Two cups of coffee were finally invited by Lu Zhou.

After thanking Lu Zhou, Professor Kreber, who left the coffee shop, took a flight back to China that day.

Because of his physical inconvenience, Lu Zhou did not go to the airport to see him off, but he ordered Wang Peng to send him to the airport.

As for what choice he will make, and what choice Europe will make, these things will only be known in the future.

On the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, in the Great Hall in Beijing, the commendation meeting for the successful ignition of the controllable fusion demonstration reactor kicked off with the speech of the host of the conference and a warm applause.

At the commendation meeting, the Grand Elder personally presented 26 golden 585 commemorative medals and bright red certificates to the research grievances who had made outstanding contributions to the demonstration reactor project, and expressed his high gratitude to these scientific research workers who have made outstanding contributions on the front line of scientific research.

I still remember that in the spring of 1958, the Second Department of the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Atomic Energy) officially established the research on magnetic confinement fusion, which opened the prelude to the research of controlled fusion.

Up to now, the research on controlled fusion has gone through 70 years.

After almost three generations, the project of the century was finally completed.

This commendation conference can be regarded as a successful end to this vigorous scientific research project.

Looking down at the glittering gold medal on his chest, Academician Li Jiangang, who was sitting at the banquet, wiped the corners of his eyes and whispered in a voice that only he could hear.

"Teacher, we succeeded......"

He still remembers that it was the New Year of 82, after graduating from Harbin Institute of Technology with a major in ship nuclear power, his original dream was to become an aircraft carrier designer, but a sentence from his mentor completely changed his fate and allowed him to devote himself to the cause of vigorous controllable fusion research.

Twenty years later, twenty years later, on this road that seemed to be forever full of hope but with no end in sight, he regretted and was confused, but in the end he persevered without hesitation, and gave up his position in the Oxford Culham laboratory when his country needed him the most, and returned to China to carry the banner of controlled fusion research.

Perhaps at this moment, his mentor is no longer visible.

But he believed that if his mentor had a spirit in heaven, he would be proud of who he is today and the choices he has made......

Sitting next to him and touching the medal on his chest, Academician Wang Zengguang felt a burst of emotion in his heart.

"I didn't expect that I, who have been engaged in nuclear power for half my life, did not witness the dawn of the fourth generation of nuclear power before I retired, but witnessed the swan song of the third generation of nuclear power."

Fission reactors are inherently expensive energy sources, and the feed-in tariff is somehow many percentage points higher than that of thermal power, not to mention the generation of nuclear waste that is difficult to dispose of.

After the Pangu fusion reactor completes the final commissioning and is connected to the grid for power supply, it is estimated that there will be no new fission reactor construction plans in China in the future.

"Speaking of which, Chief Designer Lu doesn't seem to be an academician yet, right?"

Li Jiangang was slightly stunned, and then smiled: "19 years are so busy, how can he have time to evaluate any academician." ”

The academicians of the two academies are elected once every two years, and they have to go through two rounds of evaluation from the faculty to the whole academy, which involves quite amazing energy.

Lu Zhou has been busy with controlled fusion engineering for the entire 19 years, so naturally it is impossible to have time to evaluate any academicians.

Thinking of this, Academician Wang had an idea in his heart.

"When I wait for next year's co-election, I plan to vote for him."

"Academicians in their twenties?" Academician Li was stunned for a moment, and hesitated, "Wouldn't it be too young......

As soon as he was halfway through his words, seeing that the old man was looking at him with an unkind face, he hurriedly coughed and said, "Don't look at me like that, I just asked so casually." If he runs at that time, I will definitely vote for him. ”

Academician Wang Zengguang laughed heartily: "You old thing still has a little conscience." ”

Academician Li was suddenly unhappy: "What you said, when did I have no conscience?" But speaking of which, it's nothing for me to vote for him, I'm from the Department of Mathematics and Physics. You old guy is from the Academy of Engineering, why do you have to vote for him? ”

Academician Wang was slightly stunned, frowned, and said, "Why do you have to report to your Department of Mathematics and Physics?" Can't you report to the Energy and Mining Department of our Engineering Institute? ”

"You old thing, you can't be unreasonable," Li Jiangang said with a smile and a cry, "Someone else is a Fields Medal and Nobel Prize winner, I want to ask him why he wants to report to your engineering academy!" ”

"Heh, are you looking down on our engineering institute? I look at this controllable fusion reactor, I don't know where it is higher than the Nobel Prize Fields Medal! ”

"It's not a thing! Can it be compared like that? ”

The controversy seems to have developed to a strange point.

As for whether Lu Zhou is suitable to evaluate the academician of the Academy of Engineering or the academician of the Academy of Sciences, the two almost didn't roll up their sleeves and do it.

On the other side, Zhou Chengfu, who was sitting on the front row of the Great Hall, touched the medal on his chest with a complicated expression, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Although he is one of the heroes of controlled fusion research, he always has a feeling of being an outsider when he sits here. Even from this glory, he not only did not feel the slightest joy, but even felt a bit of irony.

Hanging an honor that does not belong to him on his chest is like roasting him on a fire.

Sitting next to him, Academician Pan glanced at him and teased with a smile.

"What's wrong? The Great Elder helped you put it on, but are you still planning to take it off? ”

Zhou Chengfu didn't speak, and on his expressionless face, he couldn't see what he was thinking.

However, Pan Changhong really understands this old friend too well.

Sighing, Pan Changhong looked at the podium.

"Whether you did the right thing at that time or not, it's been almost fifty years, and you have all worked hard, and you deserve a share of this honor. No one can make the right choice for the rest of their lives, and you can be considered true to your research. ”

"And, I'm not the only one who thinks so, Professor Lu, who nominated you, thinks so too."

The moment he heard this, that expressionless face could no longer hold back......

In addition to the 26 585 medals, 120 advanced individuals and five advanced group awards, there is also a special medal.

Measuring about 8 centimeters in diameter, it is made of 99.9% pure gold and weighs 527 grams. The main body of the medal is composed of five stars, stars, olive branches and rays of light.

Its name is "Lingyun".

As a plan that died on the blueprint, perhaps no one would have imagined that that once seemingly crazy idea would one day be reborn in the hands of a new generation of scholars, and one day give birth to energy comparable to that of stars.

Lu Zhou could not fully understand the intention of the designer and name of this medal.

After all, he didn't come from that era, and his research on controlled fusion was somewhat of a halfway home.

However, his index finger rubbed against the medal, and from the delicate texture, he could still feel a little bit of the historical weight hidden in it......