Back to the Republic of China to be a editor

In April 1952, the Computing Institute obtained another TC4.

"This is a heavy water reactor designed to use low-enriched uranium with an abundance of 4%, heavy water as a neutron moderator, and moderator graphite."

"According to the theoretical calculation of uranium 235 and the critical radius calculation method proposed by Fermi, I have done 4 numerical calculations with a supercomputer. When in state 1, the neutron production rate of the reactor is equal to the neutron loss rate (including neutron absorption and neutron leakage), the reactor has reached a critical state. The heat generated by the reactor is also numerically calculated. After the existing parameters are substituted into the calculation, such a water circulation cooling system is designed. The heat energy of the reactor can be passed through the pipeline loop to Take it out in the form of high-temperature steam, and condense and recover it here. If you have time, you can also make a heat exchanger between the reactor pipe loop and the second water circulation loop, then the water vapor in the second water circulation loop can drive a The steam turbine generates some electricity, but as a test reactor, we will not run it stably and continuously, and the power generation function is dispensable."

Deng Jiaxian was talking about his reactor design, while Wang Ganchang, Qian Sanqiang, Zhao Zhongyao, and Tang Hua were listening.

"Mr. Zhao, have you ever seen an American nuclear reactor when you were in the United States?" Qian Sanqiang asked.

Zhao Zhongyao shook his head, "No. I only visited the former site of Chicago's No. 1942 reactor once. The reactor was built in 1943, and because the technology was not mature, it was dismantled in early [-]. We only saw the basement room where Chicago No. [-] was placed. , and a model of the reactor for visitors."

Tang Hua: "Chicago One is the most basic principle reactor built by Fermi to prove the existence of chain nuclear reactions. It doesn't make sense for us to rebuild Chicago One now. Professor Deng's reactor is much more mature than Chicago One. , can run continuously, and can carry out many observation items and numerical tests.”

Deng Jiaxian: "I listened to the teacher at Purdue University explain what the structure of a mature reactor should be. I wrote it down in my notebook. In addition, Gan Chang also provided a lot of ideas."

Tang Hua took the general outline of the reactor drawn by Deng Jiaxian, and made another small calculation in his mind.

To develop an atomic bomb, a nuclear reactor must first be built.The reactor is the official start of the nuclear weapons industry.

After the reactor is running, the most critical parameters of the chain reaction can be observed, such as the amount of neutrons, which is one of the most important parameters for the design of nuclear weapons. If the value deviates too much, it is either an atomic bomb component When it was manufactured in the workshop, the uranium 235 blocks melted and exploded, or they were assembled and taken out for a test explosion, and it did not make a sound.

It is now 1952, and no country has agreed to support China in developing nuclear weapons.In the next few years, we should be able to get some help from the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union may not provide [-]% unreserved basic data on all chain reactions and nuclear weapons.Historically, the Soviet Union did not give them all, and in the end they withdrew all the experts.Now this branch of history... there is no guarantee that the Soviet Union will support it [-]%, in short, all preparations must be made.

The second function of the reactor is to produce plutonium 239. In nuclear weapons, plutonium bombs are more common than uranium bombs. The fission cores in two-phase bombs and three-phase bombs are basically made of plutonium. Therefore, after nuclear powers detonate the first atomic bomb , Generally, a dedicated plutonium production reactor must be built.A test reactor must also be built before building a plutonium production reactor.

Zhao Zhongyao: "Now that there is an electrostatic accelerator in China, if there is another experimental nuclear reactor, the basic research of atomic energy can reach a very high level, and a solid foundation can be laid for the development of nuclear weapons in the future. It is a pity that nuclear reactors are now being built in China. The conditions are not there yet."

Qian Sanqiang: "Maybe we can disassemble the major structures of this reactor and what each major structure should be used to see what can be built by ourselves and what can't, and then the country will try its best to work in this direction."

"I've figured out the key components of the reactor for Professor Deng just now." Tang Hua said, "I'll talk about it from the inside out."

"Uranium 235, no. Uranium oxide, no. Uranium ore, it seems that small uranium deposits have been found in two places, so it is considered to be there. But smelting yellow cake from the ore requires a new factory, and the equipment may have to be purchased from the Soviet Union. Isotope separation and purification must be introduced now, and the gas diffusion plant in the Soviet Union has just started on the right track, which is difficult.”

"Neutron source components, no. This thing... is no easier to deal with than uranium-235."

"Heavy water, no. Instead, we can produce heavy water by ourselves. We collect boiler water from all over the country and do chemical separation. We can slowly collect a ton or two tons. It will be too late to build a heavy water plant after the overall date of the nuclear program is determined."

"There is no graphite moderator either. Have graphite mines been discovered in Hunan recently?"

Graphite is a carbon element, and coal is also a carbon element, but the ultra-high-purity graphite used in nuclear reactors is not processed from coal, and natural graphite mines must be found.

The graphite purity of natural graphite ore is just over 80%, and the graphite purity of the moderator used in the reactor requires four 9s, which is 99.99%.The mined graphite ore has to be purified, no matter whether it is wet method, acid-base method or hydrofluoric acid method, it is not easy.We must know that in the 21st century, the international community sanctioned countries suspected of stealing nuclear weapons, and high-purity graphite was listed in the first-class list of prohibited materials in the material embargo.

"In addition to the purity of the reactor core and the cladding materials outside the uranium, there are also processing methods and processing equipment, processing of ceramic reactor internals and carbon bricks... This is another several factories that have gone out."

"The shell outside the reactor, the pressure vessel. Our boiler factory was completed and put into operation from 1954 to 1955. At that time, it was considered that large-scale pressure vessels could be built in China. Large-scale pressure vessels... Tsk, if I can do this, I must first Build more than a dozen sets of ammonia synthesis equipment."

……

Tang Hua went on one by one, and finally everyone agreed on one thing: Among the key parts of the reactor, the only lead shielding layer can be manufactured in China now.For other parts, it will take two to three years if they are optimistic, and 10 or 8 years if they are not optimistic.The latter, Tang Hua, didn't say it clearly, but he still expressed his tendency to seek foreign aid to these four people.

"Professor Deng, Teacher Zhao, nuclear engineering—a project that combines nuclear weapons and nuclear energy—is not something that can be done by the Institute of Atomic Energy, not even the Institute of Atomic Energy and the Ministry of Heavy Industry. First, the country basically has a Peaceful environment, secondly, if we want to develop an atomic bomb, we need the country, the Government Council, of course, including the Ministry of Heavy Industry, and the army to join in. At that time, we will need to set up a special committee to coordinate this kind of thing. We can now do planning and calculation, But it is a bit difficult to start construction immediately.”

"So let's continue with paper and pen and brain exercise." Wang Ganchang said.

Deng Jiaxian: "Okay, it's not all paper and pen. I still have two big computers here. After having these two big guys, the way I think about problems has changed. If there is something to do, I have to calculate the numerical solution of the equation first... "

……

Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, USA.

A 26-meter-long heavy-duty trailer-type truck with black smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe came out of the final assembly workshop of the Picatinny Arsenal.This car is not only long and big, but also has a strange shape of trailer body, not like a car, but more like the wagon of a train.

The towable body is equipped with a cannon. The barrel looks more than ten meters long, and the thickness of the two-section barrel is also very scary. It seems that as long as this cannon is placed by the sea, it can penetrate battleships with one shot. .

"Your work efficiency is very high. It took only three months to expand the caliber from 240 mm to 280 mm." The U.S. Army's "Atomic Anne" project manager told Agnes Burdett, the chief engineer of the Picatinny Arsenal. .

"First, thank God; second, thank you for increasing the appropriation while increasing the caliber; and finally, thank you for removing the system weight limit for the M65 artillery." Agnes replied to the project manager.

"In the end, you should mourn your hair, your hairline has been moving back like an ebb these three months." The project manager made a rare joke, "Things started in Los Amos, they tried We couldn't put a nuclear warhead in a 240mm shell, tried everything we could. So we had to get you to cooperate with Los Amos. Fortunately, you managed to build the gun."

Agnes: "One more thing I want to know, is 'Atomic Anne' named after 'Anzio Anne' from 1943?"

"The answer to this question is known by the Army Chief of Staff or the Secretary of the Army, and I can only guess. So, next, can we conduct a test firing of the artillery firing conventional shells?"

The M65 atomic cannon, nicknamed the "Cold War Magic Cannon", quietly rolled off the production line one morning in the summer of 1952.

Nuclear cannons and nuclear artillery shells are things developed by the United States in response to the Cold War situation. They are intended to be deployed in Western Europe, and they are designed to attack Soviet armored and propelled armored clusters. Although the M65 has a total length of 26 meters, a barrel length of more than 12 meters, and a 280mm shell that cannot be carried by a human being, it must be loaded with a small hydraulic crane that comes with the vehicle, but it is indeed the first "portable" small nuclear weapon.The nuclear shell weighing 364 kilograms is filled with 50 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. It uses a gun-type structure, which is similar to the "little boy" thrown in Japan. The equivalent is not high, 15000 tons of TNT.

……

At this time, at the US military nuclear plant in Oak Ridge, the first W9 nuclear shell was being assembled.

At the Pantax factory, two Mark 8 nuclear bombs dedicated to destroying underground targets have been assembled and are ready to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force.The Mark 2 nuclear bomb is considered an initial weight-reducing atomic bomb. It does not necessarily require a B-8, but an A-29 attack aircraft can drop it.Mark 26 is a delayed explosion on touchdown, relying on the kinetic energy of the bomb's falling and a solid shell, it will explode only a few meters into the ground, and it can destroy the underground fortification with a 8-meter soil layer above the head.

But now, the U.S. Army and even the top U.S. military are most looking forward to the early successful test of the W9 nuclear shell.

When the W9 nuclear shell and the M65 atomic cannon were designed, the Korean War had not yet broken out.The U.S. Army is thinking about deploying it in the Federal Republic of Germany, 3% of which is the Rhine River area. It deploys a tactical atomic cannon battalion with 6 companies, 65 M8 guns, and 24 trucks transporting nuclear shells and fuzes. nuclear bombs.

And now...

The factories in Agnes and Oak Ridge both had uninvited visitors.Ordinary workers only saw three or two people in suits and shoes walking into factories and workshops, but the project manager and president who met them knew that this group of people was neither US government employees nor US military personnel, but members of Eisenhower's campaign team.

……

Beijing, Institute of Atomic Energy.

"So in the past two years, you may still have to be patient," Tang Hua said, "Ms. Zhao and Professor Qian will still go back to work on lasers, and Professor Deng, you will stay on the supercomputer and continue to do theoretical calculations. Old Wang... I remember Zhisi Do you have a new mission for you?"

Wang Ganchang: "Yes, I want to go to the Korean battlefield with Wu Hengxing and Lin Chuanliu. It is related to nuclear defense."

Tang Hua: "I'm also trying to make a trip to North Korea. Our group first arranges radioactive detection equipment. Once the US military uses small nuclear weapons, we can collect evidence in the first place; secondly, supervise the tunnels of the volunteers. The transformation of the fortifications to carry nuclear strikes. After more than a year of construction of these tunnel fortifications, the ability to prevent artillery and air attacks is not a problem, but the ability to defend against nuclear and chemical weapons is not necessarily the case, especially the non-standard tunnels dug by the volunteers. Tunnels. Fortunately, Anshan Iron and Steel has worked overtime to produce new protective components, and they are being shipped to the front line. It will be reassuring to see them rebuild every tunnel.”

Zhao Zhongyao: "Is it really possible for the U.S. military to use nuclear weapons on the Korean battlefield? I remember that in the past two years, Truman said twice that 'the use of nuclear weapons in North Korea is not ruled out', but he swallowed his words after he finished speaking."

Tang Hua: "The U.S. military has delivered an atomic bomb that can be air-dropped by tactical aircraft. It is a fortification-destroying type that penetrates the ground and explodes. Now there is news that the U.S. military has developed a small atomic bomb that can be launched by cannons. This thing As long as the U.S. military is in a hurry, the possibility of indiscriminate shooting at the front cannot be ruled out, especially because the next president of the U.S. is likely to be a five-star general who served as the commander of the front army in World War II."

Chapter 228, Article [-] of the Armistice Agreement Passed

The 1952 general election in the United States of America did not officially start until July, and now it is August, and it is the Democratic candidate Stevenson who has the upper hand.

The presidential election can be analyzed by using newspapers, magazines and radio as data. Tang Hua is looking carefully to see if there are any differences from history.

Both the donkey and elephant parties launched their final formal candidates in July.It was at the Democratic National Convention on July 7 that Stevenson was pushed out and Truman was eliminated.Although Truman signed the 7nd Amendment, the president has a maximum of 21 years, and the term of the predecessor who died and the vice president lay in office is also counted as one term, but Truman later made a patch, saying that the 22nd Amendment will start from his next president. It will only take effect at the beginning, and he himself can run for one term.However, Truman rushed to run for the party's election, and was defeated in the first state.

Stevenson kicked off the incumbent President Truman and was officially designated as a candidate by the Democratic Party, and his campaign strategy also specifically distanced himself from Truman.Whatever policy Truman is implementing now, Stevenson said that he would never do it when he took office.Truman reused McCarthy, and Stevenson said that he dismissed McCarthy's committee as soon as he took office.Truman was a failure as a president.

On the Republican side, the national convention on July 7 elected Eisenhower as a candidate.The result may seem unremarkable, but the process is really thrilling.