Chapter Thirty-Two: The Fusion Nuclear Power Plant
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“Damn, left eye twitch means fortune, right eye twitch means disaster. Is something about to happen?”
He set the book on the nightstand, tugged the quilt over himself, and gazed at the starry sky above, his eyelids growing heavy.
“Ugh…”
He yawned, drifting slowly into sleep.
…
The cafeteria, in the morning.
A group of old timers, as usual, chatted about the latest news and gossip around the base.
“Hey, did you hear? A high-ranking official is coming to inspect today.”
“How high-ranking are we talking?”
“I heard the Ministry of Energy had a successful experiment, so the inspection is specifically for them.”
Munching on his steamed bun, Zhang Mingyang listened to their conversation with indifference. It had nothing to do with him anyway.
“You guys are early today,” Lin Guangming said, carrying his tray as he sat beside Zhang Mingyang.
“Mingyang, there’s a task for you today.”
Zhang Mingyang stopped chewing and looked at his teacher. “What task? Don’t tell me I have to receive the officials!”
“Officials? What officials?” Lin Guangming looked utterly confused.
“Old Lin, haven’t you heard? Some bigwigs are coming to tour your Ministry of Energy today.”
“Bigwigs coming? The department didn’t say anything.”
“Calling yourself a leader and you don’t even know this? I just saw Old Qian send people to your lab to get things ready.”
“Oh!” Lin Guangming quickly checked his communicator, and sure enough, there was a message: all Ministry of Energy staff were to assemble in the lab at nine to prepare for the inspection.
“Ah, I spent all night reading and didn’t notice.”
“Teacher, you mentioned a task earlier—what is it?”
Lin Guangming glanced at the communicator. “Never mind, I’ll tell you later. We need to get ready to welcome the officials.”
“Oh.”
Zhang Mingyang put his head down and kept eating.
After a moment, Lin Guangming turned to him again. “Forget it, there’s nothing interesting about welcoming officials. You should go instead.”
Zhang Mingyang eyed his teacher suspiciously. What could be so mysterious?
“Teacher, is this something good?”
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Lin Guangming laughed, “If it was anything good, would I ask you?”
“The department wants someone knowledgeable about nuclear power to visit the nuclear plant and learn a thing or two. This is to ensure that if any issues arise in later phases of the experiment, we have a contact on hand.”
“You majored in nuclear physics, so you were my first choice,” he said, and the two exchanged a knowing smile.
“No wonder you’re my teacher—you always know what I’m thinking.”
Lin Guangming swallowed his porridge and replied quietly, “Of course. The moment you arrived, you were asking about the nuclear plant. Did you think I didn’t notice you wanted to see the legendary ‘fusion nuclear plant’?”
“Teacher, late-night snacks for a month are on me.”
“Oh, please, as if I don’t know how stingy you are.”
“You don’t need to join the welcoming ceremony later. Better use that time to go and study.”
Beep beep—
Lin Guangming’s communicator rang.
“Oh, Old Qian is urging me. That’s enough chit-chat. Head to the airport and take the helicopter directly to the plant; everything’s been arranged. When you return, just brief me on their main facilities.”
With that, Lin Guangming left his unfinished meal and rushed out.
“Looks like my right eye twitch brought fortune, not disaster!”
Finishing his breakfast in a hurry, Zhang Mingyang dashed to the airport.
At the airport, he bumped into Captain Liu again and greeted him.
“Hey, Captain Liu, you’re military, right?”
Liu Ming studied Zhang Mingyang with a strange look, then glanced at himself. “Why, do I not look it?”
“You do, but why aren’t you in uniform?”
“Oh, that? It’s to avoid the spy satellites overhead. They see everything so clearly, so we all have to look like regular airport staff.”
“But with an airport this size here, won’t they get suspicious?”
Liu Ming replied with confidence, “You don’t understand. There are thousands of airports nationwide; how could they tell which are military and which are civilian? Besides, there must be over a hundred township-level airports like this one across the country. Even with more satellites, they can’t keep up.”
“Oh, so that’s why the base buildings look so rural—to blend in.”
“Captain, the helicopter is here,” a young soldier reported.
“Alright, Xiao Zhang, off you go.”
After bidding farewell to Captain Liu, Zhang Mingyang boarded the helicopter bound for the nuclear plant.
From the helicopter, Zhang Mingyang got his first clear view of the base’s surroundings—endless forests and, except for a few low buildings, nothing else.
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“Mr. Zhang,”
The pilot turned and asked, “Which plant are we heading to?”
“Number Two.”
Zhang Mingyang had already learned that among the three plants, only Number Two used fusion; the other two were standard pressurized water reactors.
“Alright.”
The helicopter veered sharply eastward.
Half an hour later, Zhang Mingyang saw a lake and the iconic structures of a nuclear plant: cooling towers and the blocky containment buildings.
The pilot pointed down. “We’re here.”
With that, he brought the helicopter down.
…
As the helicopter settled, Zhang Mingyang jumped out. A middle-aged man approached and shook his hand.
“Mr. Zhang, we’ve been notified of your visit. I’ll be your guide. I’m the deputy chief engineer here; just call me Engineer Wang.”
“Engineer Wang, thank you for your trouble.”
Engineer Wang led Zhang Mingyang toward the reactor, explaining as they walked.
“Mr. Zhang, our Number Two Nuclear Plant has four units, each with a capacity in the tens of millions of kilowatts. All four together can output over a hundred million kilowatts, supplying about a tenth of the country’s electricity. But compared to the power needs of that machine at your base, it’s still not enough.”
“You know about our collider at the base?”
Engineer Wang smiled, “Of course. I’ve worked at this plant for nearly thirty years—long before your base was built.”
“Oh.”
Engineer Wang continued, “This plant uses fusion technology, as I’m sure you know.”
Zhang Mingyang nodded, then asked, “But you use fresh water here, right?”
Pointing to the lake, Engineer Wang replied, “We could use seawater, but your base is inland, with no ocean for hundreds of kilometers. So we could only build by this lake.”
As they spoke, they arrived at Unit One. Passing through the first security door, they changed into protective gear, then entered the second security door. After several turns, they reached the third security door.
With the last door open, they stood at the very heart of the reactor.