Chapter 141 The Divertor Problem

At 7:00 AM, Lin Mo was awakened by urgent knocking at the door.

"Director Lin! Something happened!"

It was Chen Xueming's voice, filled with a rare sense of urgency. Lin Mo sat up with a start, threw on his coat, and went to open the door.

Outside the door, Chen Xueming's face was livid, holding a stack of fax papers in his hand.

"The Divertor," his voice trembled slightly, "all three suppliers failed to meet the requirements."

Lin Mo's heart sank.

He took the fax and scanned it quickly. Three test reports from the three top domestic high-end manufacturing companies; the core components of the Divertor they submitted—none of them met the standards.

Required precision: ±0.02 mm.

Measured results: the first company was ±0.08 mm, the second was ±0.12 mm, and the third was ±0.15 mm.

The worst of them had an error rate more than seven times the requirement.

"How could this happen?" Lin Mo looked up. "Didn't you say two of them were confident earlier?"

Chen Xueming smiled bitterly. "Confidence is just what they say. When it actually gets made, this is the level they produce."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then turned back into the room. "Let's go, to the laboratory."

Half an hour later, in the First Wall laboratory, three people were gathered in front of a computer.

Li Xiao had already pulled up the design parameters for the Divertor. On the screen, the complex component rotated slowly—it was composed of hundreds of tungsten-copper modules, each with precise internal cooling channels, designed to withstand extreme thermal loads under high temperature and pressure.

"The function of the Divertor is to remove impurities and heat from the plasma." Lin Mo pointed at the screen, his voice low. "It faces the high-energy particle stream escaping from the edge of the plasma directly, and its thermal load is even higher than the First Wall. If the precision isn't sufficient, the cooling channels will overheat locally, leading to material damage."

Chen Xueming continued, "Once damaged, if tungsten fragments fall into the plasma, the entire device will—"

"Shut down," Lin Mo said. "In severe cases, it might damage the First Wall and the Vacuum Chamber."

Li Xiao felt her palms sweating as she listened. "So what do we do now? Change suppliers?"

Lin Mo shook his head. "There are only a few companies in the country capable of this level of precision. If they can't do it, who else can we switch to?"

Chen Xueming gritted his teeth. "What if we... look abroad?"

Once the words were out, he fell silent himself.

tokamak-3 was a major national scientific project; how could they hand over core components to a foreign entity? Not to mention the risk of technology leaks, if they were to impose sanctions, the entire project would come to a halt.

Lin Mo didn't speak; he opened the system interface and pulled up the simulation module for the Divertor.

"Run an extreme operating condition simulation," he said. "Set the precision error to ±0.1 mm and see the results."

Li Xiao typed rapidly on the keyboard. On the screen, the virtual model of tokamak-3 began to operate. The plasma was heated, the magnetic field constrained it, and the Divertor began to function—

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

A line of red warning text suddenly popped up on the screen: "Divertor module temperature exceeds limit; immediate shutdown recommended."

Lin Mo stared at the text, his hand gripping the mouse tightly.

"Keep running it," he said. "Adjust the error to ±0.05 mm."

Li Xiao followed his instructions. This time, it lasted for three minutes, then the same warning popped up.

"±0.03 mm."

Four minutes. Warning.

"±0.02 mm."

Ten minutes. Everything was normal.

Lin Mo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

±0.02 mm. This was the bottom line of the design requirements. If they couldn't reach it, ignition would be a gamble. And the system had already told him the result of that gamble—the probability of failure was over 40%.

A 40 percent failure rate.

He didn't dare to gamble.

The news spread quickly. In the afternoon, Director Fang arrived at the base. After listening to Lin Mo's explanation, she was silent for a long time.

"Is there no other way?" she asked.

Lin Mo shook his head. "Either find a supplier that can achieve the precision, or modify the design to lower the precision requirements. But modifying the design means re-running simulations, re-validating, and re-making prototypes—it will take at least three months."

Three months.

The main construction of tokamak-3 would be completed in twenty days. The equipment installation schedule was already set, and various subsystems were waiting to enter. If the Divertor stalled, the entire project would have to stop and wait.

Director Fang frowned deeply. "What about abroad?"

"I don't dare to gamble," Lin Mo said. "If they impose sanctions, it will be even more troublesome."

Director Fang nodded. She understood Lin Mo's concerns.

"Give me two days," she stood up. "I'll check to see if there are any domestic companies we haven't discovered. Some small factories might have good technology but lack name recognition."

Lin Mo looked at her. "Please."

After Director Fang left, Chen Xueming walked in.

"Director Lin," he hesitated, "I don't know if I should say this."

Lin Mo looked at him. "Say it."

"We've been focusing only on domestic options, but is it possible..." Chen Xueming paused, "to cooperate with foreign entities? Not buying, but cooperating. We provide the technology, they provide the manufacturing capacity, and we share the product. This way, there won't be a leak, and we can solve the precision problem."

Lin Mo was silent.

Chen Xueming continued, "I know what you are worried about. But international Nuclear Fusion projects are inherently collaborative. ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) was built by seven countries and regions together. The problem we are facing now, ITER has faced it too, and their solution was—find the people who are best at it to do the things they are best at."

Lin Mo looked at him with a complex expression.

"Teacher Chen, let me think about it."

Chen Xueming nodded and retreated.

In the evening, Lin Mo sat alone in the laboratory.

Outside the window, the construction site was brightly lit, and workers working overtime were still busy. The massive circular foundation pit was already taking shape; in twenty more days, the main construction would be completed.

Yet, in his hand, he still held an unsolvable problem.

He opened the system interface and looked at the design drawing of the Divertor. He had studied this component hundreds of times, and every detail was etched in his mind. He knew every dimension, every cooling channel, and every stress concentration point.

But what was the use of knowing? If it couldn't be made, it was just armchair strategy.

In the top right corner of the system interface, the balance of research points was: 7550.

He could use research points to exchange for higher-precision manufacturing processes—but those were for top foreign companies, and there was no corresponding equipment domestically. Even if he exchanged for them, he couldn't use them.

He could also exchange for a design plan with lower precision requirements—but that would mean overturning the existing design, re-running simulations, and re-validating. He couldn't afford three months of time.

Lin Mo closed his eyes, his mind in chaos.

Chen Xueming's suggestion echoed in his ears: "Find the people who are best at it to do the things they are best at."

But the people who were best at it were abroad.

Did he dare to take this step?

His phone suddenly rang.

It was Wang Zhenguo.

"Xiao Lin, I heard the Divertor has a problem?" The mentor's voice was as steady as ever.

Lin Mo grunted an "Mm" and briefly explained the situation.

After listening, Wang Zhenguo was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Xiao Lin, let me tell you a story."

Lin Mo didn't speak, listening to him.

"Thirty years ago, when I first participated in Nuclear Fusion research, I also encountered a difficult problem. At that time, there was no equipment domestically that could process a certain key material, and everyone was saying, 'It's over, it can't be done.' And then?"

"What happened later?" Lin Mo asked.

"Later, I found a friend abroad and asked him to help process a few prototypes." Wang Zhenguo smiled. "I was also afraid back then, afraid of leaks, afraid of them imposing sanctions. But later I discovered that they also wanted to advance in this field and also wanted to cooperate. Those few prototypes saved us a whole year."

Lin Mo was silent.

"Xiao Lin," Wang Zhenguo's voice became solemn. "I know what you are afraid of. But you must understand that true core technology is not something you hide; it is something you run toward. If you run fast enough, others won't be able to catch up with you. If you stop, that's when others have the opportunity to hold you back."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Mo sat in the darkness for a long time.

Then, he opened his computer and began to search for high-end precision manufacturing companies internationally.

Germany, Japan, Switzerland.

A name jumped into his line of sight.

"Stuttgart Precision Manufacturing Company"—a world-leading tungsten material processor that had participated in the manufacturing of the ITER Divertor, had strict technical confidentiality clauses, and possessed rich experience in international cooperation.

Lin Mo stared at that name for a long time.

Then he picked up his phone and dialed Director Fang's number.

"Director Fang, I want to discuss something with you."

The next morning, Director Fang came to the base again.

Lin Mo told her his idea—to cooperate with the Stuttgart company, having them process the Divertor core components, while our side provides technical parameters and quality supervision, sharing the product, and keeping the data confidential.

After listening, Director Fang was silent for a long time.

"Have you considered the risks?" she asked.

"I have," Lin Mo said. "But Teacher Wang said something—true core technology is not something you hide; it is something you run toward. If we run fast enough, others won't be able to catch up."

Director Fang looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"Alright, I like that," she stood up. "I will report this to my superiors. If this cooperation can be achieved, it might require higher-level intervention."

Lin Mo nodded. "Please."

Director Fang walked to the door, then turned back.

"Lin Mo, do you know? Sometimes I feel like you've changed."

Lin Mo was stunned. "Changed?"

"Before, you would only carry everything yourself," Director Fang said. "Now you know to seek help. Finding Chen Xueming, Li Xiao, Zhao Gang, me, and now finding a foreign partner. This isn't weakness; this is maturity."

The door closed.

Lin Mo stood at the window, looking at the construction site in the distance.

The sun rose, and golden sunlight spilled over the Gobi Desert and over that bustling land.

He suddenly remembered a quote from Academician Zhou: "One person can walk fast, but a group can walk far."

Now, he understood.