I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 758 Q1-NTST poses no threat to us
"Professor Xiao."

"I have some bad news to share with you."

Since they were all old friends, Xiao Chenghan skipped the pleasantries and said in a deep voice, "The United States plans to exert pressure to freeze China's access to the ITER organization and block the plasma control code library. Moreover, judging from the current situation, it is likely that many countries will support this."

In the end, Xiao Chenghan was somewhat indignant.

These bastards are all incredibly arrogant when it comes to paying money.

Xu Qingzhou poured tea for Xiao Chenghan and asked, "What are our plans on this side?"

"Restricting rare metal exports cut off the supply of superconducting materials for General Atomics' DIII-D tokamak. In addition, seeking the support of friendly countries forced the United States back to the negotiating table. In general, it was a fight while negotiating."

Xiao Chenghan said fiercely.

“We have the confidence now.” Xu Qingzhou nodded.

There is no doubt that the West still feared the Xia Kingdom.

Energy will shape the future landscape. If controlled nuclear fusion succeeds, the existing oil and gas hegemony will almost instantly collapse. Whoever achieves commercialization first will become the core rule-maker.

Seeing Xu Qingzhou's composure, Xiao Chenghan said, "You don't seem surprised at all."

Xu Qingzhou smiled and said, "That's more in line with the American way of doing things."

"That's true. They can suppress anything that poses a threat to them, even if it's an ally. I'm only here to remind you so you won't be caught off guard."

"Thank you for your trouble. We now have our own database, so our dependence on ITER is minimal, even negligible."

In the early stages of construction, Xu Qingzhou and his team studied the data of ITER devices from various countries, which helped them avoid many detours, but they basically followed their own paths afterward.

Xiao Chenghan nodded, as long as preparations were made on this side. He paused, then looked at the weariness between Xu Qingzhou's brows, and asked, "When are you planning to proceed with the next experiment?"

"number 12."

Xiao Chenghan was surprised. He took a sip of tea and asked with a smile, "Oh, so fast. Are you planning to gradually increase the operating power, or extend the steady-state operating time?"

“We are going to try the product of three, which is 3 × 10 keV·s/m.”

"Oh, still?"

Xiao Chenghan was stunned, staring at Xu Qingzhou in disbelief. "You're planning to go straight to the ignition threshold?"

Xu Qingzhou nodded firmly.

Xiao Chenghan's hands trembled slightly, and he fell silent. Wait, are they going to go this far right from the start?
The United States has launched an attack on the ITER organization, criticizing China for using ITER to expand its international influence, suspecting that China is acquiring sensitive fusion technology through ITER, and demanding a technology security investigation.

Everything happened as expected.

The Xia Kingdom was prepared, so it wasn't greatly affected.

Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics.

With a complicated expression, Shao Yilin held a document in his hand, knocked on the door and entered the office. "Professor, this is a message from Kyoto."

"This"

Zhang Zhigao's face darkened.

The Institute of Materials Science and Engineering achieved a fusion triple product experiment on the order of 3×10 keV·s/m and ran it for 120 seconds.

The office fell silent.

Zhang Zhigao stared intently at the disclosed data, inwardly cursing. This speed completely defied the laws of scientific development!
"120 seconds is still a huge gap from our experiment."

Zhang Zhigao was shocked, but his expression remained unchanged. He said to Shao Yilin, "Inform everyone that there will be a meeting at 3 p.m. this afternoon."

"Okay." Shao Yilin turned and left.

Inside the office, Zhang Zhigao's gaze fell on the report again, his expression grave, and he felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.

The progress bar for Q1-NTST (Qiankun No. 1) is so fast that it instills a sense of fear and helplessness.

"But spherical tokamaks can never match traditional tokamaks in large-scale power generation. What kind of tricks can this guy come up with?"

"This person cannot be judged by common sense; he might actually be able to come up with a way to compensate for the shortcomings of the spherical tokamak."

They are currently upgrading the equipment, and in addition to the sub-project experiments, they originally planned to conduct a 10-minute triple product peak maintenance experiment in October.

"Time is of the essence."

Zhang Zhigao decided to cancel unnecessary vacations from now on and race against time to carry out construction.

The experimental information of Q1-NTST was not concealed, but was directly published on the official website.

As a country that has always regarded Xia as a rival, the United States naturally received the news immediately.

"Damn it, I actually saw the Q1-NTST news in the newspaper."

A portly middle-aged man in a suit tossed a newspaper onto the table. Cameron Avery, head of the U.S. Department of Energy.

"This was an oversight on our part. Compared to Xu Qingzhou, we paid more attention to Xia Guo's EAST and HL-3."

He was facing Energy Commissioner Solly Collins.

Collins said, "The Kyoto Institute for Materials Science has always kept a low profile, and currently, there is very little information about Q1-NTST worldwide. The management there is very strict, and our people simply have no chance of getting in."

"Our experts have analyzed the limited data in hopes of obtaining the true operating status of Q1-NTST, but there will be no good news in the short term."

“This undoubtedly proves that all our previous actions were correct,” Cameron Avery said, squinting.

The rise of China is too rapid. If it is not curbed, it will only be a matter of time before it surpasses the United States.

Collins continued, "The product of 3×10 keV·s/m is a threshold, and Q1-NTST has undoubtedly entered the world's forefront. However, what is more optimistic for us is that the difficulty of achieving net energy gain and reaching the ignition threshold of 3×10 keV·s/m will increase exponentially. In other words, Q1-NTST does not pose a threat to us."

Avery nodded, pondered for a moment, and said, "I will apply for another grant for the NIF and DIII-D experiments, but the results must be available as soon as possible. I need to shut up those media outlets that are eyeing me."

Within the United States, there are also media outlets that question whether it is worthwhile to invest huge sums of money in research on controlled nuclear fusion.

He, as the person in charge, was the first to bear the brunt.

"This may not be a problem, as both NIF and DIII-D are already preparing for the next phase of experiments."

Collins continued, "Mr. Avery, there is another problem now. Our allies want us to disclose more technology, some of which involves core data from NIF and DIII-D."

"We've already made all the parameters of this experiment public, and they're still not satisfied?" Avery frowned.

"I think so."

Collins said helplessly, "Unfortunately, we didn't have the initiative in our hands."

At this critical juncture in the competition between the United States and China, they must spare no effort to win over allies.

"Okay, I will consult the committee and get approval to share some of the data."

Avery said with a smile, "The United States has already gained an absolute advantage in the field of controlled nuclear fusion, and I think they won't refuse to give their allies some benefits."

He needs to achieve as much as possible during his term.

This will be a bargaining chip for future elections.

(End of this chapter)