Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 828, The Third Type of Uranium Refining Technology: Extraordinary Abilities and Nuclear Phys

Los Alamos County.

It is a county in north-central New Mexico, and one of the smallest and least populated counties in the state.

This remote place has now become a restricted area, and outsiders are not allowed to enter.

However, a large number of construction material transport vehicles travel to and from this place every day.

It is clear that a large-scale construction project is underway.

This information was like a key, but it only opened a small crack in the Manhattan Project.

There is still not much information about the project details.

This gave Fang Wen a real headache.

"Mr. Fang, you haven't had breakfast yet, so I brought you a sandwich." Lin Shuiwang pushed open the office door, carrying a takeout lunchbox. Seeing Fang Wen's serious expression, he placed the breakfast on the table. "Jax sent over some supplementary information, saying they've found some clues about Jesse Beams' team."

Fang Wen's eyes lit up: "What did you say?"

“Jaxton inquired about the labs at the University of Virginia. According to a researcher who stayed behind, the Beams team suddenly evacuated in early June this year, taking all the experimental data and small prototypes related to centrifuges with them. They left in a great hurry, without even having time to clean up the lab equipment.” Lin Shuiwang subconsciously looked out the window and continued, “Moreover, some people saw military vehicles picking them up, speculating that they were secretly recruited by the military, but no one knows exactly where they went.”

“Early June…” Fang Wen murmured to himself, opened his notebook, and traced a line of text, “That was right when Roosevelt established that scientific research office.”

In early June, the Roosevelt administration announced the establishment of the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), headed by Vannevar Bush.

It seems that the departure of the Beams team is related to the project led by this office, namely the "Manhattan Project" that he is looking for.

As he was pondering this, the phone on his desk rang again, and Fang Wen picked up the receiver.

It was Indiana calling, her voice urgent and panicked: "Fang, I've found out some more things. This information is crucial, but also dangerous. I didn't dare make the call from inside the station; I'm calling from a public phone booth outside."

Fang Wen immediately lowered his voice: "Explain clearly, what news?"

“I asked a friend in the military to inquire again, and he risked revealing that this top-secret project is codenamed S-1 Uranium Project, not the Manhattan Project.” Indiana’s voice crackled with static. “This project was just upgraded to a top national secret in June, and is fully managed by OSRD. Although the funding is not much, it has gathered the top scientists in the United States. Physicists like Einstein and Szilard who fled from Europe are all involved.”

I see. Perhaps the information I have is incomplete. The Manhattan Project was only named later.

"What about concentration technology? What methods do they use? Is it centrifugation?" Fang Wen asked, this was the question he was most concerned about.

“No!” Indiana’s voice was firm. “My old acquaintance said that the military has determined that centrifugation is not an industrial-scale solution in the short term. The Beams team was called up only for backup experiments, not the main approach. The S-1 project is now focusing on two approaches: one is the electromagnetic separation method developed by Lawrence’s team in Berkeley, California, which uses a modified cyclotron and is still in the laboratory verification stage, with no factory construction yet; the other is the gas diffusion method, which is only theoretically calculated and doesn’t even have a prototype.”

Electromagnetic separation? Fang Wen frowned. He had never heard of this method before, and it was completely different from the centrifugation route provided by Jiang Wenjin.

However, it seems that the United States, which brings together the world's top scientists, has long recognized the bottleneck of centrifugation technology and has turned its full efforts to promote two other routes. The research of the Beams team is just a backup plan, better than nothing.

“Also, I might have made a mistake about Los Alamos,” Indiana added. “An old acquaintance of mine said that although the S-1 project has its base in Los Alamos, it hasn’t officially moved in yet. The scientists are scattered in laboratories at Columbia University, the University of Virginia, and UC Berkeley. Los Alamos is still just a construction site, and right now only the FBI and military intelligence personnel are monitoring it from the outside.”

Fang Wen thought to himself that Indiana's level was not high enough, and the information he found was still very vague.

However, by combining his memories of the future, he was still able to determine the authenticity of the information provided by Indiana.

It seems that the Manhattan Project will not officially begin in the United States until next year.

Fang Wen suddenly remembered that the United States had always collaborated with the United Kingdom on nuclear research, and perhaps a breakthrough could be found from the UK.

"What about the UK? Is there any relevant news?"

“There’s a report from Britain called Maud, which is supposed to be sent to the US in July. It details the feasibility and cost of the atomic bomb, but it hasn’t arrived yet, and I can’t find out the specific details.” Indiana’s voice carried a hint of helplessness. “Mr. Fang, that’s all I can find out. The S-1 project is classified at a very high level. I’m just the head of the New York branch. I have no access to the core information. If I investigate any further, it might arouse suspicion from the military and the bureau, and then we’ll all be exposed.”

Fang Wen knew in his heart that Indiana was telling the truth.

The FBI's New York field director had already exhausted all his resources by being able to find the code name for the S-1 project, the locations of its scattered laboratories, and the two core technology routes.

Forcing him to investigate further would only backfire.

"I understand." Fang Wen's tone softened a bit. "Stop for now, don't investigate any further. I'll contact you again if needed."

"Understood, I'll hang up now."

The call has ended.

Fang Wen leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and sorted through all the information in his mind.

This month, the S-1 uranium project was just launched. Centrifugation was abandoned, and the main methods are electromagnetic separation and gaseous diffusion. The laboratories are scattered across three universities. Los Alamos is under construction and has not yet been occupied. The UK Maud report will be delivered in July, and the Beams team has moved to a backup experiment...

Piecing this information together gave him a relatively clear understanding of the current U.S. nuclear weapons program.

It can be said that the United States' nuclear weapons research is not much faster than that of other countries.

Even though the United States didn't start its military industry layout as early as Taishan Military Industry, it has vast resources and talent. Once they concentrate on this task, the progress will be much faster than other forces.

For Mount Tai, its only advantage at present is Fang Wen's foresight.

He must figure out the details of the electromagnetic separation method before all the scientists involved in nuclear physics research in the United States are gathered in Los Alamos.

Only in this way can we compare the three concentration and purification methods and select the most suitable technical route and equipment for Taishan.

He then opened his eyes and said to Lin Shuiwang, "Have someone go to Nathan at Westinghouse Electric and ask him to get us some information on electromagnetic separation. Make sure the money is sufficient, and the information doesn't need to contain detailed technical information; he shouldn't refuse that way."

"Okay. I'll arrange it right away." Lin Shuiwang left. He returned in the afternoon.

"Mr. Fang, Jax is here. He said Nathan from Westinghouse Electric brought the information you wanted."

Fang Wen was delighted that the other party had completed the task so quickly: "Let him in."

Nathan walked into the office, carrying a brown paper bag: "Mr. Fang, this is the information I've compiled about electromagnetic separation. The leading research team in this technology is Lawrence's team at UC Berkeley. I got the papers published by Lawrence's team at UC Berkeley through someone I know. This method doesn't require a large number of centrifuges, but it does require high-performance cyclotrons and precise magnetic field control technology. Although it's not mature yet, it has a greater potential for industrialization than centrifugation."

Fang Wen took the brown paper bag, opened it, and took out the documents inside.

This information was faxed from California.

Fax technology is very interesting. It was invented 30 years earlier than the telephone, yet it can convert still images such as documents, charts, and photos into electrical signals and transmit them to the receiving end for copying in a recorded form, thus enabling long-distance data transmission.

Therefore, the pages that Fang Wen took out were actually faxes of the original papers from the university library in California.

He opened the cover, and the yellowed pages were printed with the University of California, Berkeley's emblem. The title was clearly printed as "Preliminary Experimental Study of Cyclotron for Isotope Separation," and the names Ernest Lawrence and Jesse Fowler were prominently listed as authors. This was the research result of Lawrence's team that Nathan had mentioned.

Fang Wen carefully read the paper word by word, and his previous vague understanding of the electromagnetic separation method gradually became clear and specific as the paper unfolded.

The paper begins by highlighting the core of the research: using the difference in deflection of charged ions in a magnetic field to separate heavy isotopes with very similar chemical properties, especially for "isotopic twins" such as radium and barium, perfectly avoiding the problem that ordinary chemical methods cannot separate them.

The paper elaborates in detail on the core principles of adapting electromagnetic separation to radium purification:

The radium-barium mixed salt raw material (the paper clearly states that it is a radium chloride-barium chloride mixed system) was placed in a high-temperature ionization chamber and heated to about 400°C to fully vaporize it. Then, it was continuously bombarded by an electron beam, causing the radium and barium atoms to lose their outer electrons and become a beam of positively charged radium ions and barium ions.

The beam of mixed ions was then accelerated to a constant speed and injected into a pre-tuned high-intensity magnetic field.

Due to the large difference in atomic mass between radium isotope (Ra-226) and barium isotope (Ba-137), the difference in Lorentz force experienced by them in a magnetic field is more pronounced, and the difference in deflection radius is further amplified.

Heavier radium ions are deflected at a greater angle and fall precisely into the inner collection tank; lighter barium ions are deflected at a smaller angle and fall into the outer collection tank. This allows for efficient separation of radium and barium without the need for multiple stages of repeated processing, completely solving the problems of extremely low efficiency and long cycle time in chemical radium purification.

Fang Wen nodded subconsciously as he read.

Although he is not a professional nuclear physicist, he has learned about centrifugation and gas phase methods and is no longer unfamiliar with these technical knowledge.

The key point was quickly understood: this method does not rely on a massive cascade of equipment like centrifugation. As long as the ion beam and magnetic field can be precisely controlled, uranium isotopes can be separated, and uranium-235 can be separated from isotopes such as uranium-238, thus enabling the extraction and storage of weapon-grade uranium-235.

This aligns perfectly with Taishan International's current resource situation and is more feasible than centrifugation.

Turning to the equipment description section of the paper, Fang Wen's gaze became increasingly focused.

The paper includes a simplified diagram of the equipment, clearly showing the core structure of the modified 37-inch cyclotron "Calutron", which consists of three parts: ion source, magnetic field system, and vacuum and collection system.

Regarding the ion source, the paper mentions that Lawrence's team currently uses a thermal ionization source, which generates an electron flow by heating a tungsten filament to bombard the vaporized uranium-barium mixture and produce an ion beam. However, the core problem is that the ion beam intensity is unstable and prone to dispersion, resulting in insufficient separation purity.

Therefore, the current separation technology is not mature enough, and the purity of the separated material is relatively low.

Fang Wen's heart stirred. When it came to understanding electromagnetic forces, he had his own unique insights.

With his superpower combined with the Viking rune ring that allows him to control electricity, he can gain a clearer understanding of microscopic electromagnetic forces.

If I go to California myself, I can provide suggestions for improving Lawrence's team's cyclotron and help them develop it more quickly.

Then I will soon be able to gain a clear understanding of the equipment's structure through research.

In that case, I could actually replicate a cyclotron accelerator myself, which might even be better than the equipment used by Lawrence's team.

Thinking of this, Fang Wen smiled; he felt this approach was feasible.

He then asked Lin Shuiwang to find Nathan from Westinghouse Electric and ask him to find a way to get a letter of recommendation.

The recommendation letter wasn't difficult to obtain; it was merely a stepping stone to allow Fang Wen to meet with the head of Lawrence's team in California. Whether the team would actually allow Fang Wen to participate in their research was another matter entirely.

Regardless, Fang Wen had to try it to find out.

Therefore, on the same day he received the letter of recommendation, Fang Wen took a plane from New York to San Francisco.

After the plane landed, Fang Wen disembarked with the other passengers.

As soon as he stepped out of the airport, he saw Zhao Jiu and his entourage waiting for him outside.

Fang Wen walked over with a smile and hugged Zhao Jiu: "Long time no see."

Zhao Jiu replied, "Yes. Aren't you planning to go to Las Vegas to see your two children? They can already walk and talk."

Fang Wen felt a pang of emotion. His child could already walk and talk, but as a father, he had been absent from the entire process of accompanying him.

But business is more important.

Therefore, he replied, "How about this, once things are settled here, you go back and bring my wife and children here, and we can reunite here."

Zhao Jiu nodded: "Okay, then let's go to Berkeley first. Will you drive or should I drive?"

"Of course I'll drive." Fang Wen handed the suitcase to Zhao Jiu's subordinate, who put it in the trunk. He then got into the driver's seat, started the car, and drove off. (End of Chapter)