Homo sapiens

144 grams of cobalt 60 can continuously generate 2.7 kilowatts of power.

This is an extremely high power generation efficiency.

You know, currently only Lucia and America have mastered the comprehensive nuclear battery production technology in the world, and their power generation is extremely impressive.

Using plutonium as the raw material for nuclear batteries and using thermoelectric power generation technology, a nuclear battery device weighing dozens of kilograms can only produce a few watts of power.

The characteristic of thermoelectric power generation technology is that the system is simple and crude, but the disadvantage is that the thermal efficiency is very low, only 10% to 20%.

The compressed air absorption layer they inadvertently created before them could actually achieve an output power of 2.8 kilowatts and a thermoelectric efficiency of 67%. This unexpected surprise made Du Hai tremble with excitement.

While Levis was writing a report to report the discovery to the Ministry of Science, he asked Du Hai to lead others to conduct further research.

The key now is to replicate the experiment and study the power generation principle.

This discovery immediately alarmed the management of the Science Department.

Even Li Qingye, who had been immersed in studying genetic issues, also received the news.

Although he was surprised by this discovery, he did not interfere with the research plan of the Nuclear Power Research Institute. He just asked Sanji Badalaya to pay more attention to the report in this regard.

After redesigning the experiment.

The 1377 laboratory of the Nuclear Power Research Institute in Hongsawady is responsible for repeated experiments to see if they can be reproduced.

In the 1377 laboratory at this time.

According to the design of the nuclear explosion test site, 144 grams of cobalt-60 was then placed in the production site. As the barrier layer was lifted, a large number of gamma rays and beta rays passed through the first layer of composite lead plates and entered the compressed air absorption layer.

"Report, detection of current generation..."

"The voltage is 32,000 to 86,000 volts, the current is... the power is 2.617 to 2.75 kilowatts..."

"The compressed air temperature is 23.4 degrees Celsius and the flow rate is 12 meters per second..."

The person in charge of the laboratory stared wide-eyed: "It actually works! How on earth does this generate electricity?"

Suddenly he narrowed his eyes and seemed to think of something, muttering to himself: "Gamma rays, air...resonance frequency...I understand! That's it."

He had a video call with Levis, Du Hai and others on Diego Garcia through the internal communication channel.

Then he told them his findings and guesses.

After hearing this, Du Hai from Diego Garcia also suddenly realized: "So that's it..."

Specifically, the generator mechanism in this experiment is mainly due to the resonance frequency formed by gamma rays and compressed air.

The fast-flowing compressed air and the composite lead plates on both sides form positive and negative electrodes.

As a result, the energy of gamma rays is quickly converted into electrical energy.

In fact, this phenomenon also exists in nature, that is, after cosmic gamma rays enter the earth's atmosphere, they turn into lightning.

Of course, not all lightning is excited by gamma rays, only a small proportion of lightning is excited by gamma rays.

Because this kind of gamma ray lightning is rare and unpredictable, the time and place of its appearance are full of uncertainty, and human research on this phenomenon is almost blank.

This time, the cobalt bomb experiment unexpectedly allowed them to discover the formation mechanism of gamma ray lightning.

Du Hai immediately communicated with the person in charge of Laboratory 1377 to readjust the experiment and prepare to study the current generated by gamma rays under different gases, compression degrees, flow rates, and metal barrier layers.

After redesigning, they roughly prepared hundreds of control groups and prepared to test them one by one, trying to figure out the optimal conditions for the formation of gamma ray lightning as soon as possible.

the other side.

Du Hai is also thinking about how to quickly produce cobalt 60.

If cobalt 60 is to be used as a raw material for nuclear batteries, then nuclear explosions cannot be used to produce cobalt 60, and other solutions can only be used.

Although as a raw material for nuclear batteries, cobalt-60 only has a half-life of 5.27 years, which does not meet the requirements for long-term use of nuclear batteries.

But it cannot stand up to its high thermoelectric efficiency and relatively good energy density.

Moreover, after cobalt 60 decays, it will turn into extremely stable nickel 60. Nickel 60 is a non-radioactive element, which facilitates the disposal of nuclear batteries.

In the field of outer space, cobalt 60 nuclear batteries may not be suitable.

But inside the earth, cobalt-60 nuclear batteries have great potential, and some special fields require the use of better self-sustaining energy systems.

For example, if a heavy exoskeleton armor can be equipped with a ten kilogram cobalt 60 nuclear battery (containing five kilograms of cobalt 60), the power generation can reach 93.8 kilowatts.

The lightweight exoskeletons currently used usually need to be paired with bulky ternary composite batteries, resulting in part of the exoskeleton's power being wasted on supporting the 20 kilogram battery.

If a cobalt 60 nuclear battery is used, it can be compressed to the 2 kilogram level.

However, Du Hai also knows that because cobalt-60 is very dangerous, the company will most likely not launch a civilian version casually, and will at most equip a batch for new humans.

After all, there is uncertainty about natural personnel. If someone goes crazy and directly takes out the cobalt-60 in the nuclear battery and releases it in the city, it will definitely be a disaster.

On the other hand, the fully new humanized security team may consider equipping them with a batch of nuclear batteries.

He thought for a long time, and then contacted his colleagues at the Nuclear Power Research Institute, asking them to quickly cooperate with the 1377 laboratory to strive for the early realization of the practical use of cobalt 60 nuclear batteries.

As for the gamma ray generator mechanism, can it be applied to other nuclear power plants?

After discussion by Du Hai, Dr. Levis and others, it can be used as an auxiliary power generation system, but it is basically impossible to serve as the main power generation system.

This is related to the current principle of nuclear power generation. Whether it is nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, the main energy is contained in the released thermal neutrons, not in optical radiation.

Therefore, the main force of nuclear power is still boiling water.

However, a ground furnace nuclear fusion reactor can use a gamma ray power generation system. After all, a ground furnace nuclear fusion reactor essentially detonates a miniature hydrogen bomb, which will produce a large amount of gamma rays.

The previous molten salt power generation system could only absorb part of the optical radiation, and the absorption rate of gamma rays was very low. It could only rely on the lead plate composite layer to resist, and this part of the energy was wasted.

Half a month later.

In the 1377 Laboratory of the Nuclear Power Research Institute, six test groups conducted a total of 32 controlled experiments.

Through these experiments, we have basically figured out some conditions of the gamma ray generator, including the best gas to use, the best compression ratio, the best gas flow rate, the thickness of the gas and the metal plate, etc.

At the same time, another laboratory is designing a cobalt 60 nuclear battery system based on these data.

After all, this is something that is extremely radioactive and is very troublesome to design. Although most of the gamma rays are absorbed through the resonance frequency of the air, about 0.21% of the gamma rays will still penetrate the gas layer.

Therefore, it is necessary to install a composite lead plate with a suitable thickness and a protective shell with sufficient strength, while taking into account miniaturization and power generation.

Faced with these requirements, many researchers and engineers are almost bald.

Du Hai can no longer stay in Diego Garcia. He is eager to return home and wants to go back to study nuclear batteries.

But before he could make a report, base director Le Gong came over with several senior executives from the external security department.

Du Hai was pulled over for another meeting.

He was confused as to the purpose of the External Security Division. After all, the main research team for the cobalt bomb was from Dr. Levi's side. What did it have to do with his Nuclear Power Research Institute?

Thank you for your support (ω｀), please subscribe, collect, monthly votes and recommendation votes.