Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 820 Island Infrastructure Construction, Taishan Nuclear Project Plan

The translator stepped forward alone, carrying blocks of salt and coarse cloth, and communicated with the Ongki people on Little Andaman Island in their native language.

During the conversation, the translator would occasionally stop to gesture, and the person opposite him, Weng Qiren, would frequently shake his head and utter short syllables, causing the communication between the two to stall several times.

A good ten minutes later, the translator finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and walked back to Fang Wen's side, explaining the situation in English: "Mr. Fang, the communication wasn't going smoothly. The tribes of the Greater Andaman Islands and the Lesser Andaman Islands haven't interacted for a long time, and their languages ​​have long since diverged. Many words sound similar but have different meanings, and we almost had a misunderstanding just now."

"Fortunately, the words 'meat,' 'fish,' and 'salt' have the same meaning in both contexts. I told them that we were willing to exchange large quantities of beef, mutton, salt, and cloth for the opportunity to live and build on the island, and they understood immediately."

Fang Wen wasn't surprised by this.

What primitive tribes valued most was never land ownership or contracts, but the most tangible resources for survival.

This isolated island has limited resources. The Ongki people rely on men fishing in the near sea and women gathering berries in the jungle for a living. During the typhoon season, the wind and waves are high and the catch is scarce. During the rainy season, the berries are prone to rotting, which means that the people on the island often suffer from hunger. Sufficient meat products and salt are far more tempting to them than anything else.

The translator stepped forward again, this time slowing down his speech and using gestures to repeatedly explain his purpose.

The Ongqi people huddled together and whispered among themselves. Then, the older members of the tribe, who were in charge, spoke a series of words to the translator.

The translator turned to Fang Wen, his tone tinged with surprise: "Mr. Fang, they agreed. However, they set conditions: every family on the island must receive a whole sheep every month, and salt and cloth must be supplied monthly without interruption. As long as we abide by the agreement, they will not hinder our construction on the island, and they will even take us to other families."

In Weng Qiren's view, this condition was the kind of generous treatment that could only be obtained by sacrificing the entire clan, and it was the highest request they could make.

But for Taishan Group, whose Yangon meat processing plant's cold storage is always full of beef and mutton carcasses, it's just a drop in the ocean.

Fang Wen did not hesitate at all: "Tell them that I agree. Not only will each household receive a whole sheep every month, but we will also provide them with sufficient salt, cloth, pottery jars, and knives. As long as they do not cause trouble, we will always abide by the agreement."

The translator conveyed the message verbatim.

Upon hearing Fang Wen's immediate agreement, Weng Qiren, who had been on guard and tense all over, let down his guard and his eyes were filled with unbelievable joy.

The eldest member of the clan stepped forward and handed over a smooth wooden staff with simple patterns, which was considered as acknowledging Fang Wen and his group's right to move around on the island.

The surrounding Weng Qiren stopped retreating and curiously examined the clothes and equipment on Fang Wen's group.

Fang Wen, holding the wooden staff, turned and instructed his subordinates: "Leave the translator and five team members behind, take the supplies, and have them go to other settlements on the island to negotiate on the same terms. Make sure to reach an agreement with all the tribes on the island."

"Understood!" The subordinate accepted the order and carried it out.

After arranging communication with the locals, Fang Wen led another team to search for a deep-water port suitable for large ships to dock along the island's coastline.

The island is mostly shallow waters and reefs, making it impossible for large cargo ships to get close. Fang Wen finally stopped when he circled around to the southwest side of the island.

The waters here are deep enough to accommodate cargo ships of 10,000 tons, but right next to the shore is a steep cliff tens of meters high. The cliff face is straight and there are no gentle beaches, making it impossible to build a conventional wharf on the shore.

The accompanying exploration team looked troubled: "General Manager, the water here is deep enough, but the cliffs are too steep. Building a conventional wharf is simply not feasible, and the goods cannot be transported ashore at all."

Fang Wen pointed to the waters below the cliff: "I remember that many of the seaplane airport docks in China are not built according to the terrain. Although the conditions here are not good, it is not impossible to do it. A suspended loading and unloading dock can be built at the bottom of the cliff, equipped with fixed hoisting equipment."

He gestured along the cliff face: "Once the cement platform dock is built, stone steps and protective devices can be constructed along the cliff face, leading directly to the platform at the top. Personnel and small supplies can walk along the boardwalk and stone steps, while large heavy equipment, building materials, and ore can be hoisted ashore directly by crane. This will only consume some cement and fuel, but the efficiency will be greatly improved."

His subordinates nodded in agreement.

Once the plan was finalized, construction began immediately.

The semi-carrier was steadily docked below the cliff, and the engineering team members disembarked in batches by boat, carrying cement, steel bars and equipment.

They transported the equipment and materials to the cliff and lowered them using cranes.

The engineers worked through the night at the bottom of the cliff, first using steel bars as a base, and then pouring in cement blocks for the foundation.

After the wharf foundation was poured, engineers, wearing safety ropes, drilled holes along the cliff face to carve out a wide, sturdy, and fully protected cement-reinforced stone staircase leading directly to a flat platform at the top of the cliff.

While the dock was being built, Fang Wen continued to search for a factory site. He chose a location on the southwest side of the cliff, where there was a large flat area that was close to the dock and convenient for transportation.

Once this large area was demarcated, its functional scope was defined.

Near the boardwalk, temporary residential areas, security camps, and supply warehouses will be built; further in, general processing workshops, water treatment plants, and communication base stations will be planned; the deepest rainforest area is a reserved core area specifically for the construction of subsequent uranium purification facilities.

In just one week, the cliffside pier has taken initial shape, with the foundation already completed and the stone steps and walkways still under construction.

The temporary camp and warehouse on the cliff top have been set up. The first batch of building materials and living supplies were hoisted directly up from the dock below the cliff. The secret base on Little Andaman Island has officially entered the substantive construction phase.

Seeing the infrastructure projects progressing in an orderly manner, Fang Wen felt relieved.

Affairs on the island have been arranged, communication with the locals is going smoothly, and infrastructure construction is on track. All that remains is to proceed according to plan.

He instructed the person in charge at the site to strictly abide by the agreement with Weng Qiren, strictly control personnel from entering the heart of the rainforest, and ensure complete confidentiality throughout the process.

He then took Gong Xiuneng and returned to the semi-aircraft carrier by speedboat.

That afternoon, the cargo ship set sail for its return voyage and arrived at Yangon Port the following morning.

Fang Wen did not linger in Yangon. He immediately piloted the Huashan 2 seaplane and headed straight for the Taishan base in northern Myanmar.

After a four-hour flight, the plane landed smoothly at the base's dedicated seaplane airport.

After getting off the plane, Fang Wen did not return to his residence to rest, but went directly to the Taishan Research Institute and headed straight to the dedicated laboratory of the nuclear program project team.

Project leader Jiang Wenjin and her core research team were already waiting at the entrance of the research institute.

Without any further pleasantries, the group went straight into the closed conference room. The conference table was already covered with design drawings, draft plans, and parameter calculation tables for uranium ore refining facilities.

After Fang Wen took his seat, he got straight to the point: "The secret base on Little Andaman Island has been finalized, and infrastructure construction is progressing simultaneously. It should be ready for equipment to be installed in two months at most. The reason I called you here today is to hear the complete design plan for the core uranium purification facilities. If you have any questions or difficulties, please put them all out in the open." Jiang Wenjin looked solemn, stood up, walked to the blueprints, picked up a wooden stick, and began to give Fang Wen a detailed report.

"Mr. Fang, based on the technical direction you provided earlier, we have designed two feasible solutions."

He pointed to the first design drawing:

"The first core approach is the gaseous diffusion method. We first process and purify pitchblende into uranium hexafluoride gas. Utilizing the slight difference in atomic mass between uranium-235 and uranium-238, we gradually separate enriched uranium-235 through thousands of tandem diffusion membranes. This approach is technically mature and highly stable."

At this point, Jiang Wenjin changed the subject: "This plan is also the route that the Japanese are using. Its shortcomings are extremely obvious - it has extremely high energy consumption, huge equipment size, and astonishing material consumption. This is consistent with the information you obtained from the Japanese prisoners of war. It requires a huge amount of electricity and industrial capacity, which is completely unsuitable for the current situation of our secret base."

Fang Wen nodded, signaling him to continue.

Jiang Wenjin picked up another design drawing with densely packed parameters marked on it.

"The second option, which is to use electromagnetic separation as the main method and thermal diffusion pre-enrichment as a supplement, is also the option that our team prefers for practical application."

He bent down and pointed to the equipment layout on the blueprints, explaining each item one by one:

"The core logic of this scheme is to first use the thermal diffusion method to perform preliminary pre-enrichment, reducing the energy consumption and difficulty of subsequent electromagnetic separation, and then use the electromagnetic separation method to complete the final weapon-grade uranium purification. The whole process is divided into four core steps."

"The first step is to complete the crude and fine purification of uranium ore to obtain high-purity uranium dioxide. We first crush and grind pitchblende, leach it with dilute sulfuric acid, filter and settle it, then add ammonia to precipitate ammonium diuranate, and calcine it to obtain uranium oxide octoxide; then dissolve it with nitric acid, and separate impurities such as iron, aluminum, and boron through a TBP solvent extraction system—especially boron, a neutron poison, which must be controlled below 8 ppm. This is the core standard for production and the key to the smooth progress of subsequent chain reactions; finally, we concentrate, crystallize, and calcine it to obtain high-purity uranium dioxide with a purity of over 99.9%, which serves as the raw material for subsequent conversion."

As he explained, technical staff from the project team showed Fang Wen the relevant materials.

That thing was yellow, and there was a big chunk of it.

This is exactly what Jiang Wenjin referred to as uranium octoxide, which researchers call yellowcake.

Yellowcake is just the first step; there are more to come.

Jiang Wenjin continued:

"The second step is to convert high-purity uranium dioxide into uranium hexafluoride, which is the core raw material for isotope separation. First, through a hydrofluorination reaction, uranium dioxide and hydrogen fluoride gas react at a high temperature of 500°C to produce uranium tetrafluoride, which we call 'green salt'; then, uranium tetrafluoride reacts with fluorine gas at 300°C to produce uranium hexafluoride. This substance is solid at room temperature and sublimates into a gas at 65°C. It is the only stable and volatile uranium compound that can be used for isotope separation, and it is also a raw material used by both electromagnetic separation and gas diffusion methods."

This concludes the plan.

Jiang Wenjin was somewhat embarrassed: "President Fang, our current research has only progressed this far. The subsequent thermal diffusion method for pre-enrichment and the electromagnetic separation method for final enrichment are only in the theoretical stage and cannot be realized in the laboratory. Naturally, we cannot develop a production design plan."

Fang Wen was not surprised by this situation. The Manhattan Project in the United States brought together thousands of scientists to achieve it, and such research is bound to become more complex and difficult as it progresses.

He replied, "If you can't do it, at least tell me the theory first, and I'll listen."

With his encouragement, Jiang Wenjin continued.

"The third step is pre-enrichment using the thermal diffusion method. Theoretically, this requires building a vertical long tube device, with liquid uranium hexafluoride filling the space between the inner and outer tubes. The outer tube is heated and the inner tube is water-cooled. Utilizing the principle that 'light molecules tend to enrich towards the hot end and heavy molecules settle towards the cold end,' the abundance of uranium-235 in natural uranium can be initially increased from 0.7% to about 1.1%. This method has low enrichment efficiency, but its energy consumption is far lower than that of direct electromagnetic separation, which can significantly reduce the pressure on subsequent equipment."

"The fourth step, final enrichment via electromagnetic separation, is the core of the entire scheme. It requires an electromagnetic separation device, the core of which is a huge elliptical 'racetrack' shaped magnetic field. Combined with a high-vacuum, high-voltage ionization system, the sublimated uranium hexafluoride gas is ionized into uranium ions. After being accelerated by a high voltage of 20-40kV, these ions are sent into a strong magnetic field. Because uranium-235 and uranium-238 have different atomic masses, ions with the same charge will have different deflection radii in the magnetic field."

“Uranium-235 is lighter and has a larger deflection radius, so it will hit the inner collection plate; Uranium-238 is heavier and has a smaller deflection radius, so it will hit the outer collection plate. By collecting them separately, the abundance of Uranium-235 can be gradually enriched to more than 85%, reaching the weapons-grade standard.”

After explaining the theoretical aspects of the subsequent solutions, Jiang Wenjin went on to discuss the difficulties in implementation.

The first challenge is the electromagnetic separation device.

This device, also called a cyclotron, requires a large number of such devices to enrich uranium-235 atoms.

At present, the Taishan Research Institute cannot even manufacture a single piece of equipment.

The core challenge lies in maintaining the stability of the strong magnetic field and the high vacuum environment.

Insufficient magnetic field strength prevents precise separation of uranium-235 and uranium-238 due to ion deflection; inadequate vacuum causes ionized uranium ions to collide with air molecules, leading to separation failure.

The current technical bottleneck for the project team is how to manufacture a coil that can stably provide a strong magnetic field, and a sealing device that can maintain a high vacuum.

This requires extremely high precision machining and a great deal of electromagnetic conductor materials (copper, silver).

The second challenge is the strict control of neutron poisons.

During the element enrichment process, neutron poisons such as boron, cadmium, and rare earth elements can seriously interfere with the chain reaction, and their content must be controlled below 8 ppm.

These impurities are unavoidable in raw uranium ore. Although most of them can be removed by TBP solvent extraction, to achieve precise control, extremely high purity extractant (TBP) and nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid are required.

These chemical raw materials are extremely difficult to purify and are highly corrosive. It is almost impossible for the Taishan Chemical System to produce them all at present.

"The third challenge is energy supply and equipment cooling."

Electromagnetic separation is extremely energy-intensive. Although it consumes less energy than the gas diffusion method used in Japan, it still requires a huge amount of energy.

Hearing this, Fang Wen understood how difficult it was to create an atomic bomb. Even in the future, many countries would still be conducting secret research for a long time without being able to get started.

But he has his own advantages.

Superpowers can be helpful in research.

More importantly, he knew who the ultimate winner of this super bomb research would be.

The Manhattan Project should have already started in the United States, and Fang Wen thinks he can take this opportunity to go to the United States to learn from their experience.

But before that, we need to go to Africa and bring back that batch of high-purity uranium ore. (End of Chapter)