Chapter 773

At the Materials Research Institute, Xu Qingzhou was having tea with Academician Li Gang from the Plasma Physics Research Institute.

“They’re putting on quite a show—America’s getting nervous.”

Li Gang smiled faintly.

Recently, America’s series of announcements all sent one signal to the public: we are not falling behind; look, we’re even planning for future Mars colonization.

“America still has deep reserves, but catching up will take considerable effort.”

Xu Qingzhou smiled; in this year’s experiments, he had deployed no small amount of black technology.

In other words, America’s opponent isn’t just him—with his mind artificially enhanced—but the accumulated scientific and technological progress of the next decade or more.

On their end, they can only rely on the most primitive method: pouring in massive manpower and funds, improving fusion device development speed through repeated iterations.

“Even we were stunned when we first heard the news—let alone the Americans.”

Li Gang gave a bitter laugh. “Going from seconds to hours? Who could possibly keep up?”

“We were just lucky.”

Xu Qingzhou said modestly.

Li Gang and his team were here to discuss future experimental collaboration: EAST’s experimental data covers the Lawson criterion’s critical range, allowing cross-validation with Qiankun-1’s engineering feasibility for achieving the 1.18×10 kev·s/m triple product target, and helping predict electromagnetic interference risks.

Most importantly, Xu Qingzhou was a little envious of their researchers.

Li Gang looked at the young man before him and sighed, “You’ve probably given Professor Zhang a real headache—he must cringe every time he sees you now.”

“We were just following standard experimental procedures—we never intended to embarrass anyone.”

Xu Qingzhou shrugged.

Of course, if someone willingly offers their face, there’s nothing to be done.

Li Gang took a sip of tea and said, “If you need personnel from our side, just say the word.”

EAST still has a long way to go before achieving net energy gain.

They felt regret, yes, but mostly excitement—they had spent decades on fusion, and now they had a chance to witness controlled nuclear fusion become reality.

“Heh, I was just about to bring this up. With both the demonstration reactor’s construction and device design going on, my team is stretched thin.”

“So that’s it—you’ve been eyeing my people all along.”

November 15.

For Xu Qingzhou and his team, Qiankun-1’s one-hour sustainment was only the beginning.

The demonstration reactor is not merely a scaled-up experimental reactor.

The experimental reactor can be shut down at any time, but the demonstration reactor must maintain stable operation for months under extreme conditions.

“Here are the four sets of data from the isotope substitution experiment.”

Zheng Xu handed over a stack of reports.

The isotope substitution experiment aimed to resolve hydrogen isotope retention issues.

Particle retention causes impurity buildup, reducing plasma purity and performance, thereby lowering the demonstration reactor’s operational stability and affecting first-wall materials.

The experimental reactor’s one-hour validation marked a “zero to one” breakthrough in hydrogen isotope retention, but the demonstration reactor must validate the “one to one hundred” level of engineering maturity.

As for why isotope substitution was necessary: the demonstration reactor requires radioactive tritium (H) fuel, but tritium is highly radioactive—direct experimentation demands strict shielding and complex approvals.

Therefore, deuterium (H) is typically used in experiments instead of tritium (H); deuterium is non-radioactive but chemically similar, allowing safe validation of hydrogen isotope retention behavior.

【Deuterium permeation rate—1.2×10 mol/(m·s)

Thermal desorption peak temperature—798 K

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