Pangu One

The three-day public naming campaign had ended.

The results were now sitting on the desk of the project's chief engineer, Lü Yongchang.

Looking at the name before him, Lü Yongchang's mouth twitched.

He stared speechlessly at the staff member standing before him, who was drenched in sweat. "This name... can we change it?"

"Patrick Star? Do you really think that can be the name of a fusion demonstration reactor?!"

"Actually, can I choose a name?"

The staff member's face flushed red, and he hurriedly nodded. "Of course! Of course we can change it!"

"You're the chief engineer. You certainly have naming rights!"

Lü Yongchang looked at the sheet of A4 paper covered in bizarre names, stroked his chin, and sank into thought.

The staff member watched Lü Yongchang anxiously.

To be honest, he was a little afraid Lü Yongchang would come up with an equally bizarre name!

After all, he knew how young Lü Yongchang was.

"Hmm... let's call it Pangu!" A gleam flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes as he made his decision. "How about the Pangu One Fusion Reactor?"

"Pangu separated heaven and earth, ushering in a new world. It fits Xia Country now that we've mastered controlled nuclear fusion."

The staff member's eyes lit up, and excitement spread across his face.

"Th-that's a good name!"

"Then it's settled!"

By this point, all the hardware inside the Pangu One Fusion Reactor had been installed.

In addition to its four reactors, it was equipped with twenty large magnetohydrodynamic generator banks!

Each bank contained ten magnetohydrodynamic generators.

And each magnetohydrodynamic generator had a rated output of 2,000 MW!

That brought the Pangu One Fusion Reactor's rated output to a staggering 400,000 megawatts!

For comparison, the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Station had an output of just 22,500 megawatts!

A full seventeenfold difference!

That was the power of nuclear fusion!

However, no reaction was taking place inside the Pangu One Fusion Reactor yet.

The reason... lay in the Main Control Program.

Late that night.

"Ah!"

A heavy sigh echoed through Pangu One's control room.

"What are we going to do...?"

The view drew closer.

An elderly man in his sixties, with gray hair at his temples, frowned at the glowing green code on the computer screen before him. Every so often, he shook his head and let out a deep sigh.

His name was Yuan Hongwei, and he was an academician of the Xia Kingdom Academy of Sciences.

In his younger years, he had led a team that developed control software for controlled nuclear fission, an achievement that had earned him election to the Xia Kingdom Academy of Sciences!

As one of the few people in Xia Country with relevant experience, he had naturally been invited to lead the development of the Main Control Program for controlled nuclear fusion.

Beside Yuan Hongwei stood a young man in his thirties. He was Yuan Hongwei's final protégé and had learned most of his mentor's skills.

But at that moment, both men were staring gloomily at the computer screen.

"Elder Yuan, we can't rush this. Developing the Main Control Program for nuclear fission took over a year, and this is nuclear fusion!"

The young man offered quiet reassurance.

At those words, Elder Yuan's expression stiffened, and the white whiskers around his mouth quivered.

"H-how can I not be anxious?!"

"The Pangu One Fusion Reactor is waiting on us now!"

"Everyone in the entire institute is watching us, waiting!"

Elder Yuan's words silenced the young man as well.

After a moment, the young man let out a deep sigh. "Elder Yuan, I'm not trying to be defeatist."

"To control the high-temperature plasma inside a stellarator reactor, we have to solve the turbulence problem that's plagued physics for countless years."

"As far as I can see, that's virtually impossible!"

Bitterness filled Elder Yuan's eyes.

He knew that all too well.

But he also knew just how much importance Xia Country placed on controlled nuclear fusion technology!

As an academician of the Xia Kingdom Academy of Sciences, he refused to give up!

Knock, knock, knock!

A rhythmic knocking came from the door.

Elder Yuan paused, then hurriedly stood and walked toward the control room door.

"It's so late... who would come here at this hour...?"

Puzzlement flickered in Elder Yuan's eyes. He cleared his throat and called loudly through the door, "Ahem... who is it?!"

"Elder Yuan, it's me, Lü Yongchang."

Elder Yuan froze again, then came to his senses and hastily reached out to open the door.

Outside, weariness showed in Lü Yongchang's eyes, but a faint smile remained on his face.

"Professor Lü, what brings you here so late?" Professor Yuan quickly stepped aside and ushered him in.

Once inside the main control room, Lü Yongchang glanced around.

When he saw the computers glowing green on the desks, he let out a deep sigh.

"Elder Yuan, is the fusion reactor's Main Control Program still not ready?"

Hearing Lü Yongchang's sigh, Elder Yuan's eyes filled with bitterness, and he slowly shook his head.

Lü Yongchang pondered for a moment before asking another question.

"Have you run into some difficulty?"

"Of course we have!"

Before Elder Yuan could answer, the young man in his thirties who had been standing nearby spoke up.

Elder Yuan frowned slightly and rebuked him in a low voice. "Su Cheng! Mind what you're saying!"

Then Elder Yuan composed himself and turned to Lü Yongchang. "Professor Lü, please give us a little more time. Fusion reactors are different from fission reactors. The factors we have to account for are rather complicated."

Lü Yongchang raised his eyebrows and looked at the young man beside Elder Yuan. "Elder Yuan, is this your student?"

Elder Yuan nodded and introduced him. "Su Cheng. He's fairly talented."

Lü Yongchang smiled kindly at Su Cheng and asked, "Could you tell me about the difficulties you just mentioned?"

"Perhaps I can help you solve them."

Su Cheng instinctively glanced at Elder Yuan.

Seeing that Elder Yuan was frowning but did not object, Su Cheng swallowed and began to explain.

"Professor Lü, I won't go into the differences between the Fusion Reactor and fission reactors. I'm sure you understand them better than I do."

Lü Yongchang nodded lightly.

Su Cheng continued, "In a fission reactor, we only need to manipulate the control rods to compensate for fuel consumption and regulate the reaction rate."

"But a fusion reactor is different."

"Inside the reactor, the motion of the high-temperature plasma is extremely complex."

"And that involves a problem that has plagued physics for decades: turbulence."

"To put it another way, the Navier–Stokes Equations, or NS equations."

"To achieve perfect control over the high-temperature plasma inside the reactor, we have to fully master the NS equations."

"That is why we still haven't been able to finish the Main Control Program for nuclear fusion."