Chapter 5: Nuclear Material Refinement

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“Of course, you can’t buy it directly, but in our daily lives, there are some items from which trace amounts of materials can be extracted.” He Xingzhou searched online for discarded smoke detectors.

“The sensor in a smoke detector contains americium-241, which emits alpha particles. By collecting americium-241 from hundreds of smoke detectors and wrapping them in aluminum foil, when the alpha particles hit the aluminum atoms, a nuclear reaction occurs, releasing neutrons.”

“This provides the raw material needed for the neutron gun, which is used to bombard nuclear fuel rods.”

He Xingzhou had already found manufacturers of smoke detectors online. He carefully examined their information to identify those whose sensor materials contained americium-241, then purchased several hundred units wholesale from secondhand websites.

“Is this really possible?” his three roommates exclaimed in amazement. “But that’s only the raw material for the neutron gun—what about the material for the nuclear fuel rods?”

He Xingzhou continued, “The surface coating of old-fashioned gas lamp shades contains thorium-232 compounds. By bombarding thorium with neutrons, uranium-233 is produced, and uranium-233 is a fissile material.”

He also bought several hundred secondhand car lamp shades online.

“The nuclear materials extracted from these sources are extremely scarce and absolutely insufficient for building a sustainable and stable nuclear reactor. But that’s enough for me—I only need to trigger a single nuclear fission reaction,” He Xingzhou explained.

Hearing this, the three roommates were genuinely impressed; they hadn’t expected him to have thought this far ahead.

“I’m starting to believe you might actually succeed!” Wang Jiahao said.

“You’re truly a master—can’t wait to see your work!” Feng Tao exclaimed.

“I have nothing more to say; I’ll just wait for the reactor to appear!” Zhang Yang also expressed admiration.

He Xingzhou said, “When that time comes, I’ll need your help—for example, refining raw materials and filming videos.”

“Count on us!” the three immediately agreed.

He Xingzhou embarked on his micro nuclear reactor project. The secondhand items he ordered arrived one by one, and because they were all discarded junk, the cost was even less than he had budgeted.

The clutter filled an entire dorm room. Since his roommates eagerly anticipated He Xingzhou’s masterpiece, they didn’t object and even began helping him voluntarily.

In the dorm, Wang Jiahao held a phone, filming He Xingzhou as they prepared a video.

He Xingzhou spoke to the camera: “Hello everyone, my name is He Xingzhou, and I am a student at Capital University of Science and Technology.”

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“Because I wanted to test a certain idea of mine, I decided to build a miniature nuclear reactor myself. To this end, I wrote a complete experimental plan. This plan has already been approved by the relevant authorities. Here, I want to remind everyone that conducting nuclear experiments requires official approval, so please do not attempt dangerous experiments on your own.”

“My reactor mainly consists of five components: an active zone, a neutron reflector layer, a control and regulation system, a cooling system, and a protective layer.”

“Currently, I am working on the first step, collecting materials for the nuclear fission reactor. Here I have some secondhand smoke detectors, whose sensors contain small amounts of americium-241—a material used to make the neutron reflector layer, essentially the raw material for a neutron gun that bombards nuclear atoms.”

“The following process will take place in the laboratory, and since it cannot be freely shared, that part of the video will be edited out.”

In the laboratory, He Xingzhou extracted some americium-241 from the discarded materials.

He planned to create a video series called “University Student Builds a Nuclear Reactor.”

He registered an account on the video platform Bilibili, choosing the username “Planet Builder,” then uploaded the first episode.

After posting, He Xingzhou stopped managing his account and focused intently on the second step: constructing the basic reactor apparatus.

The news of He Xingzhou building a micro nuclear fission reactor sparked interest among his classmates for only a few days before fading away.

In this age of information overload, new things appear every day, and most people assumed He Xingzhou’s project was just a passing whim and that he wouldn’t succeed in building a nuclear reactor. Within a week, hardly anyone was paying attention.

The only ones who kept following were physics professors like Zhang Boyan.

On Bilibili, thousands of video creators post content daily, but most viewers only see videos from the big influencers.

Newcomers rarely get a chance to be noticed.

He Xingzhou’s first video had only four views, all from himself and his roommates—no new viewers at all.

“This won’t do. No one’s watching the video!” Wang Jiahao said as he helped edit the second episode.

“Maybe people saw the title and thought it was fake. Plus, without followers, the algorithm doesn’t recommend it,” He Xingzhou replied. “Never mind, let’s just post the second episode.”

“The second episode is titled ‘University Student Builds a Nuclear Reactor—Episode 2: Using a Pressure Cooker to Make the Active Zone.’”

After editing, He Xingzhou published the new video.

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Since he had no followers, this new video also went largely unseen. However, new videos enter the platform’s editorial backend for review. Videos that catch editors’ interest receive some promotion.

He Xingzhou’s video appeared in the science channel editor’s backend.

“Lately, the science channel’s creators have been disappointing!” editor Xiao Mu complained to colleagues while working.

“There used to be a lot of quality content, but now it’s all just phone reviews and electric scooter reviews, with no viral videos.”

For editors, more viral videos mean better performance evaluations.

“It’s mainly because newcomers lack creativity; they only follow trends and post tech product reviews, so no viral hits come from that,” said colleague Ma Yi.

As they chatted, Xiao Mu noticed a new video in the backend: “University Student Builds a Nuclear Reactor—Episode 2: Using a Pressure Cooker to Make the Active Zone.”

“Hmm?” He remembered seeing the first episode before.

He had only watched one minute back then and shut it off, thinking the creator was just clickbaiting. Building a nuclear reactor? That’s a joke—who could possibly do that?

The first episode was also very dull, just about extracting elements. At the time, Xiao Mu found it boring and fake, so he gave it no promotion.

But now, seeing there was a second episode, Xiao Mu’s curiosity was piqued, and he clicked to watch.

On screen appeared He Xingzhou’s face, working in a lab, modifying a pressure cooker.

“Hello everyone, I’m He Xingzhou. In the last episode, we extracted americium-241 for the neutron reflector layer. Today, we’re making the active zone—the place where the nuclear reaction occurs. The main materials we’re using are two stainless steel pressure cookers, a small water pump, an electric fan, a radiator, several small-diameter plastic pipes, and numerous conductive wires.”

“Can you really build a nuclear reactor with these? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Although his initial reaction was disbelief, Xiao Mu was now more intrigued and continued watching.