Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1366 A Huge Batch of Good News (4k today, to be updated on the 31st)

The comrade who came was from the National Defense Commission, but he brought another comrade with him, without introducing where he was from.

Their main task was actually to hand over a list. As for why this list was so important that it wasn't forwarded through confidential channels, that's another story.

At the same time, there should also be another reason, which is that some details can only be clarified in person. Who knows what questions Gao Zhendong will have after seeing this list?

"Committee Member Gao, these are some special materials needed for our project..."

Gao Zhendong laughed; he was becoming more and more fond of laughing.

"Yes, I know, I know." His smile carried a hint of teasing.

It's like, I know what you guys do, and you know I know, but if you don't say it, I can't say it either, so I'm just pretending.

Sure enough, the conversation couldn't be kept secret any longer. After all, these things were very special, and the dialogue couldn't continue without them being made clear. Besides, everyone knew that Gao Zhendong had already touched upon much deeper matters; this was just the beginning.

"These materials are used in the reactor, and this reactor is quite special. It is relatively small and has high power requirements, so the requirements for these materials are also higher. To be honest, some materials for graphite-based cold reactors can be used here, but some are more difficult to find."

Now that we've opened up, we can speak frankly.

Gao Zhendong casually replied, "Yeah, I know. You're going to use a pressurized water reactor, right? It'll definitely be a bit different for a boat."

Space is already limited on ships, and even more so on submarines. Anyone who works with reactors knows that making them big is not easy, and making them small is just as difficult.

He spoke casually, but some of the comrades who came here were not calm. "No, how do you know where we're going to use it and what kind of stacking structure we're going to use?"
I don't think I leaked anything.

Seeing the comrade's expression, Gao Zhendong was taken aback, only then realizing that the other person hadn't even mentioned this part yet.

He had to add, "I've recently become somewhat interested in this area and have looked at some publicly available information. Also, the materials on your list are a bit unusual; I can roughly see the outline. Our factory has been supplying quite a bit of materials to the Navy."

It is indeed public, but only internally, and the scope of disclosure is rather limited.

How could they guess so accurately from publicly available information? I only said "the reactor is a bit small," and they guessed everything perfectly.

No wonder when I encountered a problem with materials and went to the National Defense Commission, they immediately told me to come here. The comrades here are really something.

Moreover, considering the level of security here, and the fact that they just brought this up directly without the defense commission officials saying anything, what does that mean? It means this is no big deal at all, which makes things much easier.

"Yes, you're right. So some of the materials from the graphite deposits in the Northwest are no longer suitable for use here, which is why we need to find new materials. We've derived the performance requirements of the materials from the design theory, but the problem is that there are no corresponding materials in China. Not to mention China, there aren't any publicly available materials abroad either. That's why we've come to trouble you to see if there's any solution."

Their idea was to see if there were any alternatives, or even those with slightly lower performance. After all, theoretical calculations need to be redundant, and sometimes lower performance can be addressed through design and engineering methods.

Something is better than nothing.

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Wait a moment."

There were too many things to list in his head. Besides, even if he remembered them, it would probably take him several days to explain them verbally.

He picked up the phone and called the factory office of the third factory.

"Xiao Li, bring me the complete list of all the new steel materials right now. Yes, yes, bring me everything, regardless of whether it's been completed or not, as long as it's been started."

The phone call was made with great force, leaving the defense commission and the submarine crew members completely stunned.

We'll produce a list of requirements, and you'll produce a list of new materials?

This list sounds quite impressive: "New Steel Materials." As everyone knows, the simpler the name, the bigger the project. Those names that require a bunch of qualifiers aren't necessarily more sophisticated.

"Committee Member Gao, what's going on?" The comrade from the National Defense Commission asked with some confusion.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "We've been working on new materials and have achieved some results, which have also begun to be applied to industrial production. It's just that the work isn't finished yet, so we don't have a systematic list, which is normal. I just glanced at it, and there are some of them here. In fact, we've already finished them. This comrade can take a look first."

For those working on ship piles, this feeling is novel.

Wow, I've never received this kind of treatment before. I just made a request, and they already have the finished product waiting for me. And judging from the looks of it, it's not just one type of material. What does "some" mean here?
The National Defense Commission's guidance was invaluable; coming here was definitely the right decision!

A short while later, the guard outside brought in the list that Xiao Li had brought.

Gao Zhendong handed it to the comrade who was working on the ship pile: "Here, take a look first. You are the most familiar with the requirements, so I won't overstep my bounds and take a look yourself."

The two comrades stared wide-eyed at the thick stack of materials.

Judging from what Committee Member Gao said, there might be quite a few items in this batch of new materials, but I didn't expect there to be so many.

The more categories there are, the more material shortages may be resolved. Moreover, as Committee Member Gao just mentioned, some of them have already been resolved. Now it seems that his use of "some" was perhaps a bit modest; it should be called "a batch."

The comrade in charge of the project was excited and, without bothering with formalities, took the list of new materials from Gao Zhendong and began to compare them.

Seeing his overjoyed expression, the comrades from the Defense Commission didn't disturb his work. Instead, they turned to chat with Gao Zhendong. He wasn't afraid of wasting time at all now. It was hilarious; with Committee Member Gao's list of new materials, how could he possibly be afraid of wasting time?
“Committee Member Gao, you have so many good things here, why haven’t you mentioned them yet?”

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "I did tell you, the ministry is very clear about it. However, because this project is very large and has not been completed, there has never been a formal and unified launch. This comrade's unit is special, so there may be some communication difficulties. In other ministries like the Eleventh Ministry of Machine Building, they are very familiar with it, and some have already started to use it extensively. Some are not needed yet, so we just keep them in reserve."

Upon hearing Gao Zhendong say that the project was enormous, the comrades from the National Defense Commission turned to look at the comrade who was excitedly flipping through the list of new materials, and gained a direct understanding of the word "enormous".

After all, everyone in the National Defense Commission knows that if Chief Engineer Gao says something is difficult, it really is difficult; similarly, if he says something is big, it really is big.

However, Gao Zhendong's "Just keep it as a backup" resonated with the National Defense Commission comrades, showcasing his capabilities and ambition in materials management. It wasn't that he couldn't produce it; it was that they couldn't find a place to use it. "Hmm, this is a shortcoming on the part of our National Defense Commission. We haven't done a good job of information sharing between our various agencies. We need to review this and strengthen our work." What else could they say? After all, these specialized departments genuinely couldn't openly communicate with each other. This aspect of the work truly was the National Defense Commission's problem.

The comrade working on the ship pile kept excitedly muttering to himself as he turned over the materials, while also jotting down the names of the materials in his notebook.

"This works, perfect, perfect."

"This seems a bit off? Hmm, increasing the design redundancy by 5 points should be fine."

"Wow, this is amazing! Its performance is way overkill, hehehehe..."

The list he brought was meant for Gao Zhendong; he couldn't just mark it up directly.

Seeing that he was struggling to remember, Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "Comrade, you can just mark up the list I gave you. This list is for you."

"Oh? That's great." Drawing circles is much simpler than copying names.

“Hey, Committee Member Gao, this ‘under research’ item on the top, isn’t it…” As he was drawing, the comrade noticed some different items in the background.

The computer sorts the entries according to their completion status in the database; those at the bottom are still under research.

If it's still under research, there's a risk involved. You have to consider the possibility that the research might not be successful, so you might not dare to choose it.

What he didn't know was that the "under research" section on Gao Zhendong's list was different from the others.

Gao Zhendong laughed: "Don't worry, just choose whatever you need. I guarantee you this: all the research materials on this list have a success rate of over 9%."

"100%" is also "over 9%." Gao Zhendong used a little wordplay to avoid scaring his colleagues. After all, saying that the success rate of projects under research is 100% is somewhat unscientific.

9%? Then it's fine. If you don't even dare to choose this success rate, then what's the point of making new equipment?

As for the still incredibly high success rate of 9%, the comrades did not raise any objections or doubts. The National Defense Commission would never even consider this possibility, and the person who was focused on diligently selecting materials simply didn't have time to think about it.

I'm so happy, so happy! I've never fought such a lucrative battle since I started this job!

In the past, we had to be very careful and go through a lot of trouble to find one or two items, or even just low-quality substitutes. But here it's like wholesale!
The comrades working on the ship piles had been busy for a long time before they looked up and found Gao Zhendong and the comrades from the Defense Committee chatting idly nearby. Feeling that they were wasting the other people's working time, the comrades felt a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist when I saw so many good things."

Little did he know that the comrades of the National Defense Commission were eager to chat with Gao Zhendong for a while, or rather, they were eager to have a casual chat with Gao Zhendong. The leaders of the National Defense Commission had already given instructions: "When you go to see Comrade Zhendong, drag out the time as much as possible, and let him chat for as long as possible."

"How's it going? How much has been resolved?" Completely resolving it is impossible; some of their needs can't even be categorized as steel.

"More than half, more than half, hahaha." The comrade who was working on the ship pile couldn't stop laughing when he talked about this.

Gao Zhendong was not surprised to know this number. Even if the requirements inside the pressure vessel were very high, there were only a few places with the highest requirements. Other places were not necessarily ridiculously high. With the performance of steel materials in the new century, many problems could still be solved, even if not all of these things were developed.

After all, Gao Zhendong prioritized two types of materials: those with wide applications and large usage volumes, and those with special or high performance parameters.

One addresses breadth, the other addresses depth.

The comrades on the National Defense Commission were truly stunned when they heard the news.

I expected some good news, but I didn't expect it to be this big.

"So many?" At this moment, he once again realized that the National Defense Commission had not done a good job. It really hadn't done a good job.

Gao Zhendong took the materials that the other party had finished outlining, looked at them, and smiled, "You can now obtain large quantities of anything marked 'mass production.' For those marked 'reserves,' the relevant factories can start production as soon as you place an order. And for those marked 'under research,' don't worry, it will be quick."

"Chief Engineer Gao, won't starting production be very troublesome?" Starting production on a single product line must be extremely complicated in the steel industry.

Gao Zhendong laughed: "With your usage, some special factories can just use small electric furnaces, electroslag remelting furnaces, vacuum induction furnaces or something. How much trouble could it be?"

These furnaces are characterized by their smaller production scale compared to converters, blast furnaces, and open-hearth furnaces, but they are widely used in the production of special steels.

Upon hearing Gao Zhendong mention these things, the comrades working on the ship piles were intrigued.

“Committee Member Gao, take a look at this. This is also one of the problems we need to solve.”

After he finished speaking, he handed over a document.

Gao Zhendong took a look at them and said something that stung his comrades: "These things aren't anything special. This steel grade is basically a common product. It just has some requirements for decarburization and refining, but overall it's just that the cost is a bit higher. It's not unusual, is it?"

What's so surprising about that? The comrade who was working on the ship pile almost jumped up.

“Committee Member Gao, we have already found manufacturers to supply these materials, but the quality is inconsistent and difficult to control. This time, we also want to see if there is a way to reliably control the quality.”

Gao Zhendong casually remarked, "Controlling the quality of these varieties' smelting isn't difficult, as long as you use A..."

At this point, he laughed and said, "I know what's going on. For this problem, just go to our department and say you want to use the Jingang Steel Plant to produce special steel using their AOD process. The problem that's been bothering you can be solved there."

This is a bit of a mess; no wonder they don't know how to resolve it.

(End of this chapter)