For this reason, Hu Weidong raised the relevant research on reactors to a higher position than the nuclear weapons themselves. Because the scientific research level of reactors has increased, it will be much less difficult to develop nuclear weapons. Moreover, due to China's natural geographical disadvantage (Note 1), in order for China's nuclear weapons to be fully functional, it is necessary to have nuclear submarines, which makes it all the more necessary for reactors to meet the standards.

And the value of the reactor is far more than scientific research, even if it is not yet a reactor that can be called a "nuclear power plant", it can also provide some electricity, which is still a big gap between power generation and Western powers, and it is of practical significance that cannot be ignored for China, especially the nuclear Jihua itself is a large consumer of electricity, and it is good to be able to solve part of it internally.

What's more, heavy water reactors and graphite reactors can also be used to produce plutonium-239, a nuclear fuel, which is of great strategic importance to China, which lacks natural uranium resources. And if the conversion of uranium-238, which cannot be used as nuclear fuel, into plutonium-239 only improves the utilization rate of natural uranium, it is only a palliative treatment for China, which has insufficient total reserves. China is extremely rich in reserves (currently the second in Shijie, and China's thorium resources are far from fully explored. Thorium-232 (natural thorium is almost all thorium-232, and it is also noted that the pronunciation of thorium is the same as "earth". Conversion to uranium-233, which can also be used as nuclear fuel, is more strategic.

One tonne of thorium could provide the equivalent of 200 tonnes of uranium, or 3.5 million tonnes of coal, and the known reserves of thorium on Shijie could provide Shijie with at least 10,000 years (21st century standards) of energy support. In addition, compared to uranium. Thorium is easier to concentrate and purify. What's more, a nuclear power plant made of thorium as nuclear fuel does not have to worry about core meltdown, and it will only produce radioactive nuclear waste equivalent to 0.6% of the nuclear fuel of the same heavy uranium

Although the jishu of the thorium nuclear power plant has not been commercialized until the beginning of the 21st century, there is no insurmountable jishu barrier to the related jishu, but it takes a long time to explore and accumulate, so it is a little more advantageous to start one day earlier. Moreover, Hu Weidong's wife also participated in relevant research, so Hu Weidong also knows a little bit about this, which can save China at least ten years of research time.

It must also be noted that what China cannot achieve at present is to directly use thorium to generate electricity (i.e., thorium breeder reactors). But after using the slow neutrons produced by uranium reactors to partially convert thorium to uranium-233. It is not impossible to separate it and use it to make nuclear weapons (but instead of generating electricity, it will consume a lot of electricity, but in order to make nuclear weapons). It's worth the price. ）。 And the separation between uranium-233 and thorium is much easier than the separation between uranium-238 and plutonium-239. Not to mention the most difficult to separate uranium-235 and uranium-238, so this is undoubtedly of special strategic significance for China, which is seriously short of uranium ore reserves. Even if it's just for that. It is also advisable to start relevant research early.

Whether it's plutonium-239 or uranium-233, with these artificially produced nuclear fuels, it will be possible for China to build nuclear weapons in large quantities, although only relatively speaking, and both of these must be obtained by reactors. In 1940, China finally built all types of experimental reactors, an achievement that may seem unremarkable to the uninitiated, but Hu Weidong knew very well that with such a foundation, China's nuclear industry would usher in a period of unprecedented rapid development in the near future. In fact, when China's first experimental 8,000-kilowatt nuclear power plant was completed in 1941, the "three major battles" of China's Ministry of Nuclear Industry were soon launched at the same time, which were "nuclear weapons", "ship nuclear power plants", and "nuclear power plants".

Different from the military science and technology that has always strived for the top, China's civilian science and technology is too far from the advanced level of shijie before, so in the past two years, it has been mainly digested and absorbed by the introduction of science and technology, but it is not an original scientific and technological achievement in the meantime, but strictly speaking, most of them are dual-use science and technology, the most important of which is the invention of electronic computers, and unlike the history of the first tube computer, and then the transistor computer, Because China invented the transistor early, coupled with the lack of domestic electricity, it is difficult to meet the amazing power consumption of the tube computer, so Hu Weidong resolutely decided to skip the tube stage directly and launch the transistor electronic computer project, although this greatly increased the difficulty of research and development, but after the unremitting efforts of Chinese scientists for a long time, the first transistor electronic computer on Shijie finally came out 18 years earlier than in history!

The first generation of computers in history (tube computers) used the "fixed-point arithmetic system", and the absolute value of the number involved in the operation must be less than 1; Transistor computers, on the other hand, add floating-point arithmetic functions, so that the absolute value of data can reach tens or hundreds of powers of 2, and the computing power of computers has achieved a leap. At the same time, the replacement of electron tubes with transistors has reduced the size of second-generation computers, greatly extended their lifespan, and reduced their prices, creating conditions for the wide application of computers.

For the current China, the most important impact is two points, one is that the accuracy of the guidance system can be greatly increased, especially for ballistic missiles that do not yet have the terminal adjustment function, their hitting accuracy can be improved by at least 100 times; The second point is that China's code-breaking and even the anti-deciphering ability of its own code will undoubtedly leap to the first place, and the gap with the second place will be quite large, which is of great significance at all not inferior to the substantial improvement of missile accuracy in the future, and even surpasses it, as long as people with some military common sense can understand this

Note 1: Before the rise of "Silicon Valley", the western part of the United States accounted for a small proportion of the economy, and the essence zone was the eastern part of the United States, with the range of land-based ICBMs of the two countries, the US land-based ICBMs could easily hit China's eastern essence zone, but China could not reach the eastern essence of the United States, which was really a very painful thing

Of course, if the cost is not taken into account, China is not unable to build a land-based intercontinental missile that can cover the entire territory of the United States, but the cost is certainly much higher, and it is not as cost-effective and efficient as the development of nuclear submarines. But even so, China still has to pay several times the cost to obtain considerable strategic deterrence, how can it be a bitter word, but think about India, which is geographically more difficult, we can always talk about masturbation (to be continued......