Chapter 84: The Second Generation
After the first nuclear fission power plant was completed, Li Qingsong let it run for a period, collecting a large amount of data in the process.
Furthermore, Li Qingsong was constantly dedicating the brainpower equivalent to thousands of people to carefully observe every step of its operation, contemplating how to optimize and enhance its performance.
As a result, in just a few months, Li Qingsong had devised over a thousand optimization details and verified them in the laboratory.
Following this, Li Qingsong immediately began construction on a second nuclear power plant.
In the Human World, the construction of any nuclear power plant requires rigorous approvals and extensive studies; each one is a monumental undertaking.
Environmental assessments, safety reviews, economic viability, regional impact, strategic placement—which of these factors wouldn’t require dozens, if not hundreds, of expert teams to conduct years of investigation and research, generating tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of documents before a final decision could be reached?
But for Li Qingsong, aside from the construction itself, there were no other obstacles or concerns. If he decided to build, it was built, and at an incredible speed.
Thus, the second nuclear power plant was immediately underway.
Compared to the first-generation plant, this second-generation model—the second one built—featured numerous detailed optimizations, primarily focused on two areas.
The first-generation plant used water as a coolant and neutron moderator. The water would carry heat away to boil a separate body of water, creating steam to drive the generators.
In this new plant, however, the process was shortened from three steps to two.
Instead of using water to transfer heat out of the core, Li Qingsong designed it so the fission of the uranium fuel rods heated the water directly inside the core. While cooling the reactor, this process simultaneously boiled the water into steam to drive the generators.
By omitting just one step, the efficiency was boosted by over 20%.
The other major optimization came from improved material performance, thanks to his advances in materials science.
As a crucial foundational discipline, materials science was a field Li Qingsong had never neglected in his research over the years.
No matter how many Clones were under his command, Li Qingsong always ensured that at least 5% of them were engaged in materials science research.
His current maximum consciousness link count was around 5.1 million, meaning there were approximately 250,000 Clones working in the materials research base.
Their work encompassed all sorts of materials: steel, cement, plastics, heat-resistant and cold-resistant alloys, and much, much more.
Higher-performance materials allowed Li Qingsong to achieve a greater rate of fission and faster energy transfer, while simultaneously improving stability and safety.
Other adjustments were made to the overall structure, power grid stability, and safety redundancy systems.
All told, compared to the first generation, the second-generation nuclear fission power plant was not only over 30% more efficient but also more intelligent and safer.
The first-generation plant ran at a net loss of 600,000 kWh of electricity per day. The second-generation plant reduced this daily deficit to around 250,000 kWh, significantly cutting the losses.
Li Qingsong vaguely recalled that nuclear fission plants in the Human World had already reached their sixth or seventh generation. ’Compared to that, I’ve only just reached the second generation,’ he thought. ’There’s still a long road ahead.’
’But that’s fine. I’ll just take it one step at a time.’
With this in mind, Li Qingsong quickly completed the second nuclear power plant. He then repeated the process he’d used for the first: more observation, contemplation, and laboratory validation.
While his nuclear fission technology progressed rapidly and steadily, Li Qingsong devoted another portion of his attention to a different matter.
This matter was equally critical. One could even say his future ability to truly open the door to the Interstellar World depended entirely on this technology.
Ion propulsion technology!
From the ships and Warships of the Blutuk People, Li Qingsong had confirmed his earlier suspicions.
Ion propulsion, and its advanced form, High-speed Ion Propulsion, was most definitely the path forward. There was no doubt about it.
The greatest challenges in travel through the Cosmos are energy and propellant.
During long voyages through the Cosmos, it’s typically impossible to resupply externally; everything must rely on the ship’s own reserves.
Without a powerful enough energy supply, the ship cannot function. Without enough propellant, it has nothing to eject to propel itself forward.
The energy problem can be solved with nuclear fission and fusion, but there’s a limit to how much propellant a ship can carry.
Since that limit can’t be raised, the only solution is to increase the thrust generated per unit of propellant.
And that is precisely the problem ion propulsion technology solves.
By ionizing a propellant and then using electromagnetic fields to accelerate the ions to extremely high speeds, a tiny amount of propellant can generate thrust equivalent to vast quantities of chemical fuel.
Of course, for the time being, High-speed Ion Propulsion was out of the question for Li Qingsong.
The Blutuk Civilization’s mothership was indeed equipped with a high-speed ion thrust device, and the Molomans and their people had long been subdued, willing to serve Li Qingsong with all their effort. However, they weren’t experts in this field. Furthermore, Li Qingsong’s own technological capabilities were so limited at this stage that he couldn’t even begin to reverse-engineer it.
’No matter,’ he thought. ’I can start with the fundamentals.’
’First, I’ll build the kind of basic ion thrust device that the Human World has already mastered—the type that can barely push a sheet of paper. We’ll go from there.’
And so, another new research base rose from the vast, desolate plains of Ceres.
The Ion Propulsion Laboratory!
Ion propulsion consumed massive amounts of electricity. Without a second thought, Li Qingsong built another power plant dedicated solely to supplying the needs of the ion propulsion experiments.
After that came the research and fabrication of an electromagnetic accelerator.
A basic electromagnetic accelerator is relatively simple; the electromagnetic launch system built earlier on Enemy God Star, for example, was an application of this technology.
However, modifying it to accelerate ions involved entirely different technical requirements, and the difficulty was significantly higher.
’The technology used in an ion thrust device, the Electromagnetic Cannon I plan to develop in the future, and the Particle Collider for fundamental physics research... they all share similar underlying principles.’
’Once I’ve mastered the ion thrust device, I can begin preliminary research on the Electromagnetic Cannon and the Particle Collider as well.’
Li Qingsong mused to himself, throwing himself into the research with immense passion and enthusiasm.
With a massive investment of Clones, resources, and energy, progress came steadily: the ionizer was successfully developed, breakthroughs were made in precision electromagnetic accelerator coil technology, the power stabilization module was perfected...
Following this series of breakthroughs, a massive cylindrical Thrust Device, with a total mass exceeding 300 tons and a length of over ten meters, finally stood before Li Qingsong.