"The metallic hydrogen application project will be launched on a large scale, and the synthesis path has not yet been announced."

"International public opinion reacted violently, and superconducting technology should not be exclusive?"

"The EAST project is open to all countries, why is the metallic hydrogen technology still not public?"

As Chen Nian expected, after the metal hydrogen application project was officially launched, the standard of public opinion immediately shifted, and it quickly won the approval of a large number of forces.

——

Come to think of it, room temperature superconductivity, to some extent, is even more significant than nuclear fusion, which is regarded by the vast majority of people as the savior of civilization.

If such technology is in the hands of a small country, do you dare not disclose it?

First prepare a 200-page paper and send it to the top journal, explain the preparation method bit by bit, and if half of the data is not clear, you just wait to be greeted by the five permanent ones one by one, "Why don't you wear a hat".

But now, the technology is in the hands of the second biggest rogue, and it is unwilling to make it public, and there is really nothing you can do.

Beat?

With a hammer, you can grab something from the hands of a small country, and that's because you can guarantee absolute destruction.

But hooligans fight hooligans, and the best result is to destroy each other, what good is it for themselves?

Sanctions, supply cuts?

Then you have to have a goal, make random moves, and suffer from them.

So basically, tough tactics don't work.

You can't force it, you can't control it if you complain, right?

After all, there are some things that are so loud that even if you are Master Huang Shiren, you have to take a look at whether the people below have eaten or not.

——

But the strange thing about this matter is that Huaxia seems to have anticipated these possible situations for a long time.

Metallic hydrogen is not given to you, and we will always let you participate in nuclear fusion, right?

The theoretical achievements of plasma control are all public, and if you have the ability, go back and rub a tokamak yourself, and no one will stop you.

And there are indications that after the results of the first wall material came out in the later stage, Huaxia also planned to release it publicly.

In general, the current situation is that everyone has to beg for food under the EAST project, or to put it bluntly, everyone is counting on the Spark group to enjoy food, you say starvation, no, but you want to eat. Something seems to be about to happen.

Crying is one way, but at the same time, some people are already trying to use more "radical" methods.

In a spacious conference room in Moscow, four middle-aged men in suits sit in their offices, desks empty, as if they were just sitting together and chatting after some boring routine meeting.

But in reality, the topic is not about women, families or children's education, but about one of Russia's biggest export projects in the past two decades.

Export projects to China.

Of the four, three of them are from Gazprom, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Natural Resources Management, while the other is the largest intermediary between China and Russia, Marokov.

Over the past few years, he has led to a series of projects, including fourth-generation aircraft and strategic bombers, the success of which has benefited Russia so much that the military, which had almost despaired of new weapons, got the bomber they wanted, and several research institutes got the engine technology they wanted.

So, as an indisputable project, Marokov's status has also risen, and now he has made the leap from a "less important" businessman to the diplomatic system, and there are even rumors that he may become the next foreign minister.

And his presence in this conversation actually represents the importance of this project.

Based on the results of the current negotiations with the Chinese side, we have been able to preliminarily determine the intention of the other side."

"The other side's demand is to build two natural gas transmission pipelines in the Far East and Siberia respectively, and deliver 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year."

"In addition to being used for energy, the natural gas will also be provided to their new hydrogen production plant for the production of liquid hydrogen and subsequent metallic hydrogen products."

"The term of the contract is now tentatively set at 30 years, and the total contract value is about 180 billion US dollars."

Speaking of this, Marokov raised his hand, stopped the head of the Energy Bureau, who wanted to interject, and then continued:

"Yes, the contract amount is relatively low compared to normal business practices."

"But we all know that the meaning of this contract is definitely not as simple as 'making money'."

"Metallic hydrogen is the most important scientific and technological product of this century and even since mankind entered the industrial society, and it will inevitably lead the way forward for mankind in the next few hundred years."

"According to the attitude of the Chinese side, we are likely to be forced to be under the 'technology monopoly' of the other party for a long time in the future, but if we can reach cooperation with the other party in terms of raw materials, we will be able to close the gap with the other party to a certain extent."

"So, it's a business that we have to do, and we can say, should do it with gratitude."

"After all, we are not the only country that has come up with a gas supply plan."

"Including the United States, Australia, and Canada, they have all put forward plans to exchange natural gas resources for technology."

"What's even more exaggerated is that Qatar-—— they even proposed to sign a purchase contract with Huaxia for large gas carriers first, and then sign a gas export contract."

"That is, if we only send one money, they send two."

"The reason why I want to do this is to buy a ticket for my own country to board the big ship of China before the floods of metallic hydrogen and nuclear fusion flood the land of traditional fossil fuels."

"If they can make such a decision, I don't think we have much to hesitate about."

"I don't want to talk to you about the so-called price here, but we have only one core question: can we get enough gas to China before the big ships floating on the sea?"

Hearing his words, the other three people present all fell silent.

After a long time, Stanislav, the head of the Energy Agency, spoke:

"This question. I certainly can't answer. ”

"All I can say is that several large gas fields in Siberia are ready, and if there is a need, we can dispatch them immediately, and it is not difficult to meet the 11 billion cubic meters demanded by the other side."

"But as you know, production is not the problem, it's how to build these two huge gas pipelines is the most difficult thing."

"With our current infrastructure capacity, it is almost impossible to complete such a mega project"

"Don't worry."

Hearing his words, Marokov waved his hand and said:

"Huaxia will mainly undertake the construction work of this project, and we will jointly fund the establishment of the Sino-Russian Gas Pipeline Company with them, and subcontract the specific construction work of the project to Huaxia Energy Construction."

"The main construction force of Huaxia Energy Construction comes from a number of state-owned construction companies, they have a lot of experience in this area, and they almost completely need our intervention."

"Then why are we even discussing this?"

Stanislav asked inexplicably.

China is responsible for the design and construction work, so what does Marokov mean by "ensuring the progress of the project"?

"Because we're paying for the construction."

"What are you kidding?!"

Having said that, even Vladimir, the representative of the Gazprom Corporation, who has been looking forward to it, was a little unable to sit still.

It's as ridiculous as it gets.

Someone bought a loaf of bread worth 5 roubles, but as the owner of the shop, he took 2 roubles, and then called a taxi for 10 roubles to take the customer home.

Is this a business?

It's pure charity!

No, not even for charity.

Because philanthropy can at least gain a good name, but what does Russia gain in this bargain?

An illusory future expectation?

Seeing his expression, Marokov shook his head helplessly.

Although in the past few years, due to the subtle influence of Huaxia, some changes have indeed taken place in these "superiors", but in the final analysis, these corpse vegetarians still have not made any progress in their "vision".

Am I kidding?

Is there room for jokes on such a major issue?

So, he spoke:

"I don't mean to joke."

"In fact, the Chinese side has already come up with a preliminary plan, and according to the results of the first version of the budget estimate, the construction cost of the eastern pipeline is about 60 billion US dollars, and the cost of the western route is 75 billion US dollars."

"But we need to prioritize the pipelines that are built, and in fact there is only the eastern route."

"After the eastern pipeline is completed and gas is started to be delivered to Huaxia, the series of technical assistance they promised will start to materialize."

"I'd better put it bluntly: once the pipeline is built, we will have access to metallic hydrogen, and it will be more than 60% of what China needs to share."

"I think you should be able to judge what kind of concept this is."

The impact of this condition made Vladimir immediately shut up.

Even if he doesn't understand materials science at all, and he doesn't understand how metal hydrogen is made, he fully understands how much advantage this thing can bring to a country once it is mass-produced.

Not to mention anything else, just those few metallic hydrogen missiles have already made many countries scream?

Not to mention the various more advanced technologies in the field of space that may be realized in the future.

Even if it can't be used immediately in the civilian field, the sudden increase in military power can give the country another decades of glory.

"How much can you get?"

He asked instead.

"I don't know, we haven't talked about the specific conditions in this regard."

"However, we can make some credible inferences."

"According to Huaxia's current plan, they will build more than four large-scale metal hydrogen plants within two years, each with an annual output of more than 120,000 tons."

"In other words, based on the efficiency of the steam reforming hydrogen process, the four plants will need to consume about 2.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year."

"As an energy source, China needs to consume about 3 billion to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas imported from China every year."

"Of the 11 billion cubic meters of supply we have negotiated, at least 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be used to make metallic hydrogen."

"It is inferred that after completion, the average annual output of metal hydrogen will reach at least 300,000 tons - and considering the efficiency and scale of hydrogen production by electrolysis and coal production, this amount will probably reach about 800,000 tons."

"In their development plan, the field of strong electricity that requires a huge amount of metallic hydrogen does not occupy too high a priority, and the amount of metallic hydrogen they actually need to use will not be too high."

"Just tell me the results."

Vladimir asked impatiently.

He was already a little impatient with Marokov's plausible inferences.

What's the use of saying that? Even if your inference is completely correct, so what?

How much can you get, it doesn't depend on the mood of the Chinese people?

Marokov paused and gave an answer that caught everyone's eyes.

"At least 50,000 tons can be obtained."

Enough is enough!

Although this scale is a drop in the bucket for large-scale civilian use, it is more than enough for some special fields.

If you can't do strong electricity, you can't do magnetic levitation, so let's do weak electricity first!

Or, simply smash all of them into the military industry first, build a few fourth-generation nuclear, build a few electric supersonic aircraft, and build a few reusable spacecraft.

Thinking of this, Vladimir immediately looked at the other two beside him.

"What about your suggestions?"

He asked.

The representative of the gas group immediately nodded - anyway, this is a national resource, and the group does not need to bear the responsibility for profit and loss, all he needs to do is nod.

The Ministry of Natural Resources Management was originally a formality, and of course there was no opposition.

So, with the unanimous vote, the four people in the office laughed heartily at the same time.

It's as if they've just achieved something incredible.

"The project looks like a loss, but in reality, we've made too much money"

Vladimir said with emotion.

"Yes, being able to seize the opportunity in new materials is the result of no amount of economic benefits."

"The Yankees really took a lot of wrong steps, if they knew that Huaxia could make such great progress, would they still press Huaxia step by step a few years ago?"

"Of course not, but we can get to where we are now, and Marokov owes a lot of credit."

The eyes of all three looked at Marokov at the same time.

Yes, if he hadn't given the right advice many times, I'm afraid that the story would have been completely rewritten after the relationship between the two parties fell into a delicate situation because of the AL-31FN engine.

At this time, Marokov was equally emotional.

These 8 years have been like a strange journey, and he doesn't even know how he got to this point.

Perhaps, this can be regarded as a national fortune to some extent

A concrete consensus was reached, and Marokov had nothing more to talk about, but just as he was about to get up, there was a knock on the office door.

Then his assistant came over and said with an ugly face:

"We may have to be preempted by Qatar."

"They offered extremely exaggerated conditions. Mr. Marokov, see for yourself."

(End of chapter)