Tom carefully placed it into the Deep Space, transporting it until it stopped several hundred thousand kilometers away from Loshen Star.
Although there were no shockwaves in space, and the nuclear bomb’s power was limited, once a nuclear bomb exploded, it would unleash an extremely strong electromagnetic pulse. If not handled well, half of Tom’s factories and bases on Loshen Star could be paralyzed, so he had to be cautious.
At this distance of several hundred thousand kilometers, Tom set up a large number of detection devices. After preparing for high temperatures, radiation, and electromagnetic pulses, he fully observed the direction of the nuclear bomb.
With all preparations complete, Tom decisively issued the detonation command.
The next moment, a brilliantly bright light point erupted in the vast, deep, dark space, visible even to the naked eye from Loshen Star.
To the Clones closer by, it looked more like a sun had appeared out of thin air.
The energy hidden deep within matter was unleashed in this uncontrolled nuclear reaction, causing an almost infinite amount of heat and energy to burst forth in all directions.
But this explosion came and went quickly.
In just a few seconds, the area returned to complete darkness, with nothing visible.
In just these few seconds, Tom collected as much as several terabytes of data.
After transmitting it back and looking at the data, Tom was filled with emotion.
"After all these years, this is finally the first time I’ve utilized other types of energy..."
One detonation was not enough. Based on the current data, Tom further adjusted the structure of subsequent atomic bombs and summarized much knowledge about nuclear physics that existed in the human world before but he had not yet mastered.
As the atomic bomb exploded again and again, its volume became smaller and smaller, and its mass lower and lower, but the power of the explosion increased with each successive detonation.
In the process of initiating a chain reaction, how to ensure that more uranium 235 participates in fission rather than being blown apart before participating is also a field of study, one that requires a deep understanding of nuclear physics to master.
The first atomic bomb Tom detonated, when converted to TNT equivalent, was only about 8,000 tons of TNT.
But now, the tenth atomic bomb Tom detonated rapidly climbed to 100,000 tons of TNT.
At this point, Tom stopped researching the increase in atomic bomb yield and instead began to study how to miniaturize it.
If he could make a nuclear bomb weigh only a few hundred kilograms, or even 100 kilograms, even if its yield would drop to only a thousand tons of TNT, it could still be installed in an interstellar missile warhead and have practical combat significance.
However, this matter was not urgent for now and could be slowly researched. The truly important thing was another matter. Official source is NoveI-Fire.ɴet
Through dozens of nuclear tests and ten nuclear explosions, Tom had now mastered considerable knowledge of nuclear physics.
So... the nuclear fission power plant could be started.
There was no knowledge about nuclear power plants in the Deep Space Spaceship. After all, Human Civilization had not expected Tom to build a nuclear power plant on Loshen Star.
But it didn’t matter; Tom, who now possessed all scientific knowledge and sufficient nuclear physics knowledge, could design a set himself.
"The basic principle of a nuclear power plant is still boiling water to drive a generator with steam; in this regard, it is actually no different from a thermal power plant.
The only difference is that the material for boiling water has changed from methane and oxygen to uranium 235."
Tom pondered to himself, "In that case, the key point lies in controlling the fission rate of fissile materials.
The key to the fission rate lies in the Neutron; as long as the speed of the Neutron can be slowed down, the fission rate will decrease. Hmm, I vaguely remember something called a moderator."
Combining with his existing knowledge, Tom immediately thought of a more suitable material for the current stage.
A Neutron moderator used to control the nuclear fission rate sounds high-tech, but... the suitable material Tom found was actually just water.
The most ordinary water, formed by two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, the kind of water Clones drink every day.
It could be used as a moderator.
Of course, its performance was not very high, but it was sufficient for the current stage. In the future, when technology improved, he would find a more suitable moderator.
With a moderator, other issues were merely technical obstacles that could be resolved with some research.
Thus, the construction blueprint for a nuclear power plant was quickly completed and rapidly entered the construction phase.
Consequently, the uranium produced by the subsequent enriched uranium factory was no longer weapon-grade (over 95%) but controlled at around 3% and manufactured into rods.
These fuel rods were inserted into the reactor core, immersed in water. In this way, if the fission rate of the uranium element became too low, failing to generate enough heat, Tom would increase their reaction rate by releasing additional Neutrons.
If the reaction rate became too fast, the release of Neutrons would stop, and the Neutrons generated by the fission reaction would also be slowed down by the water, leading to a decrease in the reaction rate.
Once controlled at an appropriate reaction rate, the heat generated by nuclear fission would be transferred to the water, boiling it and driving the generator.
Thus, a controllable nuclear fission reactor was built.
The installed capacity of this nuclear power plant was not high, only 50,000 kilowatts, generating only 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day.
Compared to Tom’s current industrial scale, it was less than a mosquito’s leg.
Furthermore, there was something rather embarrassing for Tom.
That was... this nuclear power plant was actually operating at a loss.
Given Loshen Star’s extremely barren uranium ore, from initial mining, through crushing, extraction, centrifugal purification, and a series of other processes, to refine enough uranium to power the nuclear power plant for one day and generate 1.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, the plant itself consumed approximately 1.8 million kilowatt-hours.
This meant that for every day this nuclear power plant operated, Tom would lose 600,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
This did not even account for the construction costs of the nuclear power plant itself.
But even so, when the electricity generated by the nuclear power plant was first integrated into the grid, Tom was still exceptionally excited.
Aside from the equipment brought from Earth, this was the first time in my history that I obtained energy from something other than chemical fuels!
What’s there to fear about a loss? I can afford it!
As long as it can advance technology and find better energy sources than chemical fuels, and more suitable spaceship and rocket propellants, never mind 600,000 kilowatt-hours per day, even if it’s 600 million kilowatt-hours, it doesn’t matter.
This one nuclear power plant is not enough; more nuclear power plants must be built! Build ten or a hundred of them! Then slowly research how to improve performance and safety, how to reduce losses, and most importantly, how to miniaturize them and put the reactors into spaceships!