Chapter 83: Even a Power Plant Can Lose Money
Li Qingsong carefully placed it inside a spaceship and transported it hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Ceres before stopping.
Although there are no shockwaves in space, limiting a nuclear bomb’s power, a detonation would still unleash an extremely powerful electromagnetic pulse. If things went wrong, half of his factories and bases on Ceres could be paralyzed. Li Qingsong had to be cautious.
At this distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers, Li Qingsong deployed a vast array of detection equipment. Prepared for the high temperatures, radiation, and electromagnetic pulse, he focused all his efforts on observing the location of the nuclear bomb.
Once all preparations were complete, Li Qingsong decisively gave the detonation command.
The next moment, an extremely bright point of light erupted in the vast, dark depths of space, visible even to the naked eye from Ceres.
To the Clones who were closer, it looked more like a sun had appeared out of thin air.
The energy hidden deep within matter was liberated in this uncontrolled nuclear reaction, unleashing a near-infinite torrent of heat and energy that erupted outwards in all directions.
But the explosion came as quickly as it went.
After only a few seconds, the area returned to pitch blackness, and nothing could be seen at all.
In just those few seconds, Li Qingsong collected several terabytes of data.
After transmitting it back, he looked at the data, his heart filled with emotion.
’After all these years, this is the first time I’ve finally utilized a different type of energy source...’
A single detonation wasn’t enough. Based on the data he had now, Li Qingsong adjusted the design of subsequent atomic bombs and consolidated a great deal of knowledge about nuclear physics—knowledge that had existed in the Human World but that he had not previously mastered.
With each successive atomic bomb detonation, their volume and mass decreased, while their explosive yield steadily increased.
Ensuring that more Uranium-235 participated in the fission during the chain reaction, rather than being blasted apart before it could react, was a science in itself—one that required a profound understanding of nuclear physics to master.
The first atomic bomb Li Qingsong detonated had a yield equivalent to only about 8,000 tons of TNT.
But now, the tenth atomic bomb he detonated had a yield that quickly climbed to 100,000 tons of TNT.
Having reached this stage, Li Qingsong stopped researching how to increase the bomb’s yield and instead began to focus on miniaturization.
If he could reduce a nuclear warhead’s mass to just a few hundred kilograms, or even 100 kilograms, it would have practical combat applications fitted into an Interstellar Missile, even if its yield dropped to only one thousand tons of TNT.
However, this matter was not urgent and could be researched over time. The truly important thing was something else.
Through dozens of nuclear tests and ten nuclear detonations, Li Qingsong had now grasped a considerable amount of knowledge in nuclear physics.
So... it was time to get the nuclear fission power plant project underway.
There was no information about nuclear power plants aboard the Deep Space Spaceship. After all, Human Civilization had never expected Li Qingsong to build one on Ceres.
But it didn’t matter. With his command of all scientific knowledge and a sufficient grasp of nuclear physics, Li Qingsong could design one himself.
’The basic principle of a nuclear power plant is still just boiling water to drive a generator with steam. In that respect, it’s no different from a thermal power plant.
The only difference is that the material used to boil the water has changed from methane and oxygen to Uranium-235.’
Li Qingsong thought to himself, ’In that case, the key is controlling the fission rate of the fissile material.
The key to the fission rate is neutrons. As long as you can slow down the neutrons, the fission rate will decrease. Hmm, I have a vague recollection... I think it’s called a moderator or something.’
Combining this with his existing knowledge, Li Qingsong immediately thought of a suitable material for the current stage.
A neutron moderator to control the nuclear fission rate sounded sophisticated, but... the suitable material Li Qingsong found was, in fact, just water.
The most ordinary kind of water—the kind made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, the kind the Clones drank every day.
It could be used as a moderator.
Its performance wasn’t great, of course, but it was sufficient for now. He could find a more suitable moderator in the future once his technology improved.
With a moderator, the remaining issues were merely technical obstacles that could be overcome with some research.
And so, the blueprints for a nuclear power plant were quickly completed, and construction began swiftly.
Consequently, the uranium produced by the enrichment plant was no longer weapons-grade, at over 95% purity, but was instead controlled at around 3% and manufactured into rods.
These fuel rods were inserted into the reactor core and submerged in water. This way, if the uranium’s fission rate became too low to generate enough heat, Li Qingsong could increase the reaction rate by releasing additional neutrons.
If the reaction rate became too fast, he would stop releasing neutrons, and the neutrons produced by the fission reaction would be slowed by the water, causing the rate to decrease.
Once the reaction rate was controlled at an appropriate level, the heat generated by nuclear fission would be transferred to the water, boiling it to drive the generator.
Thus, a controllable nuclear fission reactor was built.
This nuclear power plant’s installed capacity was not particularly high, only 50,000 kilowatts, capable of generating just 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day.
Compared to the scale of Li Qingsong’s current industry, this was less than a drop in the bucket.
Furthermore, there was one rather awkward fact.
The power plant was actually operating at a loss.
Given the extremely poor uranium deposits on Ceres, the entire process—from initial mining through crushing, extraction, and centrifuge enrichment—of refining enough uranium to run the power plant for one day and generate 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed approximately 1.8 million kilowatt-hours itself.
In other words, for every day the nuclear power plant operated, Li Qingsong had a net loss of 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
And that didn’t even account for the construction cost of the power plant itself.
But even so, when the power plant’s electricity was connected to the grid for the first time, Li Qingsong was still exceptionally thrilled.
’Aside from the equipment brought from Earth, this is the very first time in my history that I’ve obtained energy from a source other than chemical fuels!’
’Who cares about a small loss? I can afford it!’
’As long as I can advance my technology, find energy sources superior to chemical fuels, and develop better propellants for spaceships and rockets, it wouldn’t matter if I lost 600,000 kilowatt-hours a day—or even 600 million!’
’This one nuclear power plant isn’t enough. I have to build more! A dozen, a hundred of them! Then I’ll slowly research how to improve performance and safety, how to reduce losses, and most importantly, how to miniaturize them and stuff a reactor into a spaceship!’