Faced with Fang Xu's doubts, Lü Yongchang could only purse his lips slightly.
And that was already an inflated estimate!
If Fang Xu knew I'd drawn up these plans in a single night, I'd probably be on a dissection table by now, wouldn't I?
"It's only a design for the reaction chamber. It's still a long way from a complete controlled nuclear fusion reactor!"
At Lü Yongchang's shameless humblebrag, the corners of Fang Xu's mouth twitched twice.
In all forty-five years of his life, Lü Yongchang had to be the biggest show-off he had ever met.
But he soon noticed something unusual.
"Wait!"
"This reaction chamber..."
Fang Xu's voice made everyone's heart tighten.
Hong Qiming couldn't help turning to look at him as well.
Could... could there be an error in the reaction chamber's design?!
"This isn't a Tokamak Device!"
Fang Xu cried out in surprise.
A hint of amusement appeared at the corners of Lü Yongchang's eyes.
As expected of Academician Fang. Nothing got past him!
"Of course it isn't a Tokamak Device!"
"It's a Stellarator."
Lü Yongchang chuckled. "If my calculations are correct, ITER's controlled nuclear fusion runs should last less than thirty minutes, right?"
Fang Xu's gaze flickered, and he nodded slightly. "That's right. In the latest experiment, the fusion reaction was sustained for around twenty-six minutes."
"Could that mean..."
"Heh..." Lü Yongchang gave a quiet laugh. "Unless something unexpected happens, ITER will soon hit the limits of the Tokamak Device!"
Fang Xu's pupils abruptly contracted. "Are you saying... the Tokamak Device isn't the optimal solution for achieving controlled nuclear fusion?!"
Lü Yongchang nodded, confirming Fang Xu's conclusion.
"How could that be... if that's true, hasn't humanity spent decades heading down the wrong path?!"
Fang Xu stood frozen in place, muttering to himself.
He found Lü Yongchang's claim difficult to accept!
Naturally, Lü Yongchang understood the conflicting emotions Fang Xu was experiencing.
In his previous life, Xia Country had poured all its scientific research resources into developing the Tokamak Device to break the monopoly!
Yet no matter how hard they tried, they could never sustain controlled nuclear fusion for longer than thirty minutes!
At the time, that had dealt a devastating blow to every researcher's confidence!
If Fang Xu hadn't discovered the Tokamak Device's flaws by chance, Xia Country would probably have followed that mistaken path to the bitter end in its pursuit of controlled nuclear fusion!
"How... how can I verify your claim?!"
Fang Xu was, after all, one of Xia Country's foremost scientists. After a brief moment of shock, he recovered and immediately questioned Lü Yongchang in a grave voice.
Lü Yongchang shrugged and said casually, "It's simple. Just find the most basic Stellarator, build the reaction chamber using the material I derived, then ignite nuclear fusion. That will verify it."
Fang Xu's gaze flickered.
He remembered that the laboratory did indeed have an "obsolete" Stellarator they had once paid a fortune for.
"Wait!"
Hong Qiming's booming voice suddenly rang out beside them.
"Could... one of you explain what a Stellarator and a Tokamak Device are?"
As he spoke, Hong Qiming turned his gaze toward Lü Yongchang.
Seeing this, Guan Hualiang and Fang Xu both stepped back, leaving the floor to Lü Yongchang.
After a moment's thought, Lü Yongchang began, "Minister Hong, you know that controlled nuclear fusion requires a powerful magnetic field to confine the fusion fuel, right?"
When Hong Qiming nodded, Lü Yongchang breathed a small sigh of relief.
That made it much easier to explain!
Otherwise... I'd have to explain the principles of controlled nuclear fusion from scratch!
Sure, it would only take a few sentences, but it would still be more trouble!
"Simply put, a Tokamak Device requires a plasma current to generate its helical, ring-shaped magnetic cage. A Stellarator doesn't. It can generate a twisted, ring-shaped magnetic cage directly through external coils."
"Then... what's the difference between them? Don't they both generate magnetic fields?"
A trace of confusion appeared in Hong Qiming's eyes.
Snap!
Lü Yongchang snapped his fingers lightly.
"That's exactly the point I was getting to!"
"In a Tokamak Device, the plasma current can reach tens of millions of amperes. A current that enormous is bound to cause countless problems."
"For example, kink modes, magnetic surface tearing, magnetic island formation, and so on!"
"All of these reduce our ability to confine the plasma."
"The result could be as mild as the reaction dying out-or as severe as an explosion!"
As he spoke, Lü Yongchang made an exploding gesture with his hands.
Hong Qiming nodded, only half understanding.
Although he hadn't understood the technical terms Lü Yongchang had used, he had understood that last sentence.
So the Tokamak Device could explode?!
With a complicated expression, Hong Qiming looked at Academician Fang Xu beside him.
Under Hong Qiming's gaze, Fang Xu could only nod helplessly. "That possibility does exist, but... so far, no Tokamak Device has ever suffered a failure that severe!"
"Not yet, but what about later?" Lü Yongchang said evenly. "Once the fusion duration reaches thirty minutes, those severe consequences might appear!"
Fang Xu abruptly stiffened and cried out, "Are you saying a Tokamak Device will explode after thirty minutes of fusion?!"
Lü Yongchang nodded with a conflicted expression. "That's right. It's also the Tokamak Device's biggest trap."
"Although the poloidal magnetic field generated by the plasma current makes the magnetic cage very simple in structure, the high temperatures and enormous current will ultimately lead to unforeseen incidents."
Realization dawned on Fang Xu. "So that's it! That's it!"
"What about the Stellarator?" Hong Qiming swallowed slightly and asked in a low voice.
He suddenly felt that this young-faced sophomore before him was, in this field, just like an old professor who had spent decades immersed in it!
Even Fang Xu seemed like a student in comparison!
At Hong Qiming's question, Lü Yongchang replied casually, "The Stellarator is simple. You just use external coils to create a closed, twisted, ring-shaped magnetic cage inside!"
Hong Qiming: "???"
"It's that simple? Then why didn't we use the Stellarator before?!"
Fang Xu shot Lü Yongchang an exasperated sideways glance and explained, "The difficulty with the Stellarator lies in manufacturing the external coils."
"First, the external coils have irregular shapes. That's a major manufacturing challenge."
"Second, to generate a sufficiently powerful magnetic field, the coils should ideally be superconducting, which makes it even harder."
"After all, we still haven't achieved a breakthrough in room-temperature superconductivity."
Lü Yongchang's quiet voice drifted over from beside him. "What if I could solve the problem of room-temperature superconducting materials?"
Before you continue