Chapter 38 Nuclear Testing

"Professor Ding, how long do you estimate it will take to finish?" Oliver asked, he had a lot of work and a lot of tasks, it was impossible to wait here endlessly, although his heart was also very curious.

"It's not easy to say, according to this progress, it will probably take another five or six hours." Professor Ding Yidong said. "After this, the nuclear bomb has to be encapsulated with the rocket, a job we don't specialize in and leave it to other laboratories. Finally, there will be ultrasonic testing. In total, it adds up to about two or three days of work."

Oliver pondered, picked up the design of the nuclear bomb and studied it carefully for a while, which contained a large amount of data and various images, the thickness of a book, with his existing level of knowledge, he could barely look at it, and could not make any effective suggestions.

"Professor, you make it too delicate, right? Too delicate things, the reliability is often not high ah ..."

"Alas, Captain Oliver ah, you should know, the smaller the nuclear bomb, but the more difficult. Bigger nuclear bombs are rather simple ah ..."

Professor Ding Yidong laughed bitterly, "Time is limited, resources are limited, I have no choice but to get that 20nm iron sheet paper. If we build a large nuclear bomb with enough funding, it won't be this kind of structure."

Oliver nodded, "By the way, if the helium-3 nuclear bomb is completed and nuclear testing is needed, there are still some procedures that need to be followed, you know this, right? Uh ... to my side anyway, it is certainly no problem, I will certainly approve it."

For these extremely destructive and high-risk weapons, certain security procedures are still being taken.

"Okay, this I know." Ding Yidong nodded and said, "I will type up the report tomorrow." Halfway through the sentence, he hesitated and said slowly, "Captain Oliver, if the blast is successful, then my advancement plan ..." He didn't say anything further, and his eyes stared up at Oliver, full of expectation.

Oliver couldn't help but think of his Billion-Ton Level Helium-3 Nuclear Bomb Propulsion Plan, his heart flooded with mutterings, alas, this plan, how can I put it, is too crazy ... He also thought of all the current engineering progress, and finally made up his mind.

"If the test is successful, your program, we will certainly reconsider!"

"Then it's a deal!" Professor Ding said excitedly, "I've prepared that plan a long time ago and revised it several times, so it's guaranteed to be foolproof!"

When he walked out of this lab, Oliver's mood was complicated. Although, today's party effect is very good, and overall held a very successful, but there is another thing like a big mountain on his heart.

That is - the engineering project of the Noah Project did not meet expectations.

Time has passed half, more than a hundred projects, only half is to meet expectations, the other half is not ... not people are lazy, nor people do not work hard, but, not enough energy ah!

Because of the time, people can not go back to build more nuclear power plants. The current electrical equipment is running at full capacity almost every moment, but it's still not enough.

Industrial production requires a huge amount of electrical energy, especially for smelting non-ferrous metals.

Usually, like iron ore {Fe}, copper ore {cu} this kind of reduction is weaker than carbon, as long as and carbon {c} put together and burned, can be reduced to metal monomers, in the Earth is basically used to produce coal.

But on the moon there is no such thing, can only use electrolysis, the consumption of electricity is too big.

Oliver headache, no copper can not make cable, no iron, no steel, so the ship's internal construction is seriously delayed, many ore piles like mountains, but there is not enough electricity to produce. It is said that it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, but with rice, no firewood, but also can not ah.

From today's report, the construction of various large life-support systems has just begun, too busy ... If the ships are in the sky, but things are not built, then the survival of all people is not guaranteed.

So, a batch of energy must be moved from somewhere! Deduct a little or save a little, energy is the first key, this is a big mountain pressed in his heart.

Oliver and Yuriko both walked one after the other, both thinking about this matter.

Although the agricultural transformation program successfully completed, can free up a lot of energy, which is good, but this batch of energy are expected, has been written into the planning, many new projects need to use this batch of energy.

Therefore, a batch of unexpected energy must be found in order to speed up the progress of the project.

So, where to find it?

Either, demolish, tear the original base to the ground, you can get a lot of metal materials. But this project is also very large, and must also be the last to do. Otherwise, the ship is not yet built, the base is picked up, where people live.

The best way is to cut the original hydrogen bomb making plan and replace it with a helium-3 nuclear bomb!

Because the production of hydrogen bombs is too energy-intensive, whether it is deuterium or tritium, it is troublesome as hell. Deuterium is found in water, but purification is a problem, requiring repeated distillation and then electrolysis, each step consuming a lot of energy. And tritium is not even a moment to expand production, only in the reactor slowly generated.

Most of the energy freed up by agricultural transformation is used to make hydrogen bombs. If you can, cut out all this part and use it to smelt metal!

To make helium-3 bombs, you basically don't need any energy, helium-3, people have close to 2,000 tons in their stockpile, and they can just use it! This is a very good solution, and Oliver can only secretly hope that Professor Ding Yidong's helium-3 nuclear bomb will be developed successfully.

...

Soon, three days passed, and Ding Yidong lived up to his expectations, and a report appeared quietly on Oliver's desk, "Application for a 1 Million Ton Helium-3 Nuclear Weapon Test"!

Oliver's mood was slightly excited, he flipped through a few pages, the basic content was similar to what he saw that day, and a safety audit procedure had been passed, he waved his hand and immediately wrote down two words.

"Approved!"

The new government's efficiency was very high, and the nuclear test was approved in the morning and held in the afternoon of the same day. After a series of notifications, a total of more than one hundred people attended the observation, including Oliver, Ding Yidong, Quentin, and about one hundred other scientific authorities who came to assess the blasting effect of the helium-3 nuclear bomb.

Everyone took this test very seriously, and if it was successful, people would get a more powerful nuclear bomb. The nuclear propulsion would also be different, and this was a nuclear test with a special meaning.

"I declare the test of mankind's first helium-3 nuclear weapon officially begun! The code name for this test - Qiming!"

As soon as the time was up, Oliver read out.

"The estimated yield of this nuclear test is 1 million tons of tnt level, and the test address is Acre Crater. Please prepare all observers."

Akeley Crater, a no-man's land 2,000 kilometers from the base, where a nuclear test should not be a problem and would have no impact on the base's production.

With a command, the helium-3 nuclear bomb was loaded into a huge steel container and transported by train and giant trailer from the factory to a place about one hundred kilometers away from the base, where there was a thirty meter high rocket launch tower.

"The launch vehicle is ready!"

"Observation satellites have been docked!"

"Observation unit has arrived at position!"

...

"All procedures have been set, please instruct!"

"Launch!" After Oliver's solemn announcement, the nuclear button was pressed and a ten-minute countdown appeared. This was a necessary safety measure, and the launch could be stopped at any time during those ten minutes. Of course, if one wanted to send it in an emergency, one had to ask for a string of sixty-four digit nuclear codes, which only Oliver knew.

Ten minutes ... nine minutes, as the time counted down, everyone's heart could not help but tense up. Professor Ding Yidong is even more so, this nuclear bomb is their own ten years of hard work cast ah, as their own children, how can not nervous? His ten fingers squeezed and unclenched, squeezed and unclenched, obviously very unsettled in his heart.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven ... three, two, one, zero!" The missile took off with a bang!