Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The predecessor of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center was the International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center. The name changed ever since China left ITER. The director had always been Zhou Chengfu.
Lu Zhou looked at Academician Pan’s expression and knew that Academician Pan was probably the one that convinced the other academicians to vouch for him.
After all, his level of networking and contacts in the Chinese academic community wasn’t enough to warrant academicians who he had never met to write letters for him.
Lu Zhou began to enter into deep thought.
Should I accept or not?
He thought for a bit and said, “I’m already the chief designer of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project. Is it fine for me to become the director of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center as well? Not to mention, my research work is very busy, and I don’t have the time.”
“Of course it’s fine, it’s common to have multiple jobs in academia. Not to mention these two jobs don’t conflict with each other, plus it wouldn’t take up too much of your time.” Academician Pan shook his head and said, “You just have to hold the director spot. The actual work can be delegated to your secretary, assistant, or if you really don’t want to do it, you can make the deputy director do it.”
Normally, Academician Pan wouldn’t suggest someone doing this. After all, it was very common for higher-ups to do nothing and delegate work all day.
But since this was Lu Zhou…
He didn’t have to worry about these things.
Lu Zhou didn’t look like he was convinced, so Academician Pan continued, “If you really don’t want to go, none of the deputy directors is a good fit. I’m sure you can figure out the reasons. If we transfer a person from the Energy Bureau, not only will they be unfamiliar with the work, but I’m afraid that they’ll be commanding people that know more than them and affect the progress of the project. We are focusing our attention on the big things, so we must do everything possible to avoid wasting resources.”
Lu Zhou: “I’ll think about it.”
Since Lu Zhou had his own ideas, Academician Pan didn’t want to persuade any longer. He just nodded.
“Okay, think about it. The Energy Bureau will ask for your opinion beforehand anyway. Oh yeah, the stellarator… is fine, right?”
When Academician Pan mentioned the “big things” just now, he felt a little anxious.
Unlike for a layman, the word stellarator was quite painful for scientific researchers.
Even though concentrating on the big things would increase efficiency, but that was based on the premise that the direction of the “big things” was correct.
Even though Academician Pan knew that the possibility of a mistake was small, he still couldn’t help but ask.
When Lu Zhou heard this, he gently coughed and muttered, “We’ve already come this far, don’t try to jinx it for us.”
Academician Pan was stunned. “What does jinx it mean?”
Lu Zhou: “It’s like when you say something bad is going to happen, it actually happens.”
“Can’t you millennials say some words that I can understand? My granddaughter is like this as well. She would say some random words all day long.” Academician Pan shook his head and stood up from the sofa. He then said, “Okay, I’m relieved that you are so confident. I don’t have time to chat with you. I’m going back to Beijing.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “See you, take it easy.”
…
Finally, after some consideration, Lu Zhou decided to agree to Academician Pan’s suggestion and became the director of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center.
As for the financial, personnel, management, and other administrative tasks of the Execution Center, Lu Zhou decided to maintain the original arrangements and make no changes. If it was necessary, he would make adjustments later.
Lu Zhou didn’t need to use this new director job to achieve any political influence. All he needed was for the Execution Center to continue to do what he wanted and to not bother his research.
After all, after the demonstration reactor was built, the Execution Center would probably be restructured again.
By that time, he could quit and give this director position to someone else.
A week after Zhou Chengfu quit his position, Lu Zhou received the formal director appointment document.
Almost at the same time, a piece of good news came from the China National Nuclear Corporation.
Academician Wang returned to the demonstration reactor site again and immediately found Lu Zhou. He was so excited that he didn’t even say hello. He got straight to the point.
“Your blueprint was so useful, we’ve basically solved the PGC-1 production process! We’ll start production latest at the end of the month!”
Lu Zhou had a smile on his face when he heard this news, and he immediately asked, “Where is the factory built?”
Academician Wang: “Changan!”
Ceramic-composite materials were widely used in the aerospace industry because of their high-temperature resistance, strength, and they are relatively lightweight. They were mainly used in liquid rocket engine nozzles, missile radomes, and other aerospace components.
The largest ceramic-based composite material production base in China was located in Changan. Therefore, the LPC-1 material production factory, co-owned by the China National Nuclear Corporation and the Jinling Institute of Computational Materials, was also being built there.
Changan…
That’s in the middle of the country.
Lu Zhou: “Isn’t Changan a bit too far from here?”
Lu Zhou originally thought that it could be built near Haizhou. This way, if a production accident happened, the researchers at the Institute of Computational Materials could go help them.
Just like the SG-1 superconducting material, the researchers at the Institute of Computational Materials helped a lot with the production process. All the way from the upgrade of the production line to solving a series of technical problems.
Academician Wang shook his head and said, “Not too far, it takes two days by rail. It’s close to our production base in Rongcheng. After the material is produced, it can be directly shipped to Rongcheng and be processed. Then, it can be sent to Haizhou to be assembled here.”
Actually, there was something else that Academician Wang didn’t say, which was the production safety aspect. Producing it inland was much safer than producing it near the coastline.
After all, even though this wasn’t military technology, it was still nuclear-related. This counted as a piece of sensitive technology.
Lu Zhou nodded and didn’t say much else.
“Okay then, you guys are the experts in this area. I won’t say much else. Stellarator track processing in Rongcheng? Will you guys be fine?”
When Academician Wang heard this question, he waved his hand.
“Don’t worry about this. Twenty years ago, our nuclear experts went to the French nuclear power plant for a visit. Even just observing from afar, they built a similar machine back home. After all, we also tinkered with the STAR machine for half a year now, and we’ve disassembled and reassembled it countless times. We’re the one that changed the outer coil for you. If we can’t even do this right, then we should all retire instead!”
Lu Zhou smiled and replied, “No, don’t do that. This project can’t continue without you guys. If you want to retire, make sure the demonstration reactor is successful first.”
Academician Wang smiled when he heard this, and he squinted his eyes and didn’t say anything.
The line, “this project can’t continue without you guys”, really resonated with him.
This feeling of being valued felt quite good.
Especially since Lu Zhou was a Nobel Prize laureate…
Lu Zhou asked, “The material production is already solved. How long will it take for the stellarator track to be in place?”
Without any hesitation, Academician Wang answered the question confidently, “I promise to build a complete stellarator track for you latest by the end of this year!”
