Chapter 894: Chapter 892: Nuclear Weapons Program, Fourth Phase
“Others?” Witch Demon Elder Ah Fu asked.
“Yes, others.” Richard nodded, “Besides what I’ve ntioned, another point to consider is that, in certain situations, private forces can have a counterproductive effect on individuals.
If the starting point for developing private forces is to assist oneself, then after developnt, one will inevitably rely on private forces to provide certain services and handle matters they used to manage. Regardless of how well the private forces do, it cannot be denied that any issues they encounter will significantly impact oneself.
The larger the private force, the easier it is for various problems to arise, even if great effort is put into prevention, conflicts over certain interests may lead to deliberate attacks by enemies.”
“So, are you saying you’ll never develop private forces?” Witch Demon Elder frowned, “You can’t say that private forces are entirely useless, can you?”
“Of course not.” Richard shook his head, “I understand very well that at tis, the role of private forces cannot be ignored; they can act as multipliers, shortening the path to success. Ultimately, I will develop private forces, possibly on a large scale, but before that, I’ve chosen the research route.”
“The research route, what is that?”
“To put it simply, I am exploring this world, trying to understand so things. Only by exploring to the end can I determine what exactly I need private forces to assist with.
For example, a few years ago, I might have only tasked them with helping make so simple chemical drugs, now I might have them help purify uranium elents, and later, I might have them assist in deciphering rules by exhaustive thods.”
The goal of a private force largely determines its positioning, affecting its structure, personnel quality, and personnel quantity.
As of now, I can handle many things myself, building a private force is beneficial, but it is not necessary. Therefore, only when truly necessary will I establish one, for instance, when my research reaches a bottleneck that cannot be broken through personally, I will strive to create a private force to forcibly break through.
In summary, until the ti is right, I occasionally plant a few seeds or establish a loose business organization to serve by throwing money. Only at critical monts will I devote significant energy.”
“So!” Witch Demon Elder listened, eyes widening slightly, spoke indignantly, “So, you called back to assist you, right? You want to save energy, not blindly build private forces, but you unceremoniously exploit , occupying my ti, this was not part of our previous agreent.”
“It’s not my fault.” Richard shrugged, “I originally didn’t plan to bother you, but when the mine had issues, you clearly told ‘to handle it as I please,’ what else could I do?”
“That—” Witch Demon Elder’s expression froze, speechless, as Richard’s words were the truth.
After a long silence, Witch Demon Elder stepped forward and heavily sat back in the nearby recliner, muttering angrily, “Fine, fine, it’s my fault. Even if it’s my fault and I should help you, there should be ti to rest, right? I’m an elderly man, my true age unknown, possibly hundreds of years old, can’t I rest a bit more? I’ve decided, I’ll lie down for a while before helping you.”
“Whatever makes you happy,” Richard said, lightly shaking his head, and stepping to the side.
Indeed, there was nothing for Witch Demon Elder to do currently.
As Witch Demon Elder watched Richard walk away, he relaxed his body, closed his eyes on the recliner, “wiggled” a few tis, and sighed, “Comfortable,” savoring the few monts of leisure.
Elsewhere, Richard reached the end of the line of chemical instrunts, glanced at the gauges, and began adjusting with the control lever.
Minutes later, accompanied by a rustling sound, a special glass container over a ter high began producing a substance.
It was a colorless, transparent particle, sowhat resembling salt.
However, Richard knew well that, in a certain sense, this was even more dangerous than the most hazardous salt he had ever made—Magic Salt.
Because its na was Uranium Hexafluoride, chemical formula UF6, a compound ford by six fluorine elents and one uranium elent, and it was the product of the third stage of uranium elent purification.
To obtain it, one must use ion exchange to remove neutron-absorbing impurities from the previously obtained yellow cake (U3O8), ensuring impurity content does not exceed one part in 125,000 equivalent to eight parts boron per million uranium.
Subsequently, remove tallic elents like iron, aluminum, nickel that may generate non-volatile fluorides, producing high-purity uranium oxide—Uranium Dioxide (UO2).
Then react this black powder Uranium Dioxide (UO2) with Hydrofluoric Acid (HF).
Hydrofluoric Acid (HF) is an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride, also known as Bone-Eroding Water, Bone-dissolving water, or Bone Erosive Acid, possessing strong corrosiveness. Because of the relatively strong bonding ability between hydrogen and fluorine atoms, HF does not completely ionize in water, theoretically being a weak acid, yet can dissolve substances other strong acids cannot, such as ruthenium, rhodium, tantalum.
It will react with Uranium Dioxide (UO2) to form Uranium Tetrafluoride (UF4).
Uranium Tetrafluoride reacts with fluorine in an oxidation reaction, eventually forming Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6).
As a further refined nuclear weapon material compared to yellow cake, Uranium Hexafluoride possesses many unique properties.
For example, its lting point is 64.8℃ (338.0 K), yet its boiling point is even lower, at 56.5℃ (329.7 K).
This causes it to transition directly from solid to gaseous state without lting, known as sublimation, when temperature reaches 64.8℃.
Moreover, it has high toxicity, requiring utmost avoidance of direct contact with humans. It can also react violently with water and corrode most tals, thus the best storage thod is gas in steel containers.
Richard checked the gauges, confird the temperature in the production container was 35℃, with neither air nor moisture, and relaxed. He then transferred all the produced Uranium Hexafluoride into steel gas containers for storage in the warehouse.
This marked the complete end of the third stage of the nuclear weapon research and manufacturing plan.
Next was the fourth stage—the final purification of uranium elents.
In a way, this was the only true purification because its target was no longer the broad uranium elents but more precise Uranium 235.
Yes, Uranium 235.
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