Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 257: Big Construction IV (Nuclear Force Construction)

Wang Jiankun arrived in Myanmar on March 1983, 3, and landed at the same base as before.

At this time, the ALF had completely controlled all parts of Myanmar and established direct-controlled grassroots management organizations in most towns and suburbs.

However, the newly conquered areas south of Myitkyina have not been completely cleared of foreign agents and local dissidents.

However, in the old base area north of Myitkyina, confidentiality work was done very strictly. Grassroots organizations had already entered every village and community, and all personnel had been checked.

After the war of unification was completed, some ordinary people in the northern base who had not yet formally joined the National Liberation Front were gradually moved to the newly annexed land south of Myitkyina.

In the future, some research and experiments that require extreme confidentiality will be carried out in the area north of Myitkyina.

For example, the construction of the first large-scale commercial nuclear fission reactor and the development of nuclear fission bombs.

At this time, although there were several 300-megawatt helium-cooled nuclear reactors built by Wang Jiankun in operation in northern Myanmar, they provided a steady supply of electricity for industrial production and daily life in the north.

However, this nuclear reactor is too advanced and is completely beyond the capabilities of the world's current high-tech and industrial levels.

Therefore, this advanced nuclear reactor cannot be used in areas south of Myitkyina.

Although Mandalay’s first 200-megawatt medium-sized thermal power plant is under intensive construction and is expected to be put into operation in half a year, a large amount of coal is required for its operation.

Currently, the discovered coal reserves in Myanmar are very small, and the vigorously developing steel industry also requires a large amount of coal.

Therefore, coal for thermal power plants needs to be purchased in large quantities from abroad.

The coal sources currently agreed upon are Malaysia and Indonesia.

However, if we start to promote the liberation of South Asia in the future, the purchase of coal from abroad may be greatly restricted.

Therefore, in order to ensure the security of future electricity supply, it is necessary to build a batch of second-generation commercial nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

The nuclear reactors used to generate electricity have now developed to the second generation.

The first generation of nuclear reactors were mainly prototype reactors and experimental reactors.

Mainly manufactured before 1960.

Representative reactor types are the Shippingport Nuclear Power Plant (1957) in the United States and the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant (1954) in the Soviet Union.

The fuel used in these first-generation nuclear reactors is either natural uranium (unrefined) or low-enriched uranium (enrichment < 5%).

The moderators used are graphite (such as the British Magnox reactor), heavy water (Canadian CANDU prototype reactor), and ordinary water (American pressurized water reactor prototype).

The cooling system adopts a single-loop design (such as a boiling water reactor BWR that directly generates steam to drive a steam turbine).

Coolant circulation relies on a mechanical pump and the safety system is simple.

The safety design mainly relies on active safety systems (external power supply required) without multiple redundancies.

The containment is weak (the Soviet RBMK has no complete containment).

The thermal efficiency is low (about 25%-30%) and the construction cost is high (mainly used for technology verification).

When the reactor was manufactured, due to the limitations of the materials at the time, the pressure vessel was made of ordinary carbon steel, which was easily embrittled by neutron radiation.

In addition, the early design did not take decommissioning planning into consideration, which made radioactive waste disposal difficult and decommissioning faced many challenges.

So the first generation of nuclear reactors has many shortcomings.

If it is a country that can only rely on its own strength and secretly develop nuclear energy, then it can only build one or two first-generation nuclear reactors first, verify the design, and extract plutonium (PU)-239 that can be used to make nuclear weapons from the nuclear waste after the reaction.

However, Wang Jiankun can allow the Quanjie Array to skip this process and directly develop the second-generation nuclear reactor.

The model he copied was the pressurized water reactor made by the French company Framatome.

In order to provide some cover for future origins, Wang Jiankun asked the Quanjiezhen to send a representative to France.

Cooperate with Framatome and let it help Myanmar build a large commercial nuclear reactor.

At this time, the French company Framatome was selling their technology around the world, hoping to seize market share in commercial nuclear reactors and recover part of the previous research and development funds.

For example, according to the intelligence obtained by Wang Jiankun, Framatome has been negotiating with the domestic government and is discussing the construction of two 90-kilowatt (900-megawatt) nuclear reactors in Guangdong Province.

In addition, Framatome has gone to Japan, India, South Africa, Brazil and other countries to sell reactors.

Japan is controlled by the United States. If it wants to build reactors, it can only purchase boiling water reactors from General Electric (GE) or pressurized water reactors from Westinghouse. It can only reluctantly refuse France's promotion.

However, India, South Africa and Brazil are too poor. Although they want nuclear reactors that cost billions of dollars, they cannot afford to invest so much money.

Therefore, when Wang Jiankun and his uncle and their group visited Framatome on behalf of Myanmar on March 3, they were warmly welcomed.

Of course Wang Jiankun travelled in disguise, using his super powers to change the shape of his face a lot. This was the image he used when he was on the public roads in Myanmar.

Because they had communicated over the phone before, Framatome also checked the financial proof materials provided by Wang Jiankun and others and knew that they had the financial resources.

So when they landed, Framatome sent a super luxurious fleet of cars to the airport to welcome Wang Jiankun, his uncle and his entourage.

After arriving at the Courbevoie headquarters in Paris, they were placed in the most luxurious guest rooms to help them adjust to the jet lag.

The next morning, the president of Framatome came in person and took them to visit the Paluel Nuclear Power Plant (Centrale Nucléaire de Paluel).

The Paluel Nuclear Power Plant is located in Seine-Maritime, Normandy, about 40 kilometers east of Le Havre, on the banks of the English Channel.

The reactor model is CP1 PWR (single unit power 1 MWe).

"Friends, please look here. This is the P1 unit. It was debugged and put into formal operation last year. This is the P2 unit. It has now completed construction and has entered the debugging stage. It will be put into formal operation this year. These two are the P3 and P4 units. The construction progress has been completed by 80%. All construction work will be completed this year, and it will be put into operation next year. By then, the total power of this nuclear power plant will reach 5200 megawatts, which can light up most of France." The person in charge of the Paluel Nuclear Power Plant proudly introduced the situation of this large nuclear power plant to Wang Jiankun, his uncle and his entourage in front of the display board.

My uncle and the accompanying nuclear experts listened very carefully, and after the introduction was completed, they began to ask questions one by one according to the previous rehearsal.

They mainly asked about construction issues, construction period issues and safety issues.

Regarding the construction issue, Framatome's experts and the person in charge of the nuclear power plant kept it very simple, as if they were afraid that Wang Jiankun would steal their skills.

In fact, there is no need to be on guard. Yesterday at the Framatome headquarters, Wang Jiankun had already copied all the technical information stored at the headquarters into his mind. When he returns, he will be able to summarize and translate it for Quanjiezhen's nuclear engineering experts to see.

Wang Jiankun also asked a few simple safety questions. Framatome's nuclear experts praised their technology, saying how good and safe it was. In fact, Wang Jiankun had already known from the projected data that the current CP1 reactor had design flaws in the cooling system (heat transfer tubes are prone to corrosion) and shock resistance. This type of reactor really cannot be used in certain special locations, otherwise a nuclear accident is very likely to occur.

They actually know this themselves, so they are already designing a new reactor CP2, mainly focusing on optimizing the cooling system and earthquake-resistant design.

Wang Jiankun did not expose them, but asked if he could take them to visit the reactor.

Because they had received instructions from headquarters and knew that Wang Jiankun and his team were very likely to purchase their reactor, they happily agreed to take them on a thorough tour.

The first unit we visited was the P1 unit which has been put into operation.

The group changed into tour clothes, put on safety helmets, and, led by the person in charge of the nuclear power plant, walked through the tour corridor to view the nuclear reactor that is providing a steady supply of clean electricity to the eastern part of Paris.

"Look, my friend, this screen shows the situation of the core. The water is so blue and pure, but we call it the blue of death. A little bit of it can kill a person.

But don't be scared by what I say, the first cycle of water in the core will never flow out, and the water inside will be well isolated until the end of the life of the reactor. "The person in charge of the nuclear power plant said incessantly, pointing to the screen in the control room.

"Are the fuel rods automatically controlled?" Wang Jiankun asked.

"Yes, sir. We are now using the most advanced automatic control technology. The depth of the fuel rods is completely controlled by a computer program. Our staff only observes and records, and also verifies whether the power load transmitted from the outside is correct. Under normal circumstances, the staff do not need to make manual adjustments."

In the control room, Wang Jiankun asked question after question, with the aim of delaying time so that he could project the situation of the operating nuclear power unit into his mind.

After about 10 minutes, the group left the P1 unit and came to the P2 unit which was being debugged.

When they arrived, the P2 unit was undergoing a cold functional test (CET), which in layman's terms is a water pressure test of the pipeline's tightness.

An external pressure generator is used to introduce pure water into various sealed pressure-bearing pipes, and then huge pressure is applied to check the sealing performance of the pipes.

Wang Jiankun also took the opportunity to ask a few system testing questions that were a bit vague in the documentation.

For example, how to perform hot functional testing (HFT), how to perform fuel loading and criticality testing, etc.

These two steps are the most important steps in the testing process.

The hot functional test simulates the operating temperature and pressure to verify the system linkage.

The fuel loading and criticality test was the first loading (about 80 tons of uranium fuel) to achieve a controlled chain reaction.

They all have certain risks, and once problems occur, the consequences will be huge.

After the tour of the P2 unit, the person in charge of the nuclear power plant asked them to consider whether they would like to visit the P3 and P4 units.

Because those two units were still installing equipment, he could only watch from a distance. In his opinion, there was nothing interesting to see and the lifting of equipment was very boring.

Wang Jiankun and his uncle insisted on watching. After all, they were already there, so they might as well see how they did the lifting.

Wang Jiankun first arrived near the P4 unit and began to observe using his super powers.

The Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) installation is currently underway.

According to the projected data, the weight of this pressure vessel is about 480 tons.

The person in charge of the lifting operation had a copy of the installation specifications in his hand, and Wang Jiankun certainly did not let it go and projected it into his mind.

After projecting all the equipment on site and various underground structures into their minds, Wang Jiankun and his uncle asked the person in charge to take them to the P3 unit.

The construction of the conventional island is currently underway, while the construction of the nuclear island has been completed.

The main equipment in the conventional island is the steam turbine (300-1200 MW), generator and condenser.

At present, the steam turbine has been installed in place, and workers are installing the generator. The condenser has also been transported to the site, and it should be hoisted after the previous processes are completed.

After the visit, the group returned to Framatome's headquarters by car.

After a short rest, we went into the conference room to start formal negotiations.

"That's great. Your technology is amazing and your workers are very dedicated. Can you help us build two CP3 units within three years?" my uncle asked the president of Framatome.

"Of course you can. That depends on the speed and amount of your money transfer. The faster and more money you transfer, the faster we can work. We can even shorten the construction period to 2 years." The president of Framatome made a gesture of counting money with his hands, raised his head and said proudly.

"Very good, then let's complete the construction of two 2-megawatt nuclear power units in two and a half years and sign the contract now?" asked the uncle at the suggestion of Wang Jiankun.

"Well? Sure, but the time will start from when your first 30% advance payment arrives. Subsequent payments will be paid in three installments of 3% every six months, and the remaining 20% will be paid upon completion." said the president of Framatome.
"A 10% balance must be kept and paid when the nuclear power plant completes full-power operation. After all, it takes one year to go from 60% trial operation power to 100% full-power operation," my uncle continued.

"OK, I didn't expect you to know this secret so quickly. Fine, the final 10% will be paid after it reaches full power."

"make a deal."

"Open the champagne. Bring me the best bottle of champagne in my office. Let's have a drink to celebrate." The president of Framatome was very happy. After completing the signing, he said loudly to everyone present.

In fact, he was planning to hold a media meeting to announce their signing ceremony with Quanjiezhen to the whole world and give their company a big advertisement.

After all, the reactor they successfully developed with great difficulty currently has zero customers in the global market.

Although the first customer was Myanmar, a small third world country that was originally looked down upon.

But they were willing to pay with sweet greenbacks, and the negotiations went very smoothly without encountering many obstacles.

However, Wang Jiankun and his colleagues do not want the matter to be exposed, so they try to keep it secret as long as possible.

Therefore, only representatives from both parties and people from Framatome’s own publicity department attended the signing ceremony.

The signing ceremony officially ended with toasts.

Before Wang Jiankun and his team went back, the first 10% advance payment of US$3 million had already arrived in Framatome's account.

Subsequent payments are being paid to Framatome in batches through different accounts.

During this period, Wang Jiankun stayed at Framatome, taking several nuclear experts to receive the first batch of information, and also took time to visit Framatome's manufacturing base for nuclear reactor components.

And under the guidance of the sales manager of Framatome, we visited the manufacturing base of Electricité de France (EDF).

In early April, Wang Jiankun returned to Myanmar with a head full of nuclear reactor manufacturing technology. He then selected a site in the city of Shinbettin and prepared to build the first pressurized water reactor according to infrastructure conventions, with him assisting in the manufacturing of the equipment.

(End of this chapter)