grams of cobalt-60 can continuously generate 2.7 kilowatts of power.
This was an extremely high power generation efficiency.
It was worth noting that internationally, only Lucia and America had mastered comprehensive nuclear battery production processes, and their power output was pitiful.
Using plutonium as the raw material for nuclear batteries and employing thermoelectric generation technology, a nuclear battery device weighing dozens of kilograms could only produce a few watts of power.
Thermoelectric generation was characterized by its simple and crude system, but its disadvantage was an extremely low thermal efficiency of only 10% to 20%.
Yet, the compressed air absorption layer they had accidentally created could achieve an output of 2.8 kilowatts and a thermoelectric efficiency of 67%. It was no wonder this pleasant surprise made Du Hai tremble with excitement.
While Levis wrote a report to the Science Department about the discovery, he had Du Hai lead a team to reinvestigate.
The key now was to replicate the experiment and study the underlying power generation principle.
This discovery immediately alarmed the entire management of the Science Department.
Even Li Qingye, who had been engrossed in genetics research, received the news.
Although he was surprised by the discovery, he did not interfere with the nuclear power research institute’s plans. He merely asked Sangibada Leiyaldo to keep an eye on reports related to the matter.
「After redesigning the experiment.」
The nuclear power research institute’s Laboratory 1377 in Hongsawaddy was tasked with repeating the experiment to see if it could be replicated.
Inside Laboratory 1377 at that moment.
Following the design from the nuclear test site, 144 grams of cobalt-60 were placed inside the production area. As the barrier layer was removed, a massive amount of gamma rays and beta rays passed through the first composite lead plate layer and entered the compressed air absorption layer.
"Reporting, current detected..."
"Voltage is 32,000 to 86,000 volts, current is... power is 2.617 to 2.75 kilowatts..."
"Compressed air temperature is 23.4 degrees Celsius, flow rate is 12 meters per second..."
The laboratory head’s eyes widened. "It actually works! ’How on earth is this generating power?’"
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed as if he had thought of something. He muttered to himself, ’Gamma rays... air... resonance frequency... I get it! So that’s how it works.’
He initiated a video call via the internal communication channel with Levis, Du Hai, and the others on Diego Garcia Island.
He then told them about his discovery and hypothesis.
After listening on Diego Garcia Island, Du Hai also had a moment of realization. "So that’s how it is..."
Specifically, the power generation mechanism in this experiment was mainly due to the gamma rays and the compressed air forming a resonance frequency.
The rapidly flowing compressed air, in turn, formed a positive and negative pole with the composite lead plates on either side.
This swiftly converted the energy of the gamma rays into electrical energy.
In fact, this phenomenon also exists in nature: when cosmic gamma rays enter Earth’s atmosphere, they can turn into lightning.
Of course, not all lightning is triggered by gamma rays; only a small fraction is.
Because such gamma-ray-induced lightning is rare and unpredictable, with its time and location being highly uncertain, human research on the phenomenon was virtually nonexistent.
And now, this cobalt bomb experiment had allowed them to accidentally discover the formation mechanism of gamma-ray lightning.
Du Hai immediately communicated with the head of Laboratory 1377 to readjust the experiment. They prepared to study the current generated by gamma rays under conditions with different gases, compression levels, flow rates, and metal barrier layers.
After the redesign, they roughly prepared over a hundred control groups, planning to test them one by one to figure out the optimal conditions for gamma-ray lightning formation as quickly as possible.
「Meanwhile.」
Du Hai began considering how to rapidly produce cobalt-60.
If cobalt-60 were to be used as the raw material for nuclear batteries, they certainly couldn’t produce it via nuclear explosions; they would have to use other methods.
Although as a raw material for nuclear batteries, cobalt-60 has a half-life of only 5.27 years, which doesn’t meet the requirement for long-term use.
But its high thermoelectric efficiency and relatively good energy density were too good to ignore.
Furthermore, after cobalt-60 decays, it turns into the highly stable nickel-60. Nickel-60 is a non-radioactive element, which would simplify the disposal of decommissioned nuclear batteries.
In the realm of outer space, cobalt-60 nuclear batteries might not be very suitable.
However, on Earth, cobalt-60 nuclear batteries had great potential, as some specialized fields required highly self-sufficient energy systems.
For example, heavy-duty exoskeletons. If one could be equipped with a ten-kilogram cobalt-60 nuclear battery (containing five kilograms of cobalt-60), the power output could reach 93.8 kilowatts.
The light exoskeletons currently in use typically required bulky ternary composite batteries, causing a portion of the exoskeleton’s power to be wasted on supporting the 20-kilogram battery.
If a cobalt-60 nuclear battery were used, the weight could be reduced to the two-kilogram class.
However, Du Hai also knew that due to the extremely high danger of cobalt-60, the company would most likely not release a civilian version. At most, they would equip a batch for the New Humans.
After all, natural-person employees presented an uncertainty. If someone went crazy, took the cobalt-60 out of the nuclear battery, and released it in a city, it would be an absolute disaster.
The fully New-Human security teams, on the other hand, could be considered for outfitting with nuclear batteries.
He thought for a long time, then contacted his colleagues at the nuclear power research institute, urging them to quickly coordinate with Laboratory 1377 to achieve practical application of cobalt-60 nuclear batteries as soon as possible.
As for whether the gamma-ray power generation mechanism could be applied to other forms of nuclear power.
After discussions with Dr. Levis and others, Du Hai concluded that it could serve as an auxiliary power generation system, but it was basically impossible for it to be the primary power source.
This had to do with the principles of current nuclear power generation. Whether it was nuclear fission or nuclear fusion, the primary energy was contained in the released thermal neutrons, not in the photonic radiation.
Therefore, the mainstay of nuclear power was still boiling water.
However, the Earth-Furnace type fusion reactor could use a gamma-ray power generation system. After all, the Earth-Furnace fusion reactor essentially detonated miniature hydrogen bombs, which would produce a large amount of gamma rays.
The previous molten salt power generation system could only absorb a portion of the photonic radiation. Its absorption rate for gamma rays was very low, forcing it to rely on the lead composite layer to simply block them, and this portion of energy was wasted.
「Half a month later.」
At the nuclear power research institute’s Laboratory 1377, six test groups conducted a total of 32 control experiments.
Through these experiments, they basically got a handle on the parameters of the gamma-ray generation mechanism, including the best gas to use, the optimal compression ratio, the ideal gas flow rate, and the thickness of the gas and metal plates.
Meanwhile, another laboratory was designing the cobalt-60 nuclear battery system based on this data.
After all, this was a substance with extremely high radioactivity, making the design very troublesome. Although the air resonance frequency absorbed the vast majority of gamma rays, about 0.21% of them would still penetrate the gas layer.
Therefore, it was necessary to install a composite lead plate of suitable thickness and a protective casing of sufficient strength, all while balancing miniaturization with power generation.
Faced with these requirements, the researchers and engineers were tearing their hair out.
Du Hai couldn’t stand to stay on Diego Garcia Island any longer. He was eager to return, desperate to get back to researching the nuclear battery.
But before he could submit his report, Base Commander Lei Gong arrived with several senior executives from the Foreign Security Division.
Du Hai was pulled into another meeting.
He was completely baffled as to why the Foreign Security Division was there. ’After all, Dr. Levis’s team was the main research group for the cobalt bomb. What did that have to do with his nuclear power research institute?’