Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 300 The Nuclear Power Paradox
Three minutes later, when Zheng Yi came out after getting dressed, and learned the news of the successful nuclear power plant in Singapore, his first reaction was: Go now, must go now.

If I don't leave, I may not be able to leave.

"It was quite fast. From project approval to successful test run, it took just over two years, maybe even less than three years."

It is now 1948. The United States is still the only country in the world that possesses nuclear weapons. The nuclear monopoly has not been broken, and the nuclear issue is still a very sensitive issue for the United States.

Theoretically speaking, since Singapore can build a nuclear power plant, there is almost no technical threshold for it to develop an atomic bomb. It is nothing more than investing more resources and more time. It all depends on whether the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation can muster enough determination.

If it is next year, after the Soviet Union breaks the US nuclear monopoly, then if Zheng Yi comes up with this thing again, the US will naturally be more accepting of it. After all, two people and three people are completely different, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is still a staunch ally of the United States.

"Why, are you worried that the Americans will arrest you for this?"

Zheng Yi: "Arresting me is impossible, but detaining me for a longer period of time wouldn't be surprising at all. They will definitely try every possible means, using various state means to pressure me to ensure I don't develop nuclear weapons. This will inevitably impose many restrictions on SAARC's subsequent nuclear power development. Do you think they would prefer to discuss this with me in the United States or in Singapore?"

Li Jiazhi shrugged and spread her hands with a half-smile: "It seems our plane has been detained."

Zheng Yi gritted his teeth when he heard this and said, "Never mind, let's go back by civil aviation."

Then, Zheng Yi abandoned his private jet in the United States.

Margaret couldn't get rid of him for a while, so she gave up and just left with her people.

………………

"This time, what's boiling in the core isn't the demon of destruction, but humanity's hope."

After the nuclear power plant, the whole world, including the American media, rushed to Singapore like crazy. Naturally, they were full of praise for the project itself, with all kinds of exaggerated praise, as if Singapore was the beacon of human civilization.

To be honest, it may be difficult for future generations to understand the fear of nuclear energy that people of this era have. To people of this era, the nuclear power plant that has been built now is like the devil growing angel wings, and it has pushed human society forward a solid step forward.

At the same time, in the United States, the media that Zheng Yi had just taken over were also working in an orderly manner under the command of Coach MacArthur, basically trying to promote Zheng Yi as the light of humanity.

Although in fact this nuclear power plant has little to do with Zheng Yi, at least he did not participate much in scientific research, but this does not prevent him from exaggerating Zheng Yi's contribution when bragging.

In American culture, humility is not a good thing, but bragging is, as long as others believe it. As the world's number one scientist, although Zheng Yi has not had time to manage scientific research affairs for many years, the title is indeed useful, and everyone is really willing to believe that this was done by Zheng Yi.

This is the true superhero of this world! A god who uses the power to destroy humanity for the benefit of mankind!

Of course, in fact, the United States had already begun to study the civilian use of nuclear energy during this period. At most, in two years, or even a year or so, the United States would have nuclear power plants. However, nuclear power projects are highly confidential even in the United States, so naturally, reporters and media would not know about it.

"I've heard everything. Congratulations, Mr. Renko, you've successfully proven yourself. Congratulations, Mr. Wu. I knew you wouldn't let me down."

Inside the Institute of Physics in Singapore, Zheng Yi shook hands with each researcher very solemnly.

Upon hearing this, Yoshio Nishina shed a few tears unconsciously, held Zheng Yi's hand, and was so excited that he was speechless for a few seconds.

"Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Zheng."

Zheng Yi smiled and patted his shoulder, saying, "I should be the one thanking you for your contribution to the Southern Alliance."

Then he turned to Wu Jianxiong and said, "Thank you too, sir. You are a truly outstanding female representative of our SAARC, no, of our Chinese people."

Wu Jianxiong smiled upon hearing this. He wasn't as excited as Nishina Yoshio, but rather pleased. After a moment's thought, he nodded at Zheng Yi and said, "Anyway, thank you, Mr. Zheng, for giving us this opportunity. You know, in America, for a project like this... I absolutely can't be the vice president."

"What's more, if it weren't for Mr. Zheng, who fought hard for this project and pointed us in the right direction, we wouldn't have achieved what we have."

This is actually not nonsense. Although Zheng Yi did not do anything, in scientific research, where to research is actually more important than how to research.

What's more, doing something that has never been done before, something that no one knows whether it can be done, and it consumes a lot of money every day. It is difficult to determine the right direction and spend a lot of money to do it until it is accomplished.

The leadership contribution is indeed indispensable, and it is not an exaggeration to say that MacArthur has a high reputation in the United States.

"Come, let me show you something."

Zheng Yi then took out the business contract he had prepared earlier and said, "Southern Alliance is a place where money and stocks are the key. Since nuclear energy can generate electricity, it can naturally also generate profits. We have already invested 500 million US dollars to establish a nuclear power group."

"You two and the entire scientific team will invest in shares based on the technology, and together you will receive 25% of the project's equity. As for the specific distribution, you can hold a meeting to discuss it. If you can't reach a consensus, come back to me."

"Don't think you're getting too little. The three of us, the Chen family, the Li family, and I, have invested a total of only 40%. The remaining 35% will be used to distribute options to General Wei and the brothers fighting in Africa."

"Africa?"

Zheng Yi nodded. "As for nuclear power plants, Africa will be the region where they'll be most useful in the future. Frankly, their cost depends on their safety performance. The construction cost of a nuclear power plant can be very low or very high. Honestly, Southeast Asia has abundant oil and gas resources. I'm an oil refiner myself. Nuclear power plants won't be very useful until we achieve a certain technological breakthrough."

"Not much use?"

They were both momentarily bewildered. This thing… it was being hyped up so much, how could it possibly be so useless? Isn't this the light of humanity? Isn't this what we created also the light of humanity?

Zheng Yi: "Of course, I'm talking about the SAARC region. To be more precise, it's not very useful in cities like Singapore. The cost of nuclear power is mainly due to two factors. The first is the enrichment of uranium. This is why I want to share the money with those soldiers in Africa."

"It's not just about paying them, but more importantly, it's about controlling Africa's uranium mines. At the same time, the waste and unused uranium needs to be buried in some of Africa's poorer countries for a fee."

"Paid burial?" Zheng Yi nodded. "The cost of dealing with nuclear waste... is too high. If nuclear power plants were to be used commercially, the most efficient way would be to bury the waste in a poor African country and pay them a small fee as land pollution compensation. It's inhumane, but... well, that's just how the world works."

"For some countries, burying nuclear waste will affect their future, especially the health of their people. However, they lack the means to survive. Without this money, they won't even have the present. When people are facing the crisis of starvation, they won't pay much attention to their health."

"The second cost of nuclear power is safety. If a leak occurs, the damage is enormous, so absolute safety must be ensured."

Yoshio Nishina: "Of course, Mr. Zheng, don't worry. I can guarantee that our nuclear power plant is absolutely safe. After all, this is nuclear power. How could we possibly ignore safety issues?"

Zheng Yi shook his head upon hearing this and said, "In my opinion, your nuclear power plant is at most a level 2 protection. Let's use it first, and then shut it down for a while. I still need to upgrade its protection level."

"Protection level?"

Zheng Yi: "For nuclear power plants, there should be four levels of protection. Level one is basic protection, which only needs to ensure operational safety. In fact, it is a zero-safety facility."

"Secondary protection, like what you are doing now, has an emergency cooling system and redundant safety systems."

"But just because the safety system has redundancy, does that mean it's absolutely safe? If an extreme situation occurs, is it possible that the cooling system still won't work? Anything is possible; there's no such thing as absolute safety in this world."

"In my opinion, you have indeed achieved 99.99% safety measures for this nuclear power plant, but what about the remaining 0.01%? Who can guarantee that there will be no accidents during the operation of the nuclear power plant? There is no such thing as % in this world."

Wu Jianxiong: "According to what you're saying, Mr. Zheng, this... nuclear power plant doesn't need to be built. Isn't this a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater?"

Zheng Yi: "So, a third level of protection is needed. That means we need to research and manufacture containment technology and core catchers outside the nuclear power plant. The core solution is to ensure that no matter what happens, we can still contain the accidental leakage of nuclear material."

Wu Jianxiong: "In this way... can the safety performance of the nuclear power plant be guaranteed to be 100%?"

Zheng Yi shook his head again. "No, that's only as close to 100% as you can get. For example, under the most extreme conditions, what if a severe tsunami, earthquake, or even an enemy bomb strikes the area where the nuclear power plant is located? The nuclear material leaks and is contained, ensuring safety. But what if an earthquake or bomb shatters the containment vessel?"

"........."

This is actually a bit nitpicking and finding fault with everything.

Zheng Yi: "Believe me, although the situation I described is extreme, it's always better to be prepared for the worst. As long as enough nuclear power plants are built and run long enough, theoretically, even the smallest probability event will still occur."

"Then, what should we do?"

"So, a fourth level of defense is needed."

"besides?"

"It means designing another layer of containment outside the containment shell to ensure that even in extreme circumstances, even if the enemy uses a nuclear bomb to bomb our nuclear power plant, the building structure itself is strong enough to withstand the force of the bombardment, making the nuclear power plant truly and absolutely safe."

"How can you do things like this? If you really want to build a nuclear power plant to this level for safety, how would you calculate the cost? And the electricity generated..."

Zheng Yi shrugged, "There's no way around it. This is the paradox of nuclear power. If you want absolute safety, you have to pay the safety costs. But if you pay those safety costs, the nuclear power plant will have almost no economic value."

"That's why I say that nuclear power plants are of little use to us, at least for the time being. It's certainly nitpicking, but there's no other way."

In fact, this is also the reason why fewer and fewer people are engaged in nuclear power in history. Most nuclear power plants in the 1980s and 1990s had level two protection, or at most level three protection, so the cost of nuclear power was naturally low, and everyone rushed to build them.

All nuclear power plants that have been affected by earthquakes, tsunamis, or nuclear leaks were basically built before the 1980s and 1990s.

Modern nuclear power plants all require level four protection.

It is safe, but it has no economic benefits. So why build it?

Zheng Yi: "So you understand what I mean, right? There's actually only one prerequisite for using this thing, and that's that for economic benefits, safety can be partially ignored. So I won't use this thing on our own territory."

"On the other hand, if you don't care so much about safety, the economic benefits of this thing are really huge, especially for regions with weak industrial base capabilities, such as Africa."

"We can bring development to Africans, and the condition is that they need to take a little bit of risk. That's fair, isn't it?"

"Of course, if Japan, France, or even the United States have nuclear power needs, we can also build them. If they are not so strict about safety, then we don't care about level 2 or level 3 protection."

This is actually the reason why France can develop better in the field of nuclear power, relying on the huge raw material base in Africa and the extremely cheap nuclear waste landfill base.

Moreover, before the Chernobyl incident, the world did not have an effective understanding of the danger level of nuclear power plants. Even most nuclear power plants in Europe had level two or at most level three protection.

That is why we developed so many nuclear power plants, but in the 21st century they had to be shut down one after another under pressure from the public.

To some extent, China's nuclear power has really taken advantage of its late development. Almost all of them have level 5 protection. However, because of this, they are not very profitable. The proportion of nuclear power in power generation has never exceeded %.
Zheng Yi is different from France. Historically, France's colonization of Africa did not last until the 21st century, or to be more precise, it gradually disintegrated in the years before Zheng Yi traveled through time. Zheng Yi wants to implement his own Greater South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation plan, and the main direction of expansion is Africa. The first country to be dealt with is France.

He also did not hide the fact that his foray into Africa was guided by economic and even political purposes. France had colonized Africa for so many years but had never built a nuclear power plant there, but Zheng Yi could build one, and he also wanted to develop some primary industries in Africa.

However, as the price of development, this price must also be borne by Africans.

Level 2 protection, or even level 1 protection, that's it.

This is the price of their development. Zheng Yi will never be a saint. They either have to bear the risk of nuclear power leakage, or be economically colonized by France or other European and American powers, or even the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation. Zheng Yi will always respect their choices.

(End of this chapter)