Building a Sci-Fi Empire: Starting with Cold Nuclear Fusion

A group of academicians and experts in the nuclear field sat upright and attentive.

Shen Yun, Zhang Qian, Chu Yingying, and other members of the defense team also stared intently at Chen Yuan's retreating figure.

At this moment, Chen Yuan was giving a technical presentation to the review panel in the form of a paper.

"I propose a new type of controlled nuclear fusion device—the super stellarator gravity confinement nuclear fusion device."

Chen Yuan calmly explained, "This device abandons the traditional magnetic and inertial confinement approaches. Based on general relativity, it utilizes ultra-high-energy coherent fields to achieve local space curvature, simulating the equivalent gravitational environment of a singularity-free micro black hole to achieve plasma confinement. It constructs a local gravitational potential well through gravitational lensing field modulation to complete fusion ignition. The energy extraction method completely mimics the radiation diffusion inside stars—the energy receiving mechanism of galaxies, directly completing photoelectric conversion in an all-solid-state, thermomechanical-free manner."

Ok?

This……

Yuan Wanhua and Fan Zhen exchanged a glance.

Chu Hong, Li Jian, Jin Dongyang, and the others exchanged glances.

When everyone learned that the project being reviewed was a controlled nuclear fusion project, they assumed that magnetic confinement or inertial confinement was the core technology.

Indeed, when Chen Yuan mentioned the title of the paper, he mentioned "stellarator," which made everyone more convinced that this is magnetic confinement nuclear fusion technology.

Unexpectedly, Chen Yuan came up and told everyone that this project had nothing to do with magnetic confinement or inertial confinement, but was the so-called gravitational confinement nuclear fusion.

What does this mean?

This means that Chen Yuan has pioneered a new technological path in the field of nuclear fusion.

Although they didn't know exactly what gravity confinement fusion technology was like, all the expert reviewers present were intrigued.

The most interested were naturally Xin Long, along with Shen Yun, Yu Xu, Ma Weixing, and other members of the defense team.

They knew about the existence of the "super stellarator" before, but Chen Yuan had only proposed the concept without detailed technology. So they had made many connections, but they could never figure out how to achieve gravitational confinement nuclear fusion.

Now that they heard Chen Yuan actually bring out his technology, both the expert reviewer Xin Long and the members of the defense team, including Shen Yun, Yu Xu, and Ma Weixing, were excited and bursting with curiosity.

The group gleaned three important pieces of information from the "summary".

The three main technologies of gravity-confined nuclear fusion are:

To achieve plasma confinement by simulating the gravitational environment of a black hole.

Fusion ignition is achieved by constructing a local gravitational potential well through gravitational lensing field modulation.

The energy extraction method completely mimics the internal radiation diffusion of stars—the energy receiving mechanism of star systems, directly completing photoelectric conversion in a completely solid-state, thermodynamically-free manner.

To be honest, none of you here have heard of these three technologies, and they sound like science fiction, not something that can be achieved in reality.

Although no one believed that such technology was likely to be realized, Chen Yuan's presentation sparked great interest among them in the technical information they were about to hear, and their curiosity was piqued.

Everyone is eager to know what theory Chen Yuan based his sci-fi-inspired technological concept on.

Chen Yuan continued reciting the abstract, "The device has an outer diameter of 16 meters, a height of 14 meters, a total weight of 2200 tons, a deuterium-tritium fusion core temperature of 1.7 × 10⁸℃, a thermal power of 45–75 GW, a net electrical power of 30–50 GW, and an energy conversion efficiency of ≥62%. If it were the complete version, it could operate in a stable and permanent state. What I am describing now is a cut-down version due to insufficient funding. The device can operate continuously and stably for up to 90 days."

Slow!

What did you say?

Thermal power 45-75GW?

Net power output 30-50GW?

The panel of expert reviewers were filled with doubt upon hearing this data.

Shen Yun, Yu Xu, Zhang Qian, and the other members of the defense panel looked at each other in bewilderment.

Everyone thought Chen Yuan had given the wrong data.

GW is an abbreviation for gigawatt, a unit of electrical power.

1 gigawatt equals 1000000 kilowatts, or 1000 megawatts.

This unit is often used to describe the capacity of large power plants or power grids.

1GW of electricity is an astonishing figure, representing an amazing energy conversion capacity.

To gain a more concrete understanding of the power generation capacity of 1GW, we can use the example of a photovoltaic panel array for analysis.

Taking the widely used P-type 182-size solar cell as an example, its efficiency is 2% and the power of a single cell is about 65 watts.

To achieve 1 gigawatt of solar power generation capacity, the required number of solar cells needs to be calculated.

The calculation is quite straightforward: Number of solar cells = 1GW / 65W / cell ≈ 130718954 cells.

In other words, approximately 31 billion solar cells are needed to achieve 1 gigawatt of solar power generation capacity.

In addition, one can further understand the required number of components by referring to representative silicon-based solar panels on the market.

Assuming the average power of this type of panel is 405 watts, then installing approximately 29 such standard photovoltaic panels would generate 1 gigawatt of electricity.

If this description is still hard to understand, then what if we say that 1GW of power supply capacity can meet the electricity needs of a small city with a population of about one million?

That's right, 1GW is that amazing!

What does Chen Yuan state in his abstract?

Gravity confinement fusion devices can achieve a net power output of 30-50 GW.

Based on this calculation, a single gravity confinement fusion reactor could provide electricity for a city with a population of 30 to 50 million!

Is that... even possible?

The numbers are astonishing!

Everyone present thought Chen Yuan had recited the wrong data and looked toward the abstract of the paper on the big screen.

When they looked over, everyone was even more astonished.

Because they discovered that Chen Yuan hadn't memorized the wrong numbers!

Jin Dongyang wanted to interrupt and ask a question, but considering that Chen Yuan was only presenting the summary and hadn't even learned about the technology, it wouldn't be appropriate to interrupt, so he simply held back.

Chen Yuan continued with the abstract, "The entire system does not rely on cryogenic superconductivity, has no strong magnetic coils, and requires no liquid helium cooling. All structures are made from practically fabricable engineering materials, and the total cost is controlled within 500 billion Chinese yuan. I will now give a complete explanation of the physical principles, structural design, material system, energy flow, and safety mechanisms. Do you have any questions? If not, I will skip the introduction in the paper and go directly to the physical principles."

The content in the introduction is "nonsense" for the defense review process, so naturally he didn't want to say it.

The panel of experts and the team members all had doubts.

Jin Dongyang spoke first, saying, "I haven't seen any technical details about the other aspects yet, so I have no questions. However, you said the net power output of the device is 30-50GW. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake with the data?"

The others were also puzzled and looked over.

Chen Yuan affirmed, "Yes, it's 30-50GW. I know this data will raise a lot of questions for you, but don't worry, after I finish explaining, you'll know whether this number is correct or not."

Jin Dongyang wisely shut up and gestured, saying, "You continue."

Yuan Wanhua, Fan Zhen, Xu Qiu, and others originally wanted to discuss this issue, but after Chen Yuan spoke up, they carefully considered their options and decided not to speak until they had heard the rest.

"Okay, let's talk about the physical principles now."

As Chen Yuan spoke, he walked back, "First, there's the spacetime curvature and the simulated black hole gravitational environment. According to Einstein's spacetime structure equations of general relativity: G=R⁻¹/²×R×g=(8πG/c⁴)×T, extremely high energy density can be equivalent to local mass concentration, thus producing controllable spacetime curvature..."

At this point, he went to the computer, picked up the mouse, and clicked.

The image on the large screen changed, and a device design diagram appeared, with the words "Super Stellarator Gravitational Confinement Fusion Device" labeled next to it.

Chen Yuan explained the core principle: "The super stellarator gravitational confinement fusion device achieves a local extreme energy density of ~10²² J/m³ in the vacuum core through the collision and superposition of multiple gamma coherent fields. This causes the space in the central region to bend strongly inward, forming an equivalent gravitational potential well of a black hole that is free of singularities, event horizons, and Hawking radiation catastrophe, and can be shut down in microseconds. The equivalent gravitational acceleration can reach 2500-4000g, which is enough to completely confine the 1.7 million℃ fusion plasma in a core region with a diameter of about 0.3M, achieving zero particle escape and zero wall loss."

Upon hearing this, Jin Dongyang was the first to challenge, "Could you explain the specific theoretical knowledge?"

Although Chen Yuan just mentioned the core theoretical knowledge, it was ultimately too brief.

People simply cannot refer to this seemingly sci-fi device to see if the theory is even tenable.

Fan Zhen, Yuan Wanhua, and Li Jian, along with other members of the expert review panel, looked over.

Shen Yun, Yu Xu, Ma Weixing, and the other members of the defense panel were on tenterhooks.

"Sure," Chen Yuan said confidently. "First, let me explain the general definition. What exactly is it?"

Jin Dongyang chuckled and said, "Didn't you just say it was called a space bending device?"

"Yes, it is indeed called a space curvature device, but that's just an abbreviation." Chen Yuan smiled slightly. "However, it's not an 'anti-gravity' or 'gravity generator.' Its formal name should be 'local spacetime metric active modulation device.' You can call it a space curvature device or a curvature generator for short."

At this point, Chen Yuan dropped a bombshell: "Its sole function is to artificially, stably, and controllably bend a small piece of four-dimensional spacetime to confine fusion plasma without creating a black hole or using extreme mass."