Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 225 Deuterium-Deuterium Fusion
After completing the construction of the first magnetic monopole detector, Li Qingsong once again faced a difficult problem.

Because theoretical calculations show that the number of magnetic monopoles is extremely small, the detectors must not only be large enough, but also have to be as numerous as possible to increase the probability of detecting magnetic monopoles.

The construction of magnetic monopole detectors requires the use of helium-3.

Over the years, the total amount of helium-3 accumulated by Li Qingsong was only a few million tons, and now all of it was invested in the construction of this magnetic monopole detector. Just one unit has exhausted almost all of the reserves.

And...the reserves of helium-3 in nature are too small.

Helium-3 is an isotope of helium. Ordinary helium, commonly known as helium-4, has two neutrons and two protons in its nucleus. Helium-3, on the other hand, has only one neutron in its nucleus.

The reserves of helium-4 are huge, and tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of tons can be easily mined on the planets in the Pegasus V432 system, but helium-3 is different.

According to the evolution model of helium-3, Li Qingsong knew that there would be relatively large amounts of helium-3 on dwarf planets or large satellites that have no atmosphere and are close to stars.

For example, the Earth’s satellite, the Moon.

Under the bombardment of solar wind, the surface material of the moon is constantly affected by high-energy particles, continuously forming and enriching helium-3.

But the so-called "large amount" here is relative.

Compared to other planets, it does have a large reserve of helium-3. But in absolute terms, even the entire moon only has a total reserve of a few million tons of helium-3, which is only enough for Li Qingsong to build a magnetic monopole detector.

What's more, this helium-3 reserve of only a few million tons was accumulated by the moon over more than 40 billion years under the influence of solar radiation.

The star V432 Pegasus is too young, only a few tenths of the size of the sun.

There simply isn't enough time for its planet to accumulate so much helium-3.

Another source that may have a large reserve of helium-3 is the stars themselves.

But there was no need to think about this path. For a massive star like V432 Pegasus, getting as close as 600 million kilometers was already Li Qingsong's limit, and mining on the star was simply impossible.

Another possible place to look is the gas giants.

Gas giant planets typically have an elemental composition similar to that of stars. It makes no sense that stars would be enriched in helium-3 and gas giant planets would not be enriched in it.

But after some inspection, Li Qingsong had to give up this plan.

Gas giants are indeed enriched in helium-3, and their content is indeed higher than that of other planets.

But this is only relative. In terms of absolute content, its concentration is much lower than the deuterium gas that Li Qingsong considers as the main fusion fuel, only one millionth of that. Even if Li Qingsong worked himself to death, he would not be able to collect enough.

Faced with this situation, Li Qingsong was in a dilemma.

"If there is really no other way, you can only choose to build it yourself."

Li Qingsong gritted his teeth and made up his mind.

That’s right, in addition to obtaining helium-3 from nature, Li Qingsong has another way: make it himself!
To manufacture this kind of material at the most basic atomic level, ordinary chemical reactions are obviously impossible.

Just as alchemy cannot actually produce gold, but nuclear reactions can produce gold, similarly, nuclear reactions can also produce helium-3.

Coincidentally, Li Qingsong knew a fusion model whose by-product was helium-3.

Deuterium-deuterium fusion.

Deuterium-deuterium fusion has two reaction pathways, each accounting for 50%, and the final product of one of the reaction pathways happens to be helium-3.

According to calculations, one kilogram of deuterium gas can produce about 0.375 kilograms of helium-3 after complete fusion!

Currently, Li Qingsong consumes approximately 3750 million tons of deuterium gas annually. Based on this figure, Li Qingsong can generate an average of 3 million tons of helium- per year in his nuclear fusion reactor, enough to power nearly ten magnetic monopole detectors.
However, although this model seems simple, there are also huge difficulties behind it.

Li Qingsong's energy supply currently relies primarily on deuterium-tritium fusion. The reason is simple: deuterium-tritium fusion is highly efficient, converting approximately 0.375% of mass into energy, more than four times that of nuclear fission, and is relatively easy to achieve.

It is economical, affordable and efficient.

Compared with deuterium-tritium fusion, the energy conversion efficiency of deuterium-deuterium fusion is only 0.092%, which is only slightly higher than nuclear fission, and has higher requirements for the fusion environment.

It is neither economical nor affordable, and its efficiency is low.

If the energy supply model is to be changed from deuterium-tritium fusion to deuterium-deuterium fusion, Li Qingsong will need to increase the number of nuclear fusion power plants, which total about 32.6, to four times the current level in order to maintain the same scale of power supply capacity.

Moreover, because deuterium-deuterium fusion requires higher temperature and pressure, the construction difficulty of each nuclear fusion power station will increase to more than twice the original level, and the cost will increase greatly.

What a massive construction task this is!
But... there was no other way. Since they had decided to achieve a technological breakthrough in the Pegasus V432 system, they had to face the challenge head-on, no matter how large the construction task.

Then build it!
Li Qingsong made arrangements and arrangements.

While ensuring the normal operation of his own industrial system and the normal progress of research on proton decay detectors and many sub-sectors and application levels, Li Qingsong mobilized about 5 million clones to participate in the large-scale upgrade, transformation and new construction of nuclear fusion power plants.

The industrial system began to produce at full capacity again. A huge amount of parts, accessories and machinery were produced and transported to the planets by numerous heavy spacecraft.

Shengong AI once again demonstrated its prowess by relying on the surging computing power of the quantum supercomputer. Countless humanoid general-purpose robots and intelligent machines worked non-stop 24 hours a day. In the control center, numerous clones and blueprint engineers took turns day and night, not daring to delay for a moment.

Soon, the first deuterium-deuterium fusion power station was completed.

It has the same scale as a standard deuterium-tritium fusion power station, but a deuterium-tritium fusion power station can generate about 30 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour, while this deuterium-deuterium fusion power station can only generate about 7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per hour.

Correspondingly, it needs to consume about two tons of deuterium gas every day and produce about 750KG of helium-3.

The new deuterium-deuterium fusion power station was put into operation, so the power of the previous deuterium-tritium fusion power station was reduced slightly.

By the time the four deuterium-deuterium fusion power stations were put into operation, the deuterium-tritium fusion power station was finally completely shut down.

Correspondingly, these four deuterium-deuterium fusion power stations can produce about 3 tons of helium-3 every day.

(End of this chapter)