Chapter 392: Chapter 390: Micro Reactor
To many people, creating a model might seem much easier than building a complete object.
After all, a model is just a tiny piece, requiring neither much material nor much time.
However, those who have truly made models, especially 1:1 fully realistic ones, will tell you that making a model can sometimes be more difficult than making the real thing.
Because it’s easy to make something small large, but making something large small is very difficult.
What Chen Xin wants to make is a scaled-down nuclear fusion reactor, but the technical requirements are no less demanding than building a full-size reactor, perhaps even requiring higher precision in parts processing than a large reactor.
Although large nuclear fusion reactors have strict requirements, there is a certain tolerance allowed for large equipment. But when you scale down the equipment proportionally, the original tolerance also becomes smaller.
For example, in large equipment, an error of ±5 might be permissible, but in a scaled-down model, even an error of ±0.5 might be unacceptable, especially as the model becomes smaller.
Especially when you need to fully replicate the structure and function of large equipment, the requirements for precision in smaller parts often make their costs many times more extravagant than those for large equipment.
To give a simple example, in the existing technology for nuclear fusion reactors, the structure that blocks neutrons and plasma, prevents high-energy hydrogen ions from splashing, and serves as a future heat exchanger on the magnetic confinement fusion device is known as the first wall, with extremely high requirements for materials selection in the fusion reactor.
In reality, thickness can be used to block neutrons by processing the first wall to a certain depth. However, when the model is significantly reduced in size, the thickness of the first wall becomes thinner, and maintaining its neutron-blocking capacity imposes higher demands on the material itself.
Especially since the first wall itself is a consumable item, with its surface blistering due to the bombardment of neutrons!
Large equipment can rely on thickness to extend its lifespan, periodically replacing it to avoid the entire first wall being penetrated.
But for small-scale models, this is extremely fatal. After all, it wouldn’t do to stop the reactor every few spins to change consumables, right?
This is also why nuclear fusion devices are being made larger and larger. Due to technical reasons, only by enlarging the equipment can the expected performance be ensured to achieve the ignition of fusion.
However, what Chen Xin wants to build is only a model to verify the technology. If it weren’t too exaggerated, he would even want to make one that can sit on a desk.
In the end, he compromised with reality and didn’t actually make an Iron Man-like LED lamp but instead created a mini reactor over one person tall.
Although it’s a model-like mini reactor, all the structures and functions that Chen Xin previously envisioned for the fusion reactor are replicated on this mini reactor. Moreover, it can actually ignite, with a controllable reaction, continuously and stably outputting energy.
To achieve this, there are obviously stringent requirements for the materials and processes used to manufacture this mini reactor.
Fortunately, Chen Xin’s drawings are products from the system’s upgrades after being drawn, and the tools he uses for making parts—system-produced robotic arms and workstations—are not problematic in terms of processing precision and parts quality.
As for the materials for manufacturing the mini reactor, Chen Xin chose to obtain some core parts through system upgrades himself, while sourcing other parts from the national research departments. After acquiring the materials, he used the workbench and robotic arms to process them.
To process these parts, Chen Xin not only did a small upgrade to his robotic arms but also recreated a workstation identical to the one in his shelter, complete with drawing, scanning, and upgrade functions, in his office at the military camp.
It is for this reason that Chen Xin was able to upgrade the blueprints for the heating hub, Energy Tower, and this nuclear fusion reactor.
After upgrading the blueprints, not only was the technical design optimized, but the parts were also optimized, specifically adjusting the upgraded blueprints to simplify and lower the requirements for the parts. This enabled Chen Xin’s idea of making a mini reactor to validate the technology to be realized.
Because it’s only a mini reactor, not much material was necessary. Some rare materials were needed in small amounts, so when the helicopter ran a second trip to transport Chen Xin’s upgraded Heavy Mecha, it brought along the materials he needed.
It must be said that after airplanes regained flight capability, at least transportation became much more convenient.
After receiving the materials sent by air express, Chen Xin directly began the manufacturing work of the mini reactor. However, as there were other matters to attend to, he essentially handled other affairs in the morning, coming to the camp in the afternoon to make parts for the mini reactor, until evening when he returned to sleep.
This regular routine greatly exposes his movement patterns, making it easy to find flaws and opportunities whether for kidnapping, assassination or tracking.
But fortunately, more than half of Chen Xin’s time is spent in a camp guarded by an entire special forces team, and when he does go out, it’s just to the camp less than a hundred meters away, escorted and protected by a combat team, ensuring sufficient safety.
In such circumstances, Chen Xin was able to proceed smoothly with the mini reactor’s manufacturing work, with various precision parts being created and then assembled.
Soon, the fission furnace part of this mini reactor was complete.
Compared to fusion reactions, fission reactions are undoubtedly much easier to control. Combined with the years of research into nuclear fission technology, creating a mini fission furnace is not a very difficult task.
Of course, this ease is relative to Chen Xin; for others, it remains a very challenging task.
Because the smaller the reactor, the higher the enrichment of nuclear fuel needed, and similarly, the higher the control requirements for the reactor, with difficulty and cost skyrocketing.
Moreover, one should not confuse radioactive isotope batteries with nuclear reactors. They are fundamentally different in principle.
Radioactive isotope batteries inherently have no nuclear reactions; they merely convert the heat energy of rays emitted by radioactive isotopes into electrical energy.
In contrast, a nuclear reactor uses the energy released during nuclear reactions of substances to generate heat that is converted into electrical energy, with significant differences in both volume and efficiency.
Chen Xin is capable of manufacturing Isotope Thermoelectric Batteries, but making a small nuclear reactor is still a first for him.