Chapter 248 - Chapter 248: Intergrated Energy and Power Nuclear Reactor
Chapter 248: Intergrated Energy and Power Nuclear Reactor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the afternoon, a transport plane landed on the company’s airport runway and unloaded a specially-made canister.
It was made of an outer layer of metal and an inner layer of lead.
“President Tang, please sign for this,” said the person responsible for transporting the nuclear rocket core, asking Tang Rui to sign.
“Okay, thank you for your efforts,” Tang Rui said after signing.
After collecting Tang Rui’s signature on the receipt, the transporter returned to the plane and departed.
Tang Rui instructed Red Lotus to transport the item back to the assembly workshop.
In the assembly workshop, a 300i model spacecraft was already built, only lacking a power and energy core. Once installed, it could take off immediately. However, Tang Rui did not plan to equip this device on the spacecraft. The original design was simple, intended primarily for the fuel rods.
“Red Lotus, remove the fuel rods from the device, and be mindful of radiation,” Tang Rui instructed.
“Don’t worry, master, Red Lotus will handle it carefully.”
Red Lotus, controlling a robot, opened the canister and removed the pencil-thick fuel rods, totaling 36 in number.
These fuel rods had not yet been inserted into the reactor core.
The fission reaction had not started.
After removing the rods, the robot resealed the canister and sprayed a radiation-neutralizing solution.
Though the radiation leak was minimal, it still needed to be decontaminated.
In the laboratory, seeing Red Lotus had properly placed the fuel rods, Tang Rui stopped worrying about that matter.
“Red Lotus, project the model of the nuclear-powered rocket core’s reactor, and remove the external heating pipes,” Tang Rui commanded.
“Yes, master.”
Tang Rui began modifying the core reactor of the nuclear-powered rocket.
The current nuclear-powered rockets relied on heat to ignite the propellant. This structure and ignition method couldn’t fully utilize the reactor’s true potential.
Only by allowing liquid hydrogen to directly enter the reactor core and participate in the reaction chain could the full power of the particle stream be unleashed.
Although not as efficient as nuclear fusion, it was sufficient for current use.
With a specific impulse of 7500 seconds, it completely outperformed all existing chemical fuel rockets, which were not even in the same league. The highest specific impulse of chemical fuel rockets was about 300 seconds.
The difference was 25-fold.
Of course, there were many technical issues to resolve, with the main one being nuclear radiation.
Without solving this, the project would be no more than an enhanced version of the Pluto nuclear-powered missile.
How could this problem be solved?
With magnets.
The rocket nozzle needed magnetic adjustment since no material could withstand the particle stream transformed from liquid hydrogen after a chain reaction.
The temperature was too high.
It could only be contained by magnetic fields.
Effectively controlling this intensely hot plasma stream required multiple magnetic fields and magnetic channels.
Scientists had conceived this design decades ago but could not realize it due to limitations in engineering technology and material capabilities.
If Tang Rui had not solved the material issue, he wouldn’t have been able to build it either, relying only on system enhancements.
Now, he could not only build it but also optimize it.
For example, the cooling system.
Under the restraint of the magnetic field and the isolation of neutron shielding materials, the reactor didn’t need a large cooling system. Even the power generation unit didn’t need to boil water traditionally but could directly generate electricity through a magnetohydrodynamic generator, which didn’t affect propulsion.
With Tang Rui’s modifications and Red Lotus’s simulation calculations,
It didn’t take long for the new integrated power and energy core nuclear reactor device to be designed.
“Red Lotus, start manufacturing the reactor.”
After confirming there were no issues through Red Lotus’s simulation, Tang
Rui ordered the production.
“Yes, master, it should be completed in three and a half hours.”
Tang Rui checked the time.
It was just past three o’clock.
By dinner, the manufacturing would be complete.
The speed was primarily due to simplifying the internal design. Many complex engineering designs had been replaced by strong material capabilities.
Even the thick lead plates required for radiation shielding were replaced by electromagnetic coils.
This was the benefit of breakthroughs in materials.
“After manufacturing is complete, insert the fuel rods and test it,” Tang Rui instructed Red Lotus before leaving the laboratory.
The rest was not his concern.
Wearing smart glasses, Tang Rui went to the company’s plaza to level up by fighting monsters.
It was work hours.
The employees were busy, so nobody competed with him for monsters and treasure chests. All the monsters in the company were his to fight.
He messed around until the end of the workday.
He had to leave then.
After the employees clocked out, they rushed into the plaza, summoned their beasts, and started hunting monsters.
Tang Rui was somewhat helpless about this.
After dinner, Tang Rui returned to the laboratory.
Red Lotus was testing the newly manufactured reactor, and all data were normal.
The power generation alone reached 280 megawatts.
The specific impulse only increased slightly to 7800 seconds.
The data was normal.
The operation was stable.
Most importantly, the reactor was safe and would not have any nuclear leakage issues.
The electromagnetic coils enveloping the core generated a magnetic field that firmly contained the energy released after the chain reaction.
It might sound like nuclear fusion.
But it wasn’t.
This reactor was still fission-based.
The real danger of the core was just nuclear radiation and extreme heat, which didn’t significantly affect the magnetic field.
If this magnetic coil system was applied to a nuclear fusion reactor, it would light up the sky in a second.
They were not on the same level.
The required magnetic field strength was also different.
A real nuclear fusion reactor required a minimum of 60T super-strong magnetic fields. America had only managed to produce 34T in a laboratory setting.
The actual test ignition nuclear fusion reactor, even using superconducting coils in liquid helium, only reached a magnetic field strength of 13.4T.
His reactor only needed a 1T magnetic field to firmly contain the core’s energy.
Even this was an overkill, as 6000 gauss would have sufficed.
But the extra capacity didn’t matter.
The power generation was ample.
Whatever the design, it was sufficient.
Tang Rui glanced at the reactor’s test data, found no issues, and confirmed it was all within the expected range.
“After all tests are complete, install it in the spacecraft, and finish by tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. at the latest.”
“Understood, master..”