Chapter 264 - 258 Lightning_1

November is the season of harvest.

On November 6th, the Qingshan Base was officially completed, and the first experimental uranium reactor began trial operation.

Qingshan Base is another nuclear base constructed by New Yuan, and after a year of construction, it has officially been put into practical use, with the operation of the first experimental reactor as a symbol.

The iconic buildings of the nuclear power station, the two giant "smokestacks" (cooling towers), finally started to emit white smoke after being erected for several months, cooling down the operational reactor.

Executives from New Yuan, China Power Investment Corporation, Guangnuc, Rong 194th Institute, and other related units witnessed the start-up ceremony of the "CU-15" type experimental reactor.

CU-15, where C stands for conventional configuration, U for uranium 235 as reactor fuel, and the number 15 for an electrical power output of 150,000 kilowatts, or 150 MW.

CU-15 is not the sodium-cooled fast reactor (abbreviated as SFR) adopted by NAPE; it is merely used for those high energy-consuming tests and to supply the base, producing and consuming its own power.

However, CU-15 was entirely self-designed under the leadership of Cheng Nankai, incorporating new technologies to reduce size and cost, and even incorporating some design concepts from NAPE, starting construction midway through the Qingshan Base project.

Higher-ups were quite worried about New Yuan directly designing their own reactor, and after repeated discussions, it was decided that an expert would be dispatched from Rong 194th Institute (Nuclear Power Research Institute) to inspect it, demanding that it pass verification before being put into practical use.

Since CU-15 is not an SFR and does not require high levels of secrecy, and the expert sent from the 194th Institute was a Republic pioneer researcher who had already retired from frontline work, they agreed to open access to it.

Wang Lu, who was already 78 years old, had participated in several major early nuclear projects, and was naturally familiar with reactor design. After signing a confidentiality agreement, he joined Cheng Nankai’s team to inspect and identify any safety hazards with CU-15.

The result was astonishing; the design of CU-15 was incredibly advanced and could be described as elegant.

Its structure was simple and efficient, with a small size, and it lacked the rookie mistakes that are common in first-time designs. Everywhere there were signs that the designer had substantial experience and a wealth of precedents to enable such smooth operation of CU-15.

But Cheng Nankai’s credentials within the industry were known to be mediocre at best, and describing him as utterly unremarkable would not be an exaggeration, not to mention what others might say.

His actual work experience was virtually nonexistent, not having engaged in this field during his time in France.

It was simply... unbelievable.

When writing the report later on, Wang Lu highly praised the design of CU-15, believing its reliability exceeded 99.5% and it could fully be authorized for operation.

And in today’s initial operation, CU-15 was as stable as he had imagined.

Cheng Nankai just stood beside him, his face exuding the confidence of someone with all the answers.

If only such talent could serve the country, how wonderful that would be?

Wang Lu looked at the various parameters in the control room and said with some emotion,

"CU-15 is already quite an excellent third-generation reactor, though its power limit is somewhat small. Nankai, your design is too ingenious, with such a high core operating temperature."

For nuclear reactors, controlling the core temperature is an extremely important issue.

Theoretically, a higher core operating temperature means less pressure for heat dissipation, a lighter system, and higher efficiency. But it also brings increased difficulty in design and a higher risk factor.

The infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station accident was caused by an excessively high core temperature, which would have led to an even greater threat had it not been for the lifesaving efforts of the rescue personnel who intervened at the cost of their lives after melting down.

America and the Union had previously developed nuclear engines that were large and heavy for the sake of reliability to lower the core temperature, rendering the cooling systems large and complex.

If most of the time is spent working within the atmosphere, it’s manageable because the air can assist with cooling and the weight is bearable, but in vacuum, it’s a dilemma dealing with the thermal energy from a high-power reactor.

However, for Cheng Nankai, it was the other way around. NAPE was able to maintain the system’s low mass while pursuing the SFR route, thanks to the super-high core temperatures above 1700 degrees.

And now the major research institutions internationally spearheading the charge towards sodium-cooled fast reactors are only contemplating core operating temperatures between 750 and 950 degrees. 1700 degrees is a prospect for the later mature stages.

The heat from NAPE’s reactors isn’t dissipated like on a ground power station; instead, it is directed to the engine part to heat the working fluid causing its ionization, thus minimizing the pressure on the cooling system.

It is exactly this ionization process that led to a direct increase in NAPE’s efficiency and a substantial reduction in size and weight, allowing a 3.6-tonne system to include three operational modes and a million-kilowatt class SFR reactor.

To put it bluntly, the combined output power of six NAPE units could match that of a large nuclear power station, which is also why a few officials aware of the NAPE project were skeptical: it’s simply too terrifying!

Of course, NEPE’s calculations are based on total power rather than electrical power output, encompassing all aspects of the engine as a whole, and it’s not capable of complete power generation. Nevertheless, it remains a revolutionary presence.

Wang Lu was naturally aware of the NAPE project and had done calculations himself, but he felt that if he were leading a team on NAPE, the weight would be at least 10 tonnes or more, and that’s disregarding many potential problems.

Youth are to be feared; youth indeed are to be feared!

Cheng Nankai was still unaware that he had been labeled a genius scientist. At the moment, his feelings leaned more towards a sense of relief.