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

In early summer, Luzhou is full of beautiful scenery and vibrant life.

In the middle of the island stands a building that looks like a spaceship.

This is the Institute of Plasma Physics, Luzhou Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is where Chen Yuan currently works.

Deep inside the building is a major scientific facility—the fully superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device.

This is the EAST (Experimental Advanced Super-Tokamak), commonly known as the "artificial sun".

As an important platform of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, the EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) has attracted scientists from more than 30 countries and regions around the world to participate in the cooperation, making it an open international research team.

Because the EAST reactor is an experimental reactor, it needs to be continuously modified in order to meet the requirements of a demonstration reactor.

Currently, the experimental reactor is managed by a research team of hundreds of people who conduct daily experiments, improvements, and research and development.

Li Jian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is the head of the research team.

His main job is as the vice president, professor and doctoral supervisor of Huaxia University of Science and Technology, so it is impossible for him to stay on the island for a long time. Instead, he comes here every few days.

Today, the driver took Li Jian to the research institute for a routine inspection.

I just arrived at the parking lot.

Li Jian, sitting in the back seat, suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" and asked, "Xiao Cheng, this car..."

The driver glanced at it and said, "Oh, this is a Hongqi N701."

"I know it's a Hongqi N701." Li Jian asked, puzzled, "What I mean is, isn't this car usually a limousine used to entertain top foreign guests? Why is it here, and parked in Dean Shen's parking space?"

The driver worked at the research institute and knew a little about the situation. "I heard that a new person has joined our research institute. I think his name is Chen Yuan. The director values ​​him highly and gave him the parking space. As for how this car came about, I haven't found out any information."

Upon hearing this, Li Jian was taken aback, and asked in a strange tone, "Chen Yuan?"

The driver reversed into the parking space. "Yes."

Li Jian asked, "Do you know where this Chen Yuan is from?"

The driver explained in detail: "I didn't know at first, but after this car was parked in the dean's parking space, the researchers in the institute were very curious. They asked the personnel department, and I happened to overhear it. It is said that Chen Yuan is from Suzhou, graduated with a bachelor's degree, and used to work at Xinghe Company, which develops new energy equipment. Later, I don't know how he came to our institute, and now he has been assigned to Research Lab No. 4."

Suzhou?

Galaxy Corporation?

Li Jian's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself, "Could it really be him?"

Other researchers in the institute may be unfamiliar with who Chen Yuan is.

Li Jian was no stranger to him.

Just recently, he received a groundbreaking paper on nuclear fusion from the Ministry of Education, titled "Semi-Controlled Nuclear Fusion - Dyson Sphere for Hydrogen Bombs".

When he first saw the title of the paper, he was a little confused, thinking that someone wanted to put a Dyson sphere device on a hydrogen bomb.

After reading the entire paper, he realized that it had nothing to do with hydrogen bombs.

The paper describes a semi-controlled nuclear fusion method involving multi-point fusion, multi-frequency energy conversion and absorption.

As the current head of EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) technology, Li Jian has a deep understanding of nuclear fusion research and can naturally see the ingenuity in the paper at a glance.

He understood that once those core components could be built, achieving a semi-controlled commercial nuclear fusion reactor would be practically a certainty.

Therefore, he had long admired Chen Yuan, but had never been able to meet him despite his reputation, which he found very regrettable.

Surprisingly, Chen Yuan ended up working at the Institute of Plasma Physics.

While Li Jian was surprised, his mind began to race.

After parking the car, he casually handed his briefcase to the driver and said, "Could you take this bag to the control room for me? I'm going to take a look around Research Lab No. 4."

The driver, puzzled, still replied, "Okay."

……

Research Lab No. 4

Having just finished lunch, Chen Yuan, accompanied by his assistant Chu Yingying, arrived here to carry out some routine work.

Everyone has just finished eating and is resting.

Chen Yuan had just sat down at his workstation when he received a call from Yu Xu.

"Teacher Yu."

"Xiao Chen, I have something to tell you."

"Please speak."

"Is that so? Didn't you previously ask us to apply for approval of the demonstration reactor project?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan immediately perked up. "What? You've got feedback so quickly?"

Yu Xu said in a less than pleasant tone, "Well, after reviewing it, the higher-ups said it didn't meet the requirements and told us to change it to an experimental reactor and resubmit the project approval application form."

As expected, I was rejected.

Chen Yuan couldn't help but sigh.

Most importantly, he wasn't given a chance to showcase his skills at all.

Chen Yuan was quite helpless, so he had to settle for second best and said, "Alright, let's apply for the experimental reactor first. We can talk about the demonstration reactor after the experimental reactor is built."

Yu Xu said, "Okay, I'll revise the application form and resubmit it."

Chen Yuan responded and hung up the phone.

The inability to directly apply for a demonstration stack was causing him some distress.

Chen Yuan wanted to go out for some fresh air to ease his inner frustration.

So, as soon as he and Chu Yingying arrived, they got up and walked outside again.

Just as I reached the door of the research lab, an elderly man in his sixties walked in.

Seeing this, Chen Yuan was taken aback and asked with some doubt, "Who are you? You don't seem to be from our research lab, do you?"

Normally, members of the research lab are not allowed to enter because there is a lot of confidential information inside.

No sooner had he spoken than Chu Yingying's voice came from beside him, "Academician Li, hello."

"what?"

"Academician Li?"

"Why is he here?"

Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, Xiao Su, and others frequently glanced at the situation.

Academician Li?

Chen Yuan was a little confused. Didn't the research institute only have three academicians?

They are Dean Shen Yun, Vice Dean Yu Xu, and Executive Vice Dean Zhang Qian.

Why is there suddenly another person?

The newcomer was Li Jian. He first smiled at Chu Yingying, then extended his hand to Chen Yuan and said, "Hello, are you Mr. Chen Yuan?"

Chen Yuan shook hands with the other party and said, "Academician Li, hello, I am Chen Yuan."

Chu Yingying took the opportunity to introduce Chen Yuan and Li Jian to each other.

After listening to the introduction, Chen Yuan realized that the other party was the person in charge of Oriental Superconducting Technologies.

He couldn't help but show his goodwill, because he was able to use quantum computing to simulate cold nuclear fusion and controlled nuclear fusion technologies, all thanks to the EAST design blueprints.

Li Jian said with a happy expression, "Mr. Chen, hello, hello! I have admired you for a long time, and I am finally able to meet you in person today."

"what?"

"What did Academician Li say?"

"Has he long admired Associate Researcher Chen?"

Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Lü Yunming, and the others all looked surprised upon hearing this.

When they heard Chen Yuan propose the concept of gravitational confinement fusion, they immediately realized that he had conducted in-depth research on nuclear fusion, but they did not know how in-depth his research was.

It's not a question that can be asked directly, so they've always been secretly curious about it.

They didn't expect that Chen Yuan seemed to be very famous in certain circles, and even Li Jian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, had "long admired" him.

This made Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and others even more curious, wanting to know just how in-depth Chen Yuan's research on nuclear fusion was to warrant such respectful words from Academician Li Jian.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan immediately realized that Li Jian must have read his thesis.

He smiled modestly and said, "Academician Li, you flatter me. I have always admired your research on nuclear fusion. It is my honor to meet you today."

Li Jian smiled and narrowed his eyes, "Haha, spiritual connection, spiritual connection, let's just say we have a spiritual connection."

Chen Yuan asked, "Are you here to see Director Zhou? He just went to have lunch and is expected to be back in a while."

"No." Li Jian looked over with interest and said, "I came here specifically to find you."

Chen Yuan asked in surprise, "Looking for me?"

Li Jian nodded and said, "Yes, when I learned that you were coming to work at the research institute, I thought I would like to see if I could learn from you and ask you to give some constructive suggestions for improving our 'EAST' device."

I go!

What are you saying?

Should Chen Yuan provide constructive suggestions for improvement to the EDM (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Toilet) system?

Xiao Su was completely stunned.

Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and dozens of other researchers from the fourth research institute were all stunned.

As staff members of the research institute, they are well aware of the achievements that EAST has made so far.

That's a stable long pulse of 1066 seconds, which is already considered a top achievement in international nuclear fusion technology research and development.

Did Chen Yuan offer constructive suggestions for improvement regarding this top-notch device?

Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Lü Yunming, and the others were really dizzy.

What made them even more bewildered was what followed. Chen Yuan actually said "shamelessly": "Since Academician Li has come to visit in person, and the EAST is a project of our research institute, fine, I will go and take a look first, and then provide some opinions based on the actual situation."

Li Jian was overjoyed and said, "Okay, okay, thank you, thank you Mr. Chen."

At this point, he gestured outside, "Shall we head to the Oriental Superconducting Equipment Control Center now?"

Chen Yuan nodded and said, "Okay, finish quickly, I have a lot to do this afternoon."

If it were an ordinary person, he wouldn't agree at all, but since the person who made the suggestion was Li Jian, the one who led the development of the EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) reactor, he would naturally agree without hesitation. After all, he had developed cold nuclear fusion and controlled nuclear fusion technologies and was enjoying the fruits of others' labor.

With that, the two walked outside.

Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Lü Yunming, and the others exchanged glances, then immediately stood up and followed Chen Yuan, Li Jian, and Chu Yingying to the Oriental Superconducting Equipment Control Hall to see what constructive suggestions Chen Yuan would make at the meeting.

Of course, not everyone; only seven or eight people, including Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and Lü Yunming.

These individuals are responsible for experimental design, data monitoring and analysis, and routine maintenance, and are therefore qualified to enter the control room.

Those who did not stand up and follow were not involved in any work with the EAST project and were not allowed to enter the control hall.

Although the vast majority of people did not go, they knew that Xiao Su, Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and others would come back and inform them of the situation.

Everyone was extremely curious, wanting to know if Chen Yuan could offer any constructive suggestions for improvement to the Oriental Superconducting Equipment.

If possible, what constructive suggestions for improvement would you offer?