Chapter 374 Something Wrong with the Radiation
"What?"
"Reactor shutdown?!"
"Fuck you! You... say that again?"
Upon hearing the latest situation report from his subordinates, Brigadier General Trick felt as if someone had stabbed him in the coccyx with a needle.
This needle is really long and really thick!
A chill ran up from under his buttocks along his back straight to his brain, and he began to shiver all over.
You know, these are two pressurized water reactors!
Although it is a castrated nuclear reactor, its rated power is only a few million kilowatts. Compared with the reactors of large nuclear power plants that can easily reach tens of millions of kilowatts, its energy efficiency is more than dozens of times lower.
However, once something like "nuclear" is beyond human control, the consequences will inevitably be devastating.
There have been several famous nuclear leakage accidents in history, such as Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc. Which one did not bring catastrophic consequences?
Although the USS Ronald Reagan is resting at the base and undergoing some superficial maintenance, according to convention it is impossible to shut down these two pressurized water reactors.
Because the reaction principle currently adopted by the reactors used in this type of ships is a chain reaction that goes all the way to the end, which is what we commonly call nuclear fission.
The process of nuclear fission can be simply understood as a bullet fired from a gun barrel colliding with a pile of bullets.
The first bullet was fired from the muzzle. Even if a god came, it would be impossible to make it turn back and stop the next step of fission.
As for the carbon rod that controls the reaction power, it can be regarded as the accelerator of a car. The deeper the accelerator is pressed, the faster the fission reaction will be and the greater the output power will be.
But do you want to step on the brakes and turn off the switch key to shut down the reactor?
Excuse me!
With the current technology of mankind, there is no switch technology that is so awesome that it can terminate nuclear fission reactions!
Unless we use a stupid method, such as blowing up the reactor and completely detonating all the nuclear fuel inside, or letting it reach the limit of its service life, there is a chance .
This kind of abnormal shutdown situation is absolutely not allowed to occur on a normal nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Because such terrible consequences are definitely something Brigadier General Trick cannot afford.
Just think about it!
There are tens of thousands of Eagle Country sailors inside and outside the base, not to mention the millions of civilians on the island chain. If even a little bit of nuclear radiation leaks out, it would be enough to carry Brigadier General Trick to a military court for trial for crimes against humanity, and they would use the most primitive way of carrying the coffin, using black people.
When Brigadier General Trick thought of the terrible consequences, his heart was instantly in his throat.
He kept urging the commandos to enter the power center and grasp the specific situation of the pressurized water reactor, while asking the combat command room to issue the highest level of "nuclear" protection orders.
The shrill alarm rolled back and forth throughout the base, and a team of nuclear engineers wearing full protective clothing began to land on the deck of the aircraft carrier by helicopter.
As the commandos advanced further, the radiation equipment carried by the nuclear engineers did not show any abnormal alarms.
Even the most sensitive environmental radiation meter shows a long string of "0000" Betel's safe radiation dose numbers.
Upon seeing this, Brigadier General Trick felt a little relieved.
“God bless you!”
“No leak occurred!”
"The situation is still under control!" Brigadier General Trick excitedly waved his fist in the operations room and high-fived several communicators who were monitoring the nuclear radiation doses.
For everyone here, it is a blessing in disguise that no nuclear leak occurred.
Unfortunately, before they had begun cheering and celebrating for long, a discordant sound was heard in the noisy communications on the front line.
“Sir…Sir, something is wrong!”
"Our instruments are all functioning properly, but we can't detect any radiation dose in the power center area," a nuclear engineer reported loudly.
“Isn’t this good news?”
"The undetectable radiation dose doesn't that mean our pressurized water reactor is still normal?" Brigadier General Trick frowned and asked suspiciously.
He was not a graduate of a formal nuclear professional school, and his promotion process followed the traditional military academy procedures of the Eagle Country. Naturally, he did not understand the deeper meaning of the 0 radiation dose.
I had no choice but to ask an intelligence officer in the combat command room for a brief analysis:
"Sir, the environmental radiation should not be an absolute zero dose!"
"Even if the power system is shut down, the fuel inside the reactor will still run slowly. Although Westinghouse's shell protection technology is very reliable, there will be more or less radiation below the safe value that penetrates from the inside."
After listening to the intelligence officer's analysis, Brigadier General Trick's eyes widened, he took off his military cap, and said in a trembling voice: "Jesus! You...you mean...the enemy stole our nuclear fuel?"
"No... I don't know... I can't be sure yet Sir."
"Because we haven't spotted any enemy yet."
"Another possibility is that the enemy has mastered the technology to temporarily shut down the reactor. Perhaps that is why we cannot detect the radiation level of the fuel." The intelligence officer broke out in a cold sweat when his superior asked this question.
Because the theft of nuclear fuel is even more far-fetched than a simple nuclear leak!
Even the most brilliant nuclear technicians would not dare to boast that they could extract the fuel from two intact pressurized water reactors in just a few hours under the supervision of several Eagle Country sailors.
What’s the use of a few hours?
Even if we open the reactor lid, we will have to spend several days on it!
…
Just as everyone was entangled in this unsolvable problem that could be called a whirlpool of logic, another team of commandos who had entered the aircraft carrier suddenly sent an emergency communication.
"Sir, we found a suspected enemy target!"
"The target... the target is right above the island, about 20 feet away!"
"Target characteristics...flying...black shell...human size..."
The emergency communication was broadcast in the operations room, and several patrol drones connected to the command center's data link immediately switched to the angle of the commandos' reports through aerial photography.
"Bless my God! What is that?"
"The enemy is a human wearing an Iron Man suit?"
When everyone in the operations room saw the humanoid target clearly, they all gasped.
The intelligence officer in charge of monitoring radar data raised his hand and said, "Sir, it's hiding in the shadow of the mast of the island, avoiding the observation of the patrol helicopter! The search radar has no reaction to it!"
"The AI capture system is also unable to lock onto the target! It can only be captured visually through the naked eye or surveillance!"
After hearing the report from his subordinates, Brigadier General Trick had come back to his senses and was even a little excited.
In his opinion, the stealth technology that could avoid tens of thousands of sailors and sneak into the USS Ronald Reagan must be as advanced as Zenith.
And it is a black technology loaded onto individual soldiers!
Even he, a brigadier general of the Eagle Country, had never heard of such technology.
No need to think about it, it must have been done by the Russians or the rabbits!
Once this target is captured, perhaps the enemy situation can be turned from passive to active and be commended by the Pentagon.
Thinking of this, the spirited Brigadier General Trick came back.
He took a deep breath in the operations room, put on his airs and commanded: "Since the radar can't capture it, we will use visual methods to fight!"
"Soldiers! This is the enemy's latest stealth technology. Even if we have to use all our firepower, we must shoot it down at all costs!"
"Roger that, Sir!"
"God bless my sister Rick!"
"The assault team will be divided into three groups and will attack from the deck! Go go go! "
"Follow my instructions! Fire!"
There was a commotion on the front line, and fire snakes composed of light and heavy machine guns began to spew out wildly on the deck of the USS Reagan, interweaving towards the black human-shaped target above the island.
The commanders and intelligence officers in the operations room also held their breath at this moment.
Everyone knew that this was just a preliminary exploratory attack.
In the absence of specific information and intelligence about the enemy, this type of firearms attack could only be organized in order to avoid destroying the island.
But what no one expected was that the human-shaped target that was originally floating motionless above suddenly floated up and rushed straight into the sky at a speed beyond human imagination.
This high-speed upward rush not only avoided the bullet attack, but also drew a strange parabola-like trajectory in the sky.
Finally, with a loud "bang", the humanoid target broke through the layers of sound barriers and tore through the air above the USS Reagan, just like Iron Man landing on the ground in a Marvel movie, and hit the raised part right in front of the aircraft carrier deck heavily.
Then, a scene that will be unforgettable for a lifetime appeared!
The USS Ronald Reagan, which was originally docked steadily in the deep-water port, suddenly made a terrifying "bang bang" noise, and the tail of the aircraft carrier began to show a strange trend of floating out of the water.
The entire hull of the ship also tilted upward dramatically at this moment, like a seesaw standing in the sea, forming a 90-degree right angle, and standing straight up towards the sky!
