honest, if you asked us to stay in Beijing for even a day, we would feel a million times worse off than we did on the plane. Right now, it feels like a million ants are crawling all over us." The two comrades pointed to their chests and joked.

No, shouldn't the brain be used for thinking, not the chest? Gao Zhendong thought to himself rather unkindly, but he knew what his comrades meant.

"Well... alright. I should have invited Comrade Zhendong over tomorrow instead," the leader of the National Defense Industry Committee joked.

However, they also understood that once these two comrades had acquired the mining technology for grassland sandstone and the U isotope pre-separation technology, it would be unlikely that they could stay here any longer; their hearts would probably have already flown to the grasslands.

"Then you all need to get some rest. Take a nap on the plane..." At this point, everyone laughed. This joke had gone too far; anyone who could fall asleep on that plane was a god.

The comrades met briefly at the National Defense Work Committee, and then parted ways with their respective tasks and excited feelings.

Looking down from the window of the leader's office, two cars left the National Defense Commission and headed to their respective battlefields.

"We should consider equipping our comrades with some good airplanes," the leader couldn't help but say. He had ridden in flying tractors before; they were convenient, but as for comfort, that was a different story.

"Would it be suitable to buy that Falcon 20 business jet from the Gauls?" the chief engineer asked after a moment's thought.

The business jet that the Gauls developed last year, in terms of both speed and comfort, completely outclasses flying tractors, but it still has some "minor" problems, such as...

"The safety has not been fully verified, and the planes they are traveling on should ideally be manufactured by ourselves." Airplanes have complex structures, which means there are many things that cannot be disassembled or that people dare not disassemble. The Lubyanka improved gold-lipped eavesdropping device incident has just passed, and no one wants any new situations to arise.

"The most important thing is safety. The French don't have the technology to receive signals from our country. Besides, we can just set a rule that we don't discuss work on the plane," the chief engineer said.

Given the Gauls' current resources, it was impossible for them to install data receiving stations domestically or to periodically retrieve storage devices. As for satellites... that was even more impossible.

The leader pondered for a moment and said, "Well, I ask the comrades in charge of the relevant test flights and training tasks to work hard and put in more effort to get the Falcon 20 flying as soon as possible!"

"I would suggest that we also buy a few sets of Falcon 20 components from the Gauls, assemble a few ourselves, and combine them with the results of relevant test flights and training. This would largely resolve our concerns."

"That's a good suggestion. Go back and have the comrades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation implement it." The leader immediately made the decision. However, since this aircraft is a civilian aircraft, it is necessary to have the comrades in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation implement it.

The chief engineer jotted down the details in his notebook before pondering, "Sir, Comrade Zhendong..."

"Strengthen the forces! Hold off for now!" The leader stroked his chin. This kid really is something else; he always manages to come up with something new.

Although he was not physically present in the desert, his presence could be seen almost everywhere there.

For those comrades familiar with Gao Zhendong, the more tricks Gao Zhendong has up his sleeve, the less they want to change his current situation unless he brings it up himself.

Under normal circumstances, as long as people's living environment improves, it should not have a negative impact on scientific research output. But the key point is that Gao Zhendong doesn't look like a normal person no matter how you look at him! As long as there are eggs to eat, who cares where the hen that lays the eggs lives?

As long as the egg is important enough, the chicken will protect it tightly no matter where it lives.

Garlic bird, garlic bird, doing scientific research is not easy.
-
Lou Xiao'e herself was not greatly affected by the "golden-lipped wood carving" incident. One of her great advantages is that she is very easygoing!
As long as Gao Zhendong doesn't panic, she won't panic either; even if the sky falls, Zhendong will hold it up.

At this moment, she was discussing with Professor Qi the topic that Gao Zhendong had mentioned to her last time.

They have obtained drug data for Vancomycin and imported Vancomycin. They were lucky; Vancomycin was already undergoing supplementary trials based on Lou Xiao'e's clinical trial experience with their new drug, so the data they obtained was very complete.

"Xiao'e, do you really want to do this?" Professor Qi asked.

It wasn't that she was backing down or looking down on it; it was mainly because the comrades had already studied the Wan-23 extensively, so there seemed to be no need for it.

Lou Xiao'e nodded: "Yes, I think we can give it a try. The main thing is the difference in efficacy between it and imported Vancomycin. I think my husband's point is somewhat valid. You see, Professor Qi, this clear and stable difference must have some reason. If we can find this reason, it may bring more help to the application of Vancomycin."

Junior Sister Luo nodded frantically beside her: "Teacher Qi, I think it's a good idea. Brother-in-law Lou's ideas have never completely disappointed us."

Luo Shimei didn't even know Lou Xiao'e's husband's name, but that didn't stop her from being extremely interested in the suggestions made by this mysterious comrade.

Although he's not in this field, his analysis, reasoning, and intuition are surprisingly accurate.

Teacher Qi was somewhat tempted, and her team had a lot of faith in Lou Xiao'e's husband: "Hmm, that's fine, we're just killing time anyway..."

For them, who already had achievements with bar-63 (potassium clavulanate), applying for this research grant was virtually effortless.

This can be seen as a manifestation of the Matthew effect in scientific research. However, the Matthew effect does have a certain scientific basis in scientific research. Entrusting tasks to people and teams that have already proven themselves is likely to be much more reliable.

(End of this chapter)