162: Chapter 162 On the high seas, there must be a nuclear aircraft carrier of the Dragon Kingdom!

Professor Zhou Xuemin agreed, took a stack of documents from his briefcase, and handed them to Naval Commander Ding Lei.

These documents were a selection of core design drafts extracted from Engineer Xu's design proposal, along with the simplified summary they had compiled over the course of a night.

Naval Commander Ding Lei had previously been a senior researcher at the Dragon Academy of Sciences.

His professional knowledge was solid, and his skills were exceptional.

He took the documents from Professor Zhou Xuemin's hand, frowned, and began to read them seriously.

Unlike the lengthy design proposal Xu Hao had provided earlier, the one in his hands was clearly much simpler.

Many design modules had been processed to become easy to understand. Although he was not a professional in this specific field, he could still understand most of it.

He focused on the design aspect of the Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier's nuclear reactor.

Upon seeing the design principles, the derivation process, and the verification data within, he was stunned, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

His previously indifferent heart trembled violently at this moment.

"It... it actually broke through the nuclear reactor technology, and the verification is completely feasible!!" Naval Commander Ding Lei muttered to himself.

As everyone knows, the most critical part of a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier is the nuclear reactor technology.

Of course, a nuclear reactor for an aircraft carrier is nothing new; it has been in existence for over sixty years.

However, what is frustrating is that the core technology involved has always been an insurmountable peak.

How to design a nuclear reactor with higher power, fewer maintenance personnel, a longer service life, and smaller space occupancy has become the focus of research for scientists in many countries.

Among these, the difficulties involved include the design of the reactor core and nuclear fuel materials. The most critical aspect is the design of the reactor core.

The nuclear reactor researchers of the Dragon Kingdom have spent thirteen long years studying, developing, and testing the design of the reactor core.

However, to this day, they have yet to design an effective reactor core suitable for a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier.

Yet, this design proposal provided a brand-new design approach and solution.

"While maintaining or reducing the volume, we conducted predictions and analyses on nuclear, hydraulic, structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, and dynamic structural loads, etc., to maximize the operation of the reactor core..."

"Because a new reactor core design and a new reactor core model were adopted, it is inevitable that new nuclear fuel element materials must be matched with them to reduce the number of overheating points."

"Therefore, there are higher requirements for the enrichment level of nuclear fuel..."

Naval Commander Ding Lei stared intently at the design proposal in his hands. When he saw the value for the nuclear fuel concentration, his expression changed instantly.

"98.99% enrichment level!" Naval Commander Ding Lei's heart trembled violently, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.

You must know that the A1B nuclear reactor equipped on the Ford-class aircraft carrier only has a nuclear fuel enrichment level of 93%.

The A4W, which has the highest nuclear fuel enrichment level, barely reached 97.3%, and was later reduced to 93% due to certain reasons.

Yet, Engineer Xu's design proposal boldly refined the enrichment level to 98.99%.

The benefit of this is that the nuclear reactor can provide a much stronger and higher power density.

However, this also brings adverse effects such as high corrosion, high radiation, high temperature, and high pressure. But Engineer Xu had solved these as well...

After simply reading this simplified design proposal, all that remained in Naval Commander Ding Lei's heart at this moment was shock. Shock! Shock! Nothing but shock!

If he had been ten thousand percent skeptical just a moment ago, believing that Xu Hao could not possibly break through the nuclear technology, now, after seeing the document with his own eyes, he believed completely and admired Xu Hao to the point of prostration!

He remained silent for a long time, holding the document with trembling hands, his face serious and careful, as if the document in his hands was a treasure worth tens of millions.

However, in other words, this design proposal was worth far more than tens of millions.

After a long while, he finally collected his thoughts. Naval Commander Ding Lei walked toward Xu Hao with heavy steps, his eyes flickering. He stood straight and solemnly gave Xu Hao a military salute.

"Engineer Xu, thank you!" Thousands of words converged into this single sentence. His form of address had also quietly changed to a respectful title. Because for all of this, Xu Hao deserved it!

Xu Hao nodded and accepted the salute from Naval Commander Ding Lei.

Naval Commander Ding Lei breathed a sigh of relief, and then he explained: "Engineer Xu, please do not blame me for my lack of trust in you just now; it was really..." Naval Commander Ding Lei sighed softly, his face filled with apology.

Xu Hao looked at the expression on his face and appeared somewhat curious. "Commander, it seems you have some unspoken troubles?"

"It's not exactly an unspoken trouble, just a hurdle in my heart that I haven't been able to overcome!" Naval Commander Ding Lei let out a long sigh and then said: "More than a decade ago, when I first became the Naval Commander..."

It turned out that when Naval Commander Ding Lei first became the Naval Commander, the USA actively invited the Dragon Kingdom Navy to hold a military exchange activity.

At that time, Naval Commander Ding Lei had the opportunity to board their Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier for a tour. Unexpectedly, just as he wanted to enter the inner cabin to visit, he was blocked by their officers and soldiers. The reason given was: "There is a suspicion of leaking secrets; people from the Dragon Kingdom are not allowed to enter for a tour!"

But Naval Commander Ding Lei clearly saw that officials from other invited countries were allowed to enter, only the Dragon Kingdom could not. He understood that the USA was deliberately trying to disgust them!

Naval Commander Ding Lei was both angry and furious, feeling extremely embarrassed. However, this was a friendly exchange activity, and he could not lose his decorum, so he had to swallow his anger until the exchange meeting ended and he returned to Longdu.

Naval Commander Ding Lei was very unwilling to accept this and was determined to build a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier belonging to the Dragon Kingdom.

Somehow, the USA found out about this decision. As a result, during a naval standoff years later, the opposing captain happened to be the one who had received Naval Commander Ding Lei back then.

He mocked Naval Commander Ding Lei over the radio: "Commander, it's been over a decade, why hasn't your country's Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier been delivered yet?" "It seems the Dragon Kingdom... is just a bunch of incompetent fools!"

Naval Commander Ding Lei knew the other party was using provocation, deliberately provoking him and trying to anger him. But hearing the unmasked mockery, he was truly enraged.

Although this standoff ended with the USA leaving in a huff, the words of the USA captain remained a thorn in Naval Commander Ding Lei's side.

Whenever he thought of a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier, he would think of his words. If it could be said that Elder Long was constantly thinking about the Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier, then he had a pathological obsession with the Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier.

He wanted to build a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier more than anyone else. However, decades of repeated failure, failure, and more failure were like slaps, one after another, across his face. It left him feeling endless disappointment and powerlessness.

Therefore, when he heard that Xu Hao had conquered the Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier technology, he was so distraught, thinking this was yet another failed attempt. Because the Dragon Kingdom... could not build a Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier and could not break through the nuclear reactor technology!

It was only until he saw this design proposal just now that he finally believed all of this.

After hearing Naval Commander Ding Lei's story, Xu Hao sighed softly. He walked forward and said calmly: "Commander, it won't be long before you will be able to command our own Dragon Kingdom Nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier and gallop across the ocean!"

Although the tone was calm, it was deafening to Naval Commander Ding Lei's ears! He nodded heavily. "Engineer Xu, I believe in you!"