Chapter 84: Second Generation
After the first nuclear fission power plant was completed, Tom allowed it to operate for a period, collecting a large amount of data during this process.
Furthermore, Tom continuously dedicated the brainpower of thousands of people, carefully observing every process of its operation and contemplating how to optimize and improve its performance.
Thus, within just a few months, Tom conceived over a thousand optimization details and verified them in the laboratory.
Following this, Tom immediately began the construction of the second nuclear power plant.
In the human world, the construction of every nuclear power plant requires strict approval and surveys, and each one is a major undertaking.
Environmental assessment, safety, economic viability, regional impact, overall layout, and so on—which factor doesn’t require dozens or hundreds of expert teams to conduct years of investigation and research, generating tens or hundreds of thousands of survey documents before a resolution can finally be passed?
But for Tom, aside from the construction of the nuclear power plant itself, there were no other obstacles or concerns; he simply built it, and at an extremely fast pace.
Thus, the second nuclear power plant was immediately put into action.
Compared to the first-generation nuclear power plant, this second-generation, also the second nuclear power plant, achieved numerous detailed optimizations, primarily focusing on two aspects.
The first-generation nuclear power plant used water as a coolant and Neutron moderator, transferring heat through the water to heat another portion of water into steam, which then drove the generator.
However, in this nuclear power plant, the process was shortened from three steps to two.
Tom no longer attempted to transfer heat using water as a coolant; instead, he directly heated the water in the core through the fission of uranium fuel rods, simultaneously dissipating heat and directly turning it into steam to drive the generator.
The omission of just one step could directly increase efficiency by over 20%.
Another area of optimization and improvement came from advancements in materials science, leading to enhanced material properties.
As a crucial foundational discipline, Tom has never relaxed his research into materials science over the years.
Regardless of how many Clones he had under his command, Tom always ensured that at least 5% of his Clones were engaged in materials science research.
Currently, his maximum consciousness connection count is around 5.1 million, meaning approximately 250,000 Clones are working in the materials research base.
All kinds of materials—steel, cement, plastics, heat-resistant, cold-resistant, and so on—are all-encompassing.
Higher-performance materials allowed Tom to conduct fission at a greater rate and transfer energy more quickly, while also enhancing stability and safety.
Other adjustments were distributed across aspects such as overall structure, power stability, and safety redundancy.
All in all, the second-generation nuclear fission power plant, compared to the first generation, not only improved efficiency by over 30% but also became more intelligent and safer.
While the first-generation nuclear power plant lost 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, this second-generation nuclear power plant reduced its daily loss to about 250,000 kilowatt-hours, significantly reducing the deficit.
Tom vaguely recalled that nuclear fission power plants in the human world seemed to have developed to the sixth or seventh generation; compared to that, he had only reached the second generation, and the journey ahead was still long.
"But it doesn’t matter, one step at a time," Tom thought, quickly building the second nuclear power plant and repeating the process from the first-generation plant: observing, contemplating, and conducting laboratory verification.
While nuclear fission power generation technology progressed rapidly and steadily, another part of Tom’s energy was dedicated to a different matter.
This matter was also extremely important. In fact, whether he could truly open the door to the interstellar world in the future depended on this technology.
Ion Propulsion Technology!
From the Bluetook spacecraft and warships, Tom confirmed his previous conjecture.
Ion Propulsion Technology, and its advanced counterpart: High-Speed Ion Propulsion Technology, were indeed the future direction of development; absolutely true, there was no mistake.
The greatest difficulties faced by space travel are energy and propellant.
During long space voyages, it is usually impossible to obtain supplies from external sources; everything must rely on the spacecraft’s own reserves.
Without a sufficiently powerful energy supply, the spacecraft cannot operate. Without enough propellant, the spacecraft cannot eject it to propel itself.
Energy can be solved through nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, and for propellant, there is an upper limit to the amount a spacecraft can carry.
Since the upper limit cannot be increased, the only way is to increase the thrust provided by a unit of propellant.
And Ion Propulsion Technology is designed to solve this problem.
By ionizing the propellant and then using electromagnetic acceleration, ions are ejected at extremely high speeds; a tiny bit of propellant can generate thrust equivalent to a large amount of chemical fuel.
Of course, at this stage, High-Speed Ion Propulsion Technology is something Tom currently cannot consider.
Although the Blueprint Civilization’s mothership certainly has High-Speed Ion Thrusters, and Momolans and others have long been tamed and are willing to work diligently for Tom, they are not experts in this field, and Tom’s current technological strength is truly limited, making even reverse engineering impossible.
But it doesn’t matter; he can start with the basics.
First, he would build the primary ion thrusters already mastered in the human world, which could only propel a single sheet of paper.
Thus, another new research base rose from the vast, desolate land of Loshen Star.
The Ion Propulsion Laboratory!
Ion propulsion requires a large amount of electricity. Without hesitation, Tom directly built another power plant specifically to supply the electricity needed for the ion propulsion experiments.
Following this was the research and manufacturing of electromagnetic accelerators.
Basic electromagnetic accelerators are relatively simple; for example, the electromagnetic acceleration device previously built on God-Enemy Star was an application of this technology.
However, adapting it to accelerate ions presented different technical requirements and greatly increased the difficulty.
"The technology used in ion thrusters, and the electromagnetic cannon I will develop in the future, as well as the particle collider for fundamental physics research, all share similar underlying logic.
Once I master ion thruster technology, the electromagnetic cannon and particle collider can also enter preliminary research."
Tom thought to himself, full of passion and zeal, and threw himself into the research.
With the investment of a large number of Clones, and abundant resources and energy, gradually, the ionizer was successfully developed, breakthroughs were made in precision electromagnetic acceleration coil technology, and breakthroughs were achieved in energy stabilization modules...
Through a series of breakthroughs, a colossal cylindrical thruster, weighing over 300 tons and exceeding ten meters in length, finally appeared before Tom.