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"Of course, you can't directly buy these materials, but in our daily lives, there are things that can be used to extract minute amounts of material." He Xingzhou searched online directly for discarded smoke detectors.
"The probe in the smoke detector contains Americium 241, which emits α-particles. Extracting Americium 241 from several hundred smoke detectors and wrapping them in aluminum foil, when α-particles hit the aluminum atoms in the foil, a nuclear reaction occurs, emitting neutrons."
"In this way, we have the raw material for the neutron gun that is used to strike fuel rods."
He Xingzhou had already found the manufacturers of smoke detectors online. He carefully searched through the manufacturer's information to find those probes containing Americium 241, then went to a second-hand website to wholesale purchase several hundred of them.
"Is this possible?" The three roommates exclaimed, "But that's just the raw material for the neutron gun, what about the material for the fuel rods?"
He Xingzhou continued: "Old-fashioned gas lamp mantles have a coating compound that contains Thorium-232. Bombarding Thorium with neutrons can produce Uranium-233, which is the material for nuclear fission."
He bought several hundred of those second-hand car lamp mantles on the second-hand website too.
"The nuclear materials extracted from these materials are extremely scarce and cannot form a nuclear reaction device capable of stable and sustainable power generation. But for me, it is enough, as I only need to produce a single nuclear fission reaction," He Xingzhou said.
Hearing his words, the three roommates were truly impressed; they had not expected him to think this far through.
"I'm starting to believe that you might actually succeed!" Wang Jiahao said.
"The boss is really something, I'm looking forward to it!" Feng Tao exclaimed.
"I have nothing to say, just waiting for the nuclear reactor to emerge!" Zhang Boyan was also convinced.
He Xingzhou said, "I'm going to need your help when the time comes, such as refining raw materials and filming videos, etc."
"Leave it to us!" The three immediately agreed.
He Xingzhou began his Miniature Nuclear Fission Reactor manufacturing plan. The items he ordered online arrived one by one, since they were all second-hand junk, the cost was less than budgeted.
All these items filled up an entire dormitory, but seeing as the roommates were all looking forward to He Xingzhou's masterpiece, they had no complaints, even offering to help proactively.
In the dorm, Wang Jiahao was holding a phone, filming He Xingzhou. They were making a video.
He Xingzhou said to the camera: "Hello everyone, my name is He Xingzhou, a student at Capital University of Science and Technology."
"Because I want to verify a certain idea of mine, I decided to build a miniature nuclear reactor myself. For this, I have written a complete experimental plan. This plan has been approved by the relevant departments. I would like to remind everyone here that nuclear experiments must be approved, so please do not undertake dangerous experiments on your own."
"My reactor mainly includes five structures: the core, neutron reflector, control and regulation system, cooling system, and protection layers."
"Right now, I am taking the first step, collecting materials for the nuclear fission reactor. I have some second-hand smoke detectors here, in their probes, they contain a small amount of Americium 241. This is only to make the neutron reflector layer, which is the raw material for the neutron gun that strikes the nuclear material atoms."
"The following process will take place in a laboratory because it can't be indiscriminately spread, so it will be cut from the video."
In the lab, He Xingzhou had extracted some Americium 241 from these discarded materials.
He planned to produce a series of videos while performing the experiment, titled "University Student's DIY Nuclear Reactor."
He specifically registered an account on the video website Bilibili, with the ID "Planet Builder," and then chose to release his first video.
After posting, He Xingzhou did not manage his account anymore. Instead, he immediately started on the second step of building the basic device for the reactor.
He Xingzhou's Miniature Nuclear Fission Reactor project caused a stir among his classmates for a few days and then faded into silence.
In this era of information overload, new things come up every day, and everyone believed that He Xingzhou's enthusiasm was merely a passing fancy and that he couldn't possibly succeed in building a nuclear reactor. So after a short week, not many people were still paying attention to it.
The one who always kept an eye on it was Zhang Boyan and other physics professors.
On Bilibili, many video bloggers post videos every day, and most people watch those from the big ones.
But for newcomers who post videos, there is little chance of being noticed.
He Xingzhou's first episode had only four views. And these four clicks were from him and his roommates themselves, not a single new viewer.
"This won't do, nobody is watching the video at all!" Wang Jiahao was helping He Xingzhou edit the second episode.
"Maybe people think it's fake when they see the title. And without any followers, the algorithm won't recommend it," said He Xingzhou, "No matter, let's release the second episode."
"The second episode video is titled 'University Student's DIY Nuclear Reactor – Episode 2, Pressure Cooker Makes the Core'."
After the video was edited, He Xingzhou posted it again.
Since there were no followers, naturally, no one saw the video. But new videos enter the video editor's backend for review, and for those videos deemed interesting by the editor, some resources will be provided for promotion.
He Xingzhou's video, then entered the backend of a video editor for the science and technology channel.
"UP creators on the science channel are really deteriorating lately!" The video editor "Little Mu" complained while working with his colleagues.
"The content used to be plentiful. Now it's mostly smartphone reviews, electric vehicle reviews, and no breakout videos."
For the editor, the more hit videos, the better the performance.
"It's all like this," said the colleague "Ant," "Mainly because the ideas from newcomers are too boring. Apart from following the trend of making tech product review videos, they don't shoot anything else, so naturally, no hits emerge."
As they talked, Little Mu suddenly saw a new video in the backend: "University Student's DIY Nuclear Reactor – Episode 2, Pressure Cooker Makes the Core".
"Huh?" He remembered this video; he had seen the first episode before.
He turned it off after only a minute because he thought this UP was just clickbait, what about building a nuclear reactor? Isn't that a joke? Who has such capability!
Moreover, the content of the first episode was very dull, talking about refining some elements, Little Mu found it boring and fake, and gave no promotion.
Seeing the second episode today, Little Mu became curious and clicked in to have a look.
In the video, He Xingzhou's face appeared, and he was in the lab, modifying a pressure cooker.
"Hello everyone, I'm He Xingzhou. In the last episode, we have already extracted Americium 341, the raw material for the neutron reflector layer. Today, we're going to make the core, the place where the nuclear reaction occurs. Our main materials include two stainless steel pressure cookers, a small water pump, an electric fan, a radiator, a number of small diameter plastic pipes, and several conductive wires."
"With these, you can make a nuclear reactor? Are you kidding me?" Although his first reaction was disbelief, Little Mu became more curious about the video and continued to watch.
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