America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 285 Nuclear Reactor

In America, you can go without living, but you can't go without working.

This is explosive enough to make someone a Floridaer.

A Florida man smeared peanut butter on his fist in an attempt to punch someone who was allergic to peanuts.

Then he discovered that the peanut butter didn't contain any peanuts, and in a fit of anger, he sued the production company and won compensation.

Zhang Ailun fell into deep thought, then tentatively asked, "How did you manage to create and successfully modify the radiation shield? Did you have any prior knowledge of physics related to this?"

"I bought a miniature nuclear toy with the same structure and materials a long time ago for $26," Haver honestly replied. "Because I've disassembled and reassembled it many times, and I understand its structure and principles, it's quite simple to modify it into a generator. You know nuclear power plants, right? Just do this and that."

"..."

What are they babbling about? I can't understand a word they're saying.

Zhang Ailun calmed down before asking, "Okay, where is that nuclear power plant you mentioned? Are you sure there's no risk involved?"

"Dude, you don't trust me? If there were any risks, do you think I'd still be standing in front of you? Look at me! Healthy! Perfectly normal! Except for not liking to shower, but that's just my personal habit. I shower a maximum of twice a year." Haver rambled on, bouncing around to prove himself.

To be honest, seeing him in this crazy state, the Grand Master's anxiety finally subsided.

Because this is something a normal person could never do.

This guy must have gotten his head stuck in a door, or his IQ was affected by nuclear radiation. You can't call him stupid, since he can modify a nuclear reactor; you can't call him smart, since he inadvertently reveals a kind of foolishness when he talks.

Ugh... This is tough.

That might be what genius is all about.

Zhang Ailun couldn't help but sigh.

Jennifer and Erin immediately took a step back, keeping their distance.

You can smell it even from a distance!

"Let's go in and take a look. Maybe there really isn't much risk." Zhang Ailun immediately decided to trust him this time. After all, he couldn't judge the recycling value without seeing the actual product, and he was also very curious to know how the other party had handcrafted the nuclear reactor.

Dominic and David, standing nearby, were perplexed and advised the leader, "That's nuclear radiation! It's possible that he's unaffected simply because of his unique physical condition. It's best to take precautions in advance."

"You're right, Mr. Haver. Why don't you go in first? We might need to do some more preparation." Zhang Ailun nodded.

"You still don't trust me," Haval said irritably. "Fine, I'll prove you wrong!"

He turned around, opened the warehouse door, went inside, and came out a few minutes later as if nothing had happened. He even had time to chew a couple of bites of gummy bread and drink a sip of milk.

"See! I told you there's no danger! I know what you're worried about. To be honest, I was already quite surprised that you were willing to come here to do recycling work. After all, I had contacted several recycling stations before, and when they heard that I was selling a nuclear reactor, they treated me like I was crazy and had no intention of buying it at all," Haver said indignantly.

"Then can you tell me, what use is this thing to me if I buy it?" Zhang Ailun asked.

"It has many uses! First of all, as you all probably know, a nuclear reactor is a device that can maintain a controlled, self-sustaining chain reaction of nuclear fission to realize the utilization of nuclear energy. By properly arranging nuclear fuel, a self-sustaining chain reaction of nuclear fission occurs inside without the need to add a neutron source. The basic working principle of a nuclear reactor is based on a chain reaction. Neutrons bombard the nuclei of the nuclear fuel to cause nuclear fission, thereby releasing huge amounts of energy and producing new neutrons. These neutrons then cause new nuclear fission, forming what is known as a chain reaction."

"The energy generated during the fission process in a nuclear reactor is converted into heat energy through a heat exchanger, then into mechanical energy through a steam turbine, and finally into electrical energy. Specifically, the heat generated by the nuclear reactor is carried away by circulating water (or other substances) to prevent the reactor from burning up due to overheating. The removed heat can turn the water into steam, which in turn drives the steam turbine to generate electricity."

Haval spoke eloquently, "After my modifications, firstly, it can generate electricity, saving a lot of money on electricity bills; secondly, it can provide nuclear power, which, as long as there is enough fuel, can at least allow mini-submarines and ships at sea to operate for extended periods of time."

"Don't tell me you want to apply the nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier system to other ships." Zhang Ailun looked at him with a sense of existential skepticism.

"I did have this idea, and I even downloaded some blueprints online for reference. However, I feel that the project is too large, and I simply can't handle it all by myself. I also can't buy nuclear fuel, nor do I have the money to buy it, so I have to put the plan on hold for the time being," Haver readily admitted.

"..."

Zhang Ailun took a deep breath, exchanged glances with Dominic and the others, and felt that this guy was a bit too obsessed.

Why are you acting so strangely?

The design blueprints for aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines are generally open to the public, but the complete blueprints for an aircraft carrier can weigh hundreds of tons. Even if you were given the blueprints, you wouldn't understand them or be able to build one.

However, if it is only installed on other conventional warships or yachts, and considering energy replacement, such as converting the engine into nuclear power, then it is still possible to accomplish this.

"Wait a moment."

Zhang Ailun turned around, took a towel from the car, wet it, wrapped it around his body, put on several masks and goggles, and after making proper preparations, he asked Dominic and Jennifer to wait outside before approaching the warehouse door with peace of mind.

"Okay! You're all set! Go in!"

Even if the energy field inside has a weak radiation, it can be blocked by a wet wipe. Although it is not very useful, it is just a precaution. But if there were such strong nuclear radiation, this kid Harvard would have mutated long ago!

Seeing his caution, Haval couldn't help but retort, "I already used barium sulfate concrete, lead plates, and graphene materials to provide radiation protection. What you're doing is just redundant."

"Stop talking nonsense and go in," Zhang Ailun urged, then took the lead and walked into the warehouse.

Upon entering, they saw a crystal ball crackling and emitting purple lightning in the warehouse, as well as neon lights hanging on the wall. The head of the headquarters was astonished.

What is that? A magic crystal ball?

Oh, so glass conducts electricity.

Haval walked in and explained, "These are just things I use to decorate the warehouse when I have nothing else to do. Anyway, they don't use much electricity. Without enough nuclear fuel, the electricity isn't as plentiful as you might imagine. It's basically only enough to maintain daily work. It can't achieve kinetic energy conversion either."

Zhang Ailun also noticed some chainsaws, welding equipment, steel plates, and even shaped tools. This kid is quite the DIY expert in sheet metal work!

Then he saw a familiar golden-red humanoid object in the corner, and he couldn't hold back any longer, asking suspiciously, "What's that? Iron Man's armor?"

Haval said somewhat awkwardly, "At first, I was thinking about how to shrink the reactor and transfer it to the armor, but it turns out I was overthinking it. I can only utilize nuclear reactors; I can't break them down, create them, or shrink them. I don't have that ability."

"If you could do that, the FBI would have already kidnapped you as an alien," Zhang Ailun said irritably.

The smallest nuclear reactor in the world is currently 40 centimeters in diameter and 60 centimeters in length. Such a small nuclear fission reactor has a thermal power of 4 kilowatts and an electrical power of about 1 kilowatt. Its size is still far from that of the nuclear reactor that is the size of Iron Man's chest.

Moreover, that's nuclear fusion technology, while you have to manually add nuclear fuel into it – how can that be the same? The nuclear reactors used on aircraft carriers are basically behemoths, six meters high and four meters in diameter.

Seeing that the other person was alive and well, Zhang Ailun immediately took off his wet wipes for protection. "Where's the reactor?" He looked around but couldn't find the behemoth.

It's strange how they managed to get it here. The truck driver must have been terrified when he saw it. How could he possibly be willing to do that?

Zhang Ailun didn't quite understand and asked Haval about it.

As Haval opened the warehouse floorboards, he said, "I initially spent $40 to hire a garbage truck and a tower crane, and I pulled it out of the test track by myself, then transported it here for modification."

"Then you really are a genius," Zhang Ailun exclaimed.

Soon, the other party opened the floor, revealing the nuclear reactor underneath. It wasn't emitting a bright blue light like in the movies; although there was some light, it wasn't much. It was just an oval-shaped furnace-like thing with several external pipes. The mechanical parts were also very sophisticated, looking impressive but incomprehensible. However, perhaps because it hadn't been maintained for a long time, it looked pitch black on the outside, more like a boiler.

"So here's the question: how much do you want to sell it for?" Zhang Ailun asked.

"I'm tired of it. Even if I had other ideas, I couldn't realize them. Once the internal nuclear fuel is burned out, its only use will be to light a light bulb. I might as well sell it as scrap. I plan to sell it for $5000," Haver thought.

To seize the young?

Five thousand US dollars!?

This is so touching!! Such a low price!

"I'll give you $10000! You absolutely must sell this pile of scrap metal to me!" The leader immediately pulled out a US dollar bill, walked over, and stuffed it into his hand.

This child is really naive.

And he extended a very enthusiastic invitation to him, "I'd also like to invite you to work for me, to help manage and maintain this nuclear reactor. I wonder if you'd be interested?"

"What are you going to do with it? Can you even buy nuclear fuel?" Haver asked him in astonishment.

The Grand Master smiled slightly: "Nuclear fuel is nothing more than natural uranium, right? I learned in school that graphite and heavy water are also used as moderators. Even for nuclear fuel rods with a concentration of 90%, the current market price is only $50 to $60 per kilogram. If it is a low-concentration nuclear fuel rod, the price is even lower, with diluted nuclear fuel rods costing less than $10 per kilogram."

"Even a nuclear reactor on an aircraft carrier consumes only 0.756 kilograms of medium-strength uranium per day, equivalent to 1.6 pounds, which is worth tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of US dollars. Adding 4 tons of nuclear fuel at a time can power it for twenty years. If this nuclear reactor is converted into a power generation unit, it would only be for daily consumption. How much fuel could it burn each day? Diluted conventional nuclear fuel rods would be sufficient."

"I haven't added any fuel. It basically generates electricity using its own radiation. But there is already some fuel in the reactor. As far as I know, even if a nuclear power plant adds 1.5 tons of natural uranium at a time, it would be enough for a year. For daily power generation, it would use less than 0.01 pounds of diluted uranium per day."

After thinking for a moment, Haval replied, "But you haven't said what you'll do with it."

"I've decided to make your dream come true! I'll modify it and install it on yachts and ships."

With a wave of his hand, the Grand Master transformed into a god of fulfilling dreams.

"Although we don't have aircraft carriers and submarines, and can't afford to buy them, we can build a basic version of nuclear-powered civilian warships by hand. You don't need to worry about the staff either; I have plenty of people here who can operate them. They are all excellent talents."

Zhang Ailun said, "Once my people have dealt with the A10 warthog, they can come over and help you research and design how to move it onto the ship."

Haval was stunned; he hadn't expected the other party to agree with his idea. He exclaimed in surprise, "You even have an A10 Warthog? Aren't you a scrap collector?"

"Yeah, I'm a scrap metal collector, but that A10 was also salvaged from the aircraft graveyard. It didn't cost me much. Isn't your nuclear reactor also unwanted scrap?" Zhang Ailun smiled.

After thinking for a moment, Haver said, "If it's just a regular ship or yacht, there's no need to install a nuclear power plant. At least it should be installed on a frigate or cruiser, right? You've already bought the A10, so buying another cruiser or destroyer shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Do you think destroyers are like cabbages?" Zhang Ailun said irritably. "Even the cheapest destroyer costs over a billion dollars to build. Even a decommissioned destroyer costs nearly a hundred million dollars to sell domestically. Even a piece of junk would cost several million dollars. And the subsequent maintenance and upkeep costs won't be small either. Rounding it up, it'll be at least ten million dollars!"

Warships are nothing like armed helicopters; they're very delicate, a typical case of being able to afford to buy one but not afford to maintain it.

The USS Forrestal aircraft carrier cost $13 billion to build and $3 billion annually to maintain. It was rendered obsolete after accidentally detonating a Zuni air-to-ground missile on board during the Vietnam War in the last century. The explosion resulted in 134 deaths, 64 injuries, the destruction of 21 aircraft, and severe damage to 43 others.

After the HMS Forrestal was decommissioned, it was put up for sale, but no one wanted it for even a penny at auction. Ultimately, the aircraft carrier was sold to Allstar Metals for a mere penny and disposed of as scrap.

But there must have been a lot of shady dealings involved. After all, even scrap metal isn't worth only 1 cent; people aren't stupid. Why would anyone try to find a bargain like that?

Even if the Grand Master were to use cheat codes, it would be impossible for him to spend a single cent to buy a decommissioned, scrapped aircraft carrier.

After thinking it over, Haval agreed, "Okay, I can consider working for you. How much salary are you planning to offer me? I won't do it for less than $3000 a month!"

"..." Zhang Ailun looked at the self-righteous Harvard with a strange expression.

This silly kid must have just endured too much nuclear radiation.

"I'll offer you $3500," Zhang Ailun said.

"Okay, okay."

Haval quickly nodded in agreement, as if afraid the leader would change his mind. He was beaming from ear to ear, "This pays much better than what I earned working at the tire shop, and I can do what I want to do. You're such a good person!"

"..."

No, you really want this little bit of money?

"You still have a job?" Zhang Ailun asked in surprise.

"What will I eat and drink if I don't have a job? I still have a girlfriend!" Haval said.

"oh."

There's only one, what are you so smug about?

The leader of the sect has several girlfriends.

Am I proud?

He immediately called Dominic and the others over from outside. "It's alright, come in. There's no radiation here. That idiot absorbed all the radiation."

Harvard asked suspiciously, "Which idiot?"

"It's alright. Go have fun." Zhang Ailun waved his hand.

"Okay, boss." Haval turned around, ran to the side, squatted in the corner, and started counting the $10000.

(End of this chapter)