Chapter 529 It's up to You!

The ITER Council is the highest decision-making body of the ITER program and organization. It is composed of 4 representatives (Representatives) authorized by the respective foreign ministries from the seven member governments and nominated experts according to the needs of the meeting. Its roles and responsibilities are the same as those of the company's board of directors. very similar.

However, unlike companies, there is no "company law" that can bind the resolutions of the ITER Council.

It is not entirely their technical level and investment ratio in this field that determine the right to speak of the major shareholders, but more depends on the diplomatic strength of each country.

However, at this meeting, the situation was reversed.

Instead of the previous silence, at the meeting of the council, Deputy Director Luo Zhanyuan, a representative re-appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made a clear and strong response to the request made by the American personnel.

"...We have fulfilled our obligation to disclose the details of controlled fusion experiments and research progress to ITER member states. If we have to disclose all the technical details just because the STAR device is applied to a certain technology, then I can be very responsible. I would like to remind you that the main control computer in the STAR device uses an INTER chip. Should you show your sincerity before asking for generous donations from the other party?"

After listening to the translation, Minister Adam Cohen, as the representative of the United States, stared at Luo Zhanyuan sharply, and said seriously: "This is an unreasonable request. Intel is not a partner of ITER, and chip technology is Intel's private property. Moreover, this is completely different from what we are discussing!"

Facing Secretary Cohen's aggressive tone, Luo Zhanyuan made a rebuttal without hesitation.

"The STAR Stellarator Research Institute and its cooperative enterprises are also not the cooperative units of ITER. The SG-1 superconducting magnet technology and the STAR device control scheme belong to the private property of each unit. In my opinion, this is the same as the ITER project. "

Adam Cohen: "You're Swapping Concepts!"

Luo Zhanyuan asked unceremoniously, "Are you talking about yourself?"

"..."

Director-General Osamu Motoshima, who was sitting at the conference table, suddenly sighed softly.

"The meeting looks like it's going to break up badly."

Ishida Keiichi, the representative of Japan who was sitting next to him, heard this and asked him with a sideways glance.

"Mr. Motoshima, don't you wonder how Professor Lu did it?"

Last year, the Cray-XC50 supercomputer was officially put into service at the Rokkasho Nuclear Fusion Research Institute, providing computing support for the country's controllable fusion research and the ITER program. Although the computing power of this computer only ranks around 15th on the list of supercomputers, the supercomputer is designed to serve the research of controllable nuclear fusion, so it is impossible to make a simple horizontal comparison with other general-purpose computers.

Just like Anton is to computational chemistry, Cray-XC50 is equivalent to a large combine harvester for the research of plasma physics and controllable nuclear fusion.

It just so happens that they still lack a set of effective control schemes. If Huaguo agrees to disclose the control scheme of the STAR Stellarator Research Institute, they are confident that they can do better.

However, this possibility is extremely low.

Staring at the representatives of the two sides confronting each other in the morning meeting, Osamu Motoshima was silent for a while and answered Tanaka's question.

"I want to be curious, but I have to say that this is not a tactful way. The US side wants to show its strength in the ITER project, but the possibility that the Chinese side is willing to compromise on this issue is very low. If Mr. Cohen continues to show himself The final result is very likely to lead to China's complete withdrawal from the ITER project."

"Isn't this what the Americans want?" asked Keiichi Ishida.

On the other side, Zhou Chengfu, who was sitting on the expert seat, had a complicated expression on his face at the moment, feeling the gazes of representatives from other countries drifting over from time to time.

This meeting was full of gunpowder from the very beginning, and he could smell the signs even before it started.

It was the internal meeting in China first, and then the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was airborne. The toughness of Deputy Director Luo in the meeting can be said to have exceeded his expectations.

All kinds of signs are showing that the top management seems to have given up their illusions about ITER. And it is almost predictable that, facing the risk of being kicked out, the next payment will probably not arrive as scheduled.

As the country's attitude towards the ITER project took a turn for the worse, as the director of the Huaguo International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Implementation Center, I was obviously caught in a dilemma.

Logically speaking, he does not want to withdraw from ITER.

It took such a high price to join in at the beginning, if it really withdraws now, it will not only mean that those efforts are in vain, but also mean that the cooperation between many domestic research institutions and ITER member countries will face the possibility of being terminated.

And most importantly, if Huaguo finally decides to withdraw from ITER, then the International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center will naturally have no need to exist. Even if it is unlikely to be disbanded on the spot, reorganization is inevitable.

And it is almost foreseeable that domestic research in related fields may turn to stellarator in an all-round way.

And his painstaking efforts over the past ten years...

Thinking of this, Zhou Chengfu's expression became more and more complicated.

Up to now, he himself does not know whether what he is worried about is the future of the domestic controllable nuclear fusion business, or his own future...

...

For Lu Zhou, the dramatic changes in ITER were also not a pleasant thing.

Originally, in his plan, there would be a lot of cooperation with the Max Planck Society, but now it seems that he and the Helix 7-X laboratory have changed from potential partners to potential competitors.

It had to be said that such a change somewhat complicated his mood.

But what is exciting is that at the same time that he finally completed the plan for the liquid lithium neutron meeting system, good news came from the Huaguo Nuclear Industry Group.

Chief Engineer Wang, who came to Jinling again, not only brought the hope of applying MHD generators to fusion reactors, but also brought a more detailed sketch.

Although it is still a sketch, except for the connection port, the basic structure of the entire magnetic fluid generator set has been designed.

Holding the blueprint and looking briefly at it, Lu Zhou said.

"Basically there is no problem... By the way, what is the expected energy conversion efficiency?"

Academician Wang: "The preliminary estimate of 50% is not a problem, and maybe it can be higher. But the specific reality has not come out, and it is too early to say these things."

Lu Zhou said unexpectedly: "50%? Is it so high?"

Academician Wang smiled and said: "This is just a conservative estimate. We discussed it with experts from the Electrical Engineering Institute. As you said, the magnetic fluid power generation technology is not suitable for thermal power generation, but it is still feasible to use it in nuclear fusion power generation." Quite high. Without discussing the heating of the plasma, and the impact of coal slag and carbon deposits on engine efficiency, these problems that we are difficult to solve in thermal power do not exist.”

Lu Zhou: "How long will it take to make the actual object?"

Academician Wang thought for a while and replied: "Probably next year, except for the part of the connection port, the design problem is actually not big, and it is not very troublesome to make it."

Speaking of this, Academician Wang smiled and continued, "The generator set is actually a trivial matter. These are all problems that can be solved with time. I heard that you plan to use magnetic fluid generators for nuclear fusion. Those who participated in the electrical engineering institute The masters who have passed the 863 project are already gearing up. As long as you can build the reactor, our generator set will definitely be ready for you."

Hearing Academician Wang's joke, Lu Zhou smiled faintly.

"You don't need to worry about this issue. It's useless to say more. You will know if I can do it or not."

"It seems that you are quite confident." Seeing the confident expression on Lu Zhou's face, Academician Wang smiled and said, "Speaking of which, you were born in the 1990s, right? Do you know what technology blockade means?"

Lu Zhou said calmly: "It means that the visits and exchanges between more than 20 domestic research institutes and foreign controllable fusion research units may be suspended, and about a hundred ongoing research projects may not be able to proceed or even be cancelled. "

In addition, it will probably affect billions of orders, as well as the graduation of hundreds of master's and doctoral students...

These are things that can happen, or will definitely happen.

But even so, so what?

"It seems you know."

Seeing Lu Zhou, whose expression remained unchanged, Academician Wang gradually showed a hint of approval in his gaze.

Ability and ability are different. An excellent scientific researcher does not necessarily become an excellent academic leader. There is a difference between general talent and handsome talent.

If it was said that he still had some doubts about this young person in charge before, then this doubt has been diluted a lot now.

Restraining his joking expression, looking at Lu Zhou, the old gentleman said solemnly.

"Then please!"