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

Two weeks later.

Chen Yuan, Chu Yingying, Shen Yun, Xu Sheng, Zhou Shangqin, Ma Weixing, and about ten others took a plane to Beijing.

Chen Yuan spent a significant portion of the past two weeks in the hospital.

After being discharged from the hospital, Chen Yuan felt that his health was fine, but Shen Yun, Zhang Qian and others were afraid that he would fall ill again, so they strictly controlled his working hours every day. He spent almost all his time in the office writing his defense materials, but there was nothing else to do.

There were only ten people from the research institute, including Chen Yuan, who participated in the defense, and the flight crew on the plane; there were no other passengers.

At this moment, Shen Yun was explaining in detail the specific information about tomorrow's defense. "Usually, the number of experts reviewing the defense of such major scientific research projects is between fifteen and sixteen. Apart from two financial experts, the rest are all technical experts."

Zhou Shangqin asked in confusion, "Dean, wasn't the defense and review process switched to online several years ago? And the principle is that no more than three people should participate in the defense. Why are we not only having an in-person defense this time, but we also need to charter a plane for about ten people?"

Chen Yuan was also puzzled by this and looked at Shen Yun.

Shen Yun explained, "Originally, the review process was divided into two parts: preliminary review and defense. You all know this, but the project we're working on this time is a bit different. The purpose of the preliminary review is to confirm its feasibility, and our project has already been determined to be feasible by the higher-ups and some experts. Therefore, the preliminary review stage has been skipped, or rather, it has been directly integrated into the second round of defense review."

He paused for a moment, "Project proposal defenses generally have several purposes, such as evaluating project quality, providing professional guidance, stimulating innovation, promoting talent development, and standardizing project management. This defense is less about evaluating project quality and more about inviting a large group of experts to provide professional opinions on our proposed project. After all, this project is extremely important, so the review experts invited this time are not ordinary experts, but all top professionals in the industry."

After hearing this information, Chen Yuan sensed the importance attached to it by those above and couldn't help but feel a little pressured.

Zhou Shangqin asked, puzzled, "What projects did we apply for that require an in-person defense?"

"That's what I wanted to say," Shen Yun continued. "The project we submitted this time was classified as top secret. Online defense might lead to leaks, so the higher-ups took that into consideration, which is why they specially set up a review panel for us to conduct in-person defenses at a designated location."

Chen Yuan nodded, understanding why, and also realizing the importance placed on it by those above, which made him feel even more pressured.

Ma Weixing asked nervously, "Could it be that all the experts on the review panel are academicians?"

"Xiao Ma, you guessed right, but there's no prize." Shen Yun smiled. "It's said that there are fourteen technical experts and two financial experts this time, and among the technical experts, only one is not an academician."

Holy crap.

"Is there only one person who isn't an academician?"

"Doesn't this mean that most of the academicians in the domestic nuclear field have come?"

"Currently, there are a total of twenty academicians in the nuclear field. Subtracting the three from our institute, only four did not participate?"

Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, Chu Yingying, and their entourage suddenly felt immense pressure.

Chen Yuan felt the same way; the thought of facing so many big names in the nuclear field put him under immense pressure.

As a result, everyone was already under so much pressure, and Shen Yun added another mountain to their burden.

Shen Yun looked at Chen Yuan and said, "Little Chen, do you remember how much research funding the higher-ups promised us?"

Chen Yuan nodded. "I remember. What's wrong?"

Ma Weixing, Chu Yingying, Jiang Guowei, and others were unaware of the extent of the promises made above, but upon hearing this topic, they immediately showed expressions of seriousness.

Everyone knows that the two most important things for a project are technology and funding.

Therefore, the amount of research funding that can be obtained may directly affect the success or failure of the project, so how can everyone not care?

Shen Yun said with a solemn expression, "The higher-ups mean that they want to use this defense review to understand the technical level of our submitted project, and then evaluate whether to add funding based on the technology presented. What was promised before is not the end point. How much additional funding we can get depends on our capabilities, or rather... on how capable you, Chen Yuan, really are. I'll let you in on this: the additional funding will not be in the billions, but in the tens of billions."

"what?"

"Are the additional funds all in the tens of billions?"

"Wow, what kind of project did we apply for this time? The research funding is so astonishing!"

Upon hearing this, Ma Weixing, Jiang Guowei, and others who were unaware of the situation were all in an uproar.

Unlike the others, Chen Yuan was both surprised and delighted.

Needless to say, this statement indicates that the higher-ups are determined to see this project succeed, as failure could have serious consequences.

As for the good news, Chen Yuan originally budgeted that the research funding required for the controlled nuclear fusion project should be at least 80 billion yuan, and more would be even better. However, the higher-ups had only promised 50 billion yuan. He believed that the project should be streamlined so that it could be completed with such a large amount of research and development funds.

Shen Yun revealed that as long as the defense judges demonstrate sufficient technical skills, there is a chance of receiving more, which Chen Yuan would naturally be happy about.

Now there's a big problem: how exactly do I showcase my skills during this defense review so that I can get more research funding from the higher-ups?

Chen Yuan fell into deep thought.

Because he was never prepared to bring out the key technologies from the beginning.

Getting fourteen nuclear experts and two financial experts to endorse a project without revealing key technologies is inherently a difficult task.

……

Meanwhile, in the capital city.

Just when Chen Yuan, Ma Weixing, and others were under immense pressure, a group of nuclear experts met at a hotel.

They are members of the expert review panel for Chen Yuan's application project.

The judging panel was indeed as strong as Shen Yun had said.

Chu Hong, chief scientist of Fusion Energy; Xu Qiu, chief engineer of the Southwest Institute of Physics of the Nuclear Industry; Xin Long, chief scientist of CNNC; Luo Yu, expert of the Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute; Li Jian, vice president of Huaxia University of Science and Technology, and other big names were almost all gathered here.

Although these people hold high positions in the nuclear field, they are not the highest-ranking individuals present.

Two of the most prominent figures in the nuclear field were present.

These two individuals are Yuan Wanhua, who has already retired, and Fan Zhen, an academician of both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics.

Yuan Wanhua is ninety years old. He is one of the disciples of Li Zhengwu, the founder of magnetic confinement nuclear fusion in China. He has presided over many major national scientific research projects and can be described as a towering figure in the nuclear field.

Fan Zhen is currently the leading researcher in inertial confinement fusion in China, and is considered the Beidou of the nuclear field.

The presence of these two individuals here signifies the arrival of the leading figures in China's nuclear field. Coupled with a host of academicians, one can imagine how impressive the expert lineup for this defense review is!