Movie black technology

Chen Shen didn't know about this newly announced aerospace plane before, but the development of this horizontal take-off and landing aerospace plane was also in his expectation.

The performance of the Tibetan Antelope using the plasma reactor is too limited. If these few Tibetan Antelopes could not be used to explore the way for the later nuclear-powered version, he would not want to build it.

Tang Huacong and he both see it this way, and naturally they have the same idea in China.

Moreover, Chen Shen estimated that there must be more than one kind of horizontal take-off and landing aerospace aircraft under research in China.

Just like airplanes, in addition to cargo planes, there are also passenger planes and other types.

So now the family bucket package of the aerospace plane is probably already prepared in various research institutes.

The actions of domestic and foreign countries in the past few days are like boxing parties talking harshly to each other before the match, but now it is not the time to really fight, so the situation calmed down again after the storm passed.

Chen Shen also received another piece of good news about the miniature nuclear reactor.

That is, the manufacture of the containment shell sample outside the reactor has been completed. Judging from the initial test, the shielding performance against radiation and radioactive substances is fully up to standard.

This layer of containment is located on the outermost layer of the entire nuclear reactor, which is equivalent to a large box enclosing the reactor. Only the heat transfer circuit system can pass through it, and it will be firmly fixed with the spacecraft structure.

This layer of containment itself is pressure-resistant, drop-resistant and radiation-resistant, and the hull of the entire spaceship is used as a buffer outside, so the risk of nuclear leakage has been reduced to negligible.

Soon after receiving this news, the time entered October, and then other parts of the spacecraft's nuclear protection system also came with good news.

First, the manufacture of nuclear fuel pellets was completed, then the new cladding steel was successfully released, and then the heat transfer circuit system and pressure system were also tested.

These constitute the four layers of nuclear protection on board the Tibetan Antelope.

The first layer is the nuclear fuel pellets and the surrounding alloy matrix. These nuclear fuels wrapped in ceramics can retain more than 99.8% of radioactive fissile substances from escaping, and only neutrons and gamma rays with strong penetrability can radiate come out.

The second layer of protection is the cladding tube.

This thing is the container of nuclear fuel. Pieces of nuclear fuel pellets are put into the cladding tube and stacked into a cylinder to form a fuel rod that people often hear. The cladding tube is in a sealed state, which can prevent it again under long-term operating conditions Escaping radioactive fission products.

If it is a slow neutron reactor, countries all over the world generally use zirconium alloy as the cladding tube, because zirconium has a very low thermal neutron absorption cross section, high hardness, ductility and corrosion resistance.

However, the Tibetan antelope is a fast neutron reactor, and the material of the cladding tube is different.

The main requirements for fast reactor cladding tube materials are low neutron absorption cross-section, weldability, high temperature strength, good radiation resistance, and good compatibility with fuel and coolant. If the above requirements are met, it is best to have The advantage of low manufacturing cost.

In the past, all countries in the world used austenitic stainless steel, which is a kind of stainless steel for industrial use. Until foreign countries found that using this steel as a cladding component would cause radiation swelling, which would affect the safety and economy of the reactor. Therefore, Start changing the cladding material.

Up to now, the fast reactor cladding material has been transitioning to ferrite/martensitic dual phase steel.

When it comes to the system, the material used is also improved steel, which is not different from the current technology in route, and can meet the above requirements.

The third nuclear barrier of the Tibetan Antelope is a special pressure vessel and a closed primary heat conduction system.

This layer of barrier can completely block the leakage of radioactive materials. Even if all nuclear fuel elements in the core are destroyed, radioactive materials cannot leak out of it. This is equivalent to the second shell inside the containment.

The remaining fourth barrier is naturally the containment shell, which has the same protective properties as the third barrier. As long as it is not broken, even if all the internal protection measures fail, there is no need to worry about nuclear leakage.

The protection system has reached this point, and the internal shutdown device is basically completed.

Chen Shen calculated the time. It was estimated that it would take nine months to manufacture this fast reactor, but now it has been achieved in only three months. If it is fast, the reactor assembly may be completed in another month. There is still plenty of time.

The work efficiency of other domestic systems is not low.

The defense system had just been completed, and it didn't take long for Chen Shen to receive another piece of good news.

That is, the thermoelectric power generation system on the spacecraft has been completed.

Upon hearing the news, Chen Shen immediately boarded the helicopter that took off from the base.

After several transfers on the way, he arrived at the factory.

This is not a nuclear industrial base, so there is no need to worry about safety issues, so he can come here.

After arriving at the factory, Chen Shen arrived at the scene immediately and saw with his own eyes the power generation system that was going to be put on the spacecraft.

It is built from many pieces of nano-semiconductor thermoelectric materials. These thermoelectric materials cultivated and synthesized from the nanometer scale are of different sizes and shapes. It is the skeleton version of the Tibetan Antelope.

This is the thermoelectric power generation system, which does not require steam turbines, let alone boiling water!

This power generation system is also connected to a heat conduction system, which is a liquid sodium secondary circuit, which is responsible for receiving heat from the radioactive primary circuit, and then transferring the heat to the power generation system to generate electricity.

Although Shenshen Chen was fast enough, he was still late, and the staff were already testing the system.

And Qiu Yongjun who followed him got all the data of this power generation system.

"The test has been carried out for eight hours so far, and the heat transfer system has been running at full power for five hours. After losing the continuous heat source until now, the power generation system has maintained full power operation."

Qiu Yongjun fetched the test report so far, recounted the conclusions to Chen Shen who was observing the power generation system, and then handed over the report.

Chen Shen took the document and looked at it carefully. Next to him, Director Niu who was in charge of on-site management also added:

"From the current situation, it is estimated that this power generation system can run at full power for another hour, and then it will slowly drop down, and this is still in the case of atmospheric heat conduction. If it is in a vacuum, the full power running time It has to be added."

Director Niu looked at the power generation system with surprise in his eyes, "This kind of thermoelectric material is too powerful. Now that the heat conduction system has stopped heating for three hours, the temperature difference between the two ends has dropped by less than two-fifths!"