Chapter 379 Important Discovery
Ceylon Ocean.
Diego Garcia Island.
This island, which was previously acquired by the Sapiens Company from America, has been completely remodeled from the inside out by the Foreign Security Company.
In addition, three small bases hidden under the sea and a secret submarine base were built by utilizing the surrounding shallow islands and reefs.
At this time, it was in the No. 3 subsidiary base, about 57 kilometers away from the north side of Diego Garcia Island.
All personnel inside the base were evacuated, leaving only an empty base.
In the main base underground on Diego Garcia Island.
Base commander Le Gong looked a little serious and nervous: "Dr. Lewis, is there really nothing wrong with that thing?"
Dr. Lewis, who came from Hongsavadi on a nuclear submarine, replied calmly , "Don't worry! Everything is within my calculations. The three-layer composite lead plate, plus the special compressed air absorption layer, is enough to resist the dense gamma rays."
"Okay then!" Le Gong had no choice but to carry out the mission.
Dr. Levis was very calm: "There are no personnel in that subsidiary base. Even if there is an accident, the worst that can happen is that it will be abandoned directly."
"Doctor, the examination is complete."
Dr. Lewis then ordered: "Then start the test!"
"yes."
"Countdown 30 seconds..."
30…20…10…0…
Ding! The detonation command followed the wires and quickly detonated the nuclear device 57 kilometers away.
In a special nuclear explosion test site, a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 100 tons exploded instantly. Since the entire room was evacuated into a sub-vacuum state, no strong shock wave was generated, only light radiation, neutron jets, and radioactive substances.
Various detectors buried in the defense walls of the test site also received a large amount of data.
At the same time, more than 73% of the first-layer detectors were destroyed in an instant.
Dr. Lewis looked at the real-time data on the computer, and a hint of excitement appeared on his face: "Success! My idea was correct! The firefly configuration can really do it!"
At this time, the radiation index on the computer shows a very high level of gamma rays, almost hundreds of times more than an ordinary hydrogen bomb.
This means that a large amount of radioactive material was produced in the nuclear explosion just now, and it was radioactive material that could release gamma rays.
Dr. Lewis quickly instructed: "Substitute the data into the reaction model and calculate how much cobalt 59 is converted into cobalt 60."
"clear."
Substituting the data into the prepared reaction model and using supercomputing analysis, the total data was quickly obtained.
“The conversion rate is between 71.6% and 74.2%.”
Dr. Lewis clenched his fists: "It has met expectations. It looks like we have one more trump card."
What they were researching was the infamous cobalt bomb.
After developing the firefly-configured hydrogen bomb, Dr. Lewis and others were not satisfied with the status quo, but continued to conduct in-depth research on other nuclear technologies.
During a simulated nuclear explosion, Levis had a sudden idea to replace the uranium shell in the three-phase bomb with a cobalt 59 shell.
He discovered that the firefly configuration has a special magnetic field confinement mechanism, which allows the nuclear reaction to be delayed by about 0.6 seconds before detonation. This results in the conversion rate of cobalt 59, which has an extremely low conversion rate, being increased to about 70%.
The cobalt bomb is not a direct-kill nuclear bomb, but a super dirty bomb.
In the 1950s, physicists proposed the theory of cobalt bombs. Major powers also studied cobalt bombs at that time , but they all found that cobalt bombs were difficult to achieve. The key difficulty lies in the efficiency of converting cobalt 59 into cobalt 60.
The Firefly configuration developed by Levis has characteristics that are very suitable for cobalt bullets.
This actual test is to verify the cobalt bomb technology.
Judging from the data generated by the explosion, it is clear that Levis's idea was successful.
According to the current conversion rate of about 70%, a cobalt bomb containing 800 tons of cobalt 59 could be detonated in the stratosphere at an altitude of 50,000 meters to wipe out the entire world.
800 tons of cobalt 59 can produce 560 tons of cobalt 60, but the surface area of the earth is only about 510 million square kilometers, so on average 1 gram of cobalt 60 will be distributed per square kilometer.
This thing has extremely terrible radioactivity, with a half-life of 5.27 years. During the decay process, it releases a large amount of gamma rays.
Gamma rays are extremely penetrating, and there is basically no chance of survival for humans on the surface, unless they are in a thick nuclear bunker.
Even if we can survive 5.27 years in the underground base, it will take about 100 years for the radioactive concentration on the surface to drop back to a level that humans can tolerate.
Moreover, the cobalt bomb does not need to be launched into the enemy's territory. Even if it is detonated in the sky above its own territory, it can still cover the entire world.
This means that those so-called interception systems are completely useless.
Although a cobalt bomb cannot reach the scale of 800 tons, an 8-ton one can still do it.
An 8-ton solid-fuel carrier rocket can be launched directly to an altitude of 50,000 meters in the stratosphere.
From now on, Sapiens only needs to equip itself with 100 cobalt bombs to create a global extinction deterrent.
Of course, 100 cobalt bombs alone are definitely not enough. After all, once this thing is used, the Sapiens company itself will suffer heavy losses. Therefore, it can only be as a strategic deterrent.
Conventional low-risk hydrogen bombs are the main tactical deterrent force of the Sapiens Company.
Levis, along with a group of nuclear physicists and nuclear engineers, carefully analyzed the various data generated during this test explosion.
Although the cobalt bomb was successful, they did not get complacent.
In fact, everyone felt a bit stressed and uneasy when developing this kind of world-destroying weapon.
Three days later.
Levis and others conducted a comprehensive analysis and supercomputing simulation review of the data generated by this test explosion.
In the holographic projection of the temporary studio.
Various details of the experimental cobalt bomb explosion were restored bit by bit.
Suddenly, nuclear power engineer Du Hai's eyes narrowed, and he turned around and ordered, "Xiao Gao, play it again, stop at 3.7 seconds, and then slow it down 100 times."
"OK."
The supercomputer simulation was played again until the 3.7-second node, slowed down 100 times.
Dr. Lewis asked curiously, "Did you find anything?"
"Electric current!" Du Hai's eyes flashed with excitement.
"Current?" Dr. Lewis carefully checked the changes in various data, and soon he saw the current that Du Hai mentioned.
After 3.7 seconds, the compressed air absorption layer in the gamma ray barrier began to produce dense currents.
According to the calculation results, these currents are basically stable in the range of 2.63 to 2.77 kilowatts.
Levis reacted instantly: "This is the energy generated by gamma rays..."
After being transformed by the compressed air absorption layer, these gamma rays are actually directly converted into electric current.
Du Hai's voice trembled a little: "We have installed a total of 200 grams of cobalt 59, of which 144 grams have been converted into cobalt 60. According to its half-life and the energy generated by decay, it should be able to generate a power equivalent to 4 kilowatts."
Everyone present was a professional and they quickly calculated that the electricity conversion rate was 67%.
Du Hai already felt his whole body getting hot. "The key is voltage. The current absorbed and transformed by compressed air has a voltage of about 30,000 to 70,000 volts. It is easier to transform than natural lightning of hundreds of millions of volts."
Although Levis specializes in nuclear weapons research and development, it does not mean that he does not understand nuclear power. After reading these data, he was also somewhat excited:
"This is an important discovery."
Du Hai suggested: "Doctor, I suggest that we extract the cobalt 60 in the test field and then redesign an experiment."
"Can."
