Chapter 555 Panama Canal (2)

The Panama Canal system has 12 locks in total.

From the Pacific entrance to the canal, the first set of locks is called the Miraflores Locks, which is a two-stage lock that can raise or lower ships by 45 meters.

Then there are the Pedro Miguel Locks, which is a one-stage lock that can raise or lower ships by 4 meters. After passing the Pedro Miguel Locks, you can reach Gatun Lake through the Culebra Channel.

The last lock is the Gatun Locks, which is a three-stage lock that can raise or lower ships by 9 meters and leads to the Atlantic Ocean.

All three sets of locks are paired, ensuring that ships can pass in opposite directions, at least in principle.

Some people may wonder why it is so troublesome to build so many locks. Wouldn't it be more convenient to dig through the Panama Canal and build a flat waterway like the Suez Canal?

There is a saying that there is a freshwater lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. If the lake water is replaced by seawater after it is opened, it will damage the local ecological environment.

Obviously this statement is nonsense. Haven't humans destroyed enough environment? Would you still care about this?

The biggest problem is the cost. The canal was dug from 1880 to 1914. It took 34 years to dig 300 million cubic meters of soil, consumed tens of millions of kilograms of explosives, and 60,000 to 70,000 migrant workers died in the process of digging the canal due to the harsh conditions.

If you really want to dig it flat, you have to dig nearly 1 billion cubic meters of soil. Even if you use the Bagger 260 giant excavator of the German Krupp Company in 1962 to dig 110,000 cubic meters of soil every day, it will take 25 years. And there must be no accidents, any mechanical failures, and digging day and night to dig it through. Such a huge project, even the wealthy United States would be afraid.

At this time, Major Miller, who was napping in the duty room, was awakened by a shrill phone ring. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the time. It was three o'clock in the morning. "What's the matter?" He muttered, and just picked up the phone, an anxious voice came from the other end of the phone. "Major Miller, it's bad. A ship is on fire in the Miraflores Locks!"

"What?!" Major Miller was suddenly awake. "On fire? What ship? Why is it on fire?!"

"It's the San Francisco, bound for New York Harbor, loaded with coconut oil."

"Coconut oil?" Major Miller frowned in confusion. "Will coconut oil burn?"

The other party was not sure. "I don't know either. It's all oil, so it should burn, right?"

Anyway, Major Miller hurriedly called the Governor of the Canal (who is also an American general). The Governor, who was awakened from his sleep, said angrily. "What's going on in the middle of the night?" Hearing that a ship was on fire in the locks, he was immediately furious! "Hurry up and put out the fire! I'll be there now!"

Major Miller drove his car all the way to the Pedro Miguel Locks, and sure enough, he saw thick smoke coming out of the freighter. "Where are the people on the boat? Why don't they drive the boat out?!"

A lieutenant ran over to report. "Report, I saw them abandon the ship and run away!"

"What?" Major Miller was stunned. "These bastards!" If there was an explosion or something, and the lock was damaged, he might be brought to the military court. "Quick, send people up to put out the fire. Even if the fire can't be put out, it can't explode here to block the waterway!"

As soon as the voice fell, a dazzling fireball suddenly burst out from the cabin, accompanied by a shocking explosion. A terrible energy storm spread with a devastating force, and the area within a few hundred meters was instantly flattened by the explosion.

"Oh my God!" The governor who hurried over looked at the blazing fire and the mess of the lock, and he was almost crying. His good days are probably over. What a huge loss this will cause! It would be strange if those tycoons in the country didn't kill him! "Who is it? Who did it?!"

The governor who was yelling hysterically would not have thought that the explosion was secondary, and the more terrible thing was behind. In addition to the ten-ton air-fuel bomb, there were five kilograms of nuclear waste on the ship!

Before the nuclear fuel reaches the reactor, it is in a stable state, and the possibility of decay or fission is very small, so it is very safe. When the nuclear fuel reaches the reactor, it is first necessary to use a neutron beam to excite the fuel. After the nuclear fuel is excited, it will begin to fission, and the elements produced will also decay, fission again, and decay again. Chain tree nuclear reactions will produce many elements.

A neutron is absorbed by U235 to form an excited U236. U236 is unstable and fissions into two light nuclei and releases 2-3 neutrons. The fission reaction principle of the reactor is the same as that of the atomic bomb, both of which are chain reactions. But in the reactor, the nuclear reaction rate is slower.

Until the various elements fission or decay into stable non-radioactive elements, the fuel becomes waste.

These wastes contain hundreds of isotopes, and their half-lives range from a few milliseconds to thousands of years.

For elements with short half-lives, just wait patiently for them to decay naturally, and they will become non-radioactive waste, which can be treated with other chemical wastes.

For wastes with long half-lives, the elements that still have value will be recycled first to continue to make fuel or other uses.

For elements that cannot be used anymore and have a long half-life, they can only be stored. At present, there is no effective way to eliminate the reflectivity of nuclear waste. It is mainly treated by deep burial, such as digging deep holes in remote natural salt fields to store them to reduce pollution to human society.

And now, a full five kilograms of nuclear waste is evenly scattered within a few kilometers with the shock wave of the explosion.

Radiation is a very scary thing, but there is a saying in chemistry: talking about toxicity without talking about dose is just playing rogue, and the same is true for radiation. Most people regard radiation as a holistic concept. As long as there is "radiation", it will be "carcinogenic" or "lethal", and the dose is completely ignored. This is a misunderstanding.

Humans live under the irradiation of radiation all the time. Cosmic rays, building materials, natural ores, gold and silver jewelry, etc. will emit radiation. These radiations are collectively referred to as natural background radiation. Radiation is not something that will kill you immediately. The creatures in nature have long evolved a set of mechanisms that can resist low-dose radiation. It can be said that radiation is harmless at a safe dose.

But once the safe dose is exceeded, it will be fatal. Under light radiation, people will slowly develop lesions, which are measured in months or years. They are not serious or even will not die, but the impact is far-reaching. For example, some survivors of the Chernobyl incident in later generations gave birth to children who were either deformed or idiots after becoming pregnant.

But if you are exposed to a strong dose of radiation, it can take days, and you will definitely die, and there is no hope of recovery. You won't die immediately after exposure, but there will be an organic reaction, and you will be dead soon.