"Visiting 221 and paying tribute to the heroes - inheriting and carrying forward the spirit of "two bombs and one satellite""The best comes from under the stick"
2024-08-22
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Qinghai Daily Integrated Media Reporter Zhang Huihui
There is an aluminum kettle and a steam pot in the Qinghai Atomic City Memorial Hall. Both are second-level revolutionary cultural relics in the museum. These two ordinary objects played an irreplaceable role in the pouring process of the first pot of explosives needed for my country's first atomic bomb.
The guide introduces the hydraulic press to tourists. Photo by Wei Yaqi, a reporter from Qinghai Daily Media Integration
Back in the autumn of 1961, the construction of the Second Branch of the 221 Base began. This is the largest of the 18 plant sites and is responsible for the production of high-energy explosives pressing and molding inside the atomic bomb, the production of detonating components, and the final assembly of nuclear products.
As the "trigger" for detonating an atomic bomb, the development, processing and molding of high-energy explosives is like pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth, full of dangers, and the production of explosive components is one of the most basic, dangerous and difficult links. Among them, the required steam boiler is the "Mikhailov boiler", a high-tech equipment that was only in the hands of a few nuclear powers at the time.
Liu Zhendong, an explosive pouring engineer, was responsible for equipment design. In order to overcome this difficult problem, he and technical personnel worked day and night to carry out technical research based on limited information.
"This pot is a double-layer steam pot with an inlet, an exhaust port, and a pouring port... At that time, it solved the problem of 'waiting for the rice to be put into the pot' for China's first atomic bomb." To this day, Liu Zhendong can still draw the design clearly.
Even with the steam boiler, boiling explosives was still a problem. Since the second plant had just been built and the water and power supply system of the entire nuclear base was not yet complete, ensuring water supply for the boiler room became a concern for everyone.
Making explosives (data photo).
Therefore, Qian Jin, the first director of the second branch, led a group of staff to form a human wall and pass basins of water from the small river at the foot of the mountain to the boiler room. There was no distinction between people of different positions. Even though the cold wind was howling and the icy river water in winter had soaked everyone's clothes and shoes and socks, it still couldn't stop their enthusiasm and they would stand for hours at a time.
At the same time, the various processes of explosives production are progressing in an orderly manner. Warning slogans such as "Walk lightly and talk softly when entering the work area" and "No fireworks" are printed on each work area in the second branch. Before entering the operation area, operators must first pass through a "Z"-shaped cement passage and make many turns. There are drainage ditches around the work area, and many water spraying facilities are installed on the top to ensure automatic spraying in the event of fireworks.
Since the project was initially carried out by "homegrown methods", the pouring process was purely manual. To prevent static electricity from being generated during the production process, the operators wore anti-static cotton clothes with cloth strips instead of buttons, and their work shoes also had rubber soles.
"Just like a doctor performing surgery or a chef cooking, you have to concentrate fully when stirring explosives. You can't be too fast or too slow. You have to maintain a certain temperature and you can't make the bottom get burnt. Otherwise, it will affect the quality of the explosive components and even make it impossible to pour the explosives." Wang Junqing said as he simulated the scene at that time.
Mixing explosives (file photo).
Under the unbearable high temperature, workers kept stirring the explosives in the pot with wooden sticks until the melted TNT and RDX were evenly mixed and poured into the mold in a paste form. It is because of this that there is a saying that "the tip comes out from the bottom of the stick".
During the pouring process, high-energy explosives contain a toxic substance called trinitrotoluene, which will be dispersed in the air. Wang Junqing still remembers the bitter almond smell in the workshop. Although wearing masks and taking certain protective measures, the effect of this protection is minimal. Over time, everyone generally has bloating and loss of appetite.
"At that time, every time we were about to go to work, the leader would ask who could eat two steamed buns, and that person would go up." Wang Junqing said that even if they couldn't eat, everyone's work enthusiasm did not diminish in the slightest.
Hard work pays off. On December 8, 1962, the 201 Explosives Pouring Workshop of the Second Branch poured the first pot of explosives, which filled everyone with confidence and motivation.
Later, the process was continuously improved. After the isostatic press was invented, machinery was used to replace manual work. Hydraulic presses were used to press and load explosives. After the pressing was completed, the original manual operation was returned to for fine processing of the explosives.
However, machine suppression does not mean safety. From the moment you enter the workshop, every second of "face-to-face" contact with explosives is accompanied by unpredictable dangers. In particular, between 1969 and 1971, there were four explosion accidents in the second plant.
"We walked into the work area one after another. We were still talking and laughing one second, and the next second we were separated by life and death." Zhou Yuncheng is a survivor of the explosion. He was deeply shocked by what happened to his colleagues.
From cooling with water to processing without water, from sharp tools to high-speed running car windows, he turned his sadness into motivation, and after countless experiments, he and his colleagues finally checked out all possible causes of the explosion. Since then, there has been no explosion accident in the work number.
"We are friends who share life and death. Without such experience, it would be impossible to deeply understand the revolutionary spirit of the 221 people!"
According to incomplete statistics, during the development of the "two bombs", there were more than 600 employees engaged in high-risk work in the Second Factory. Many of them have been buried in the grassland, but their innocent hearts dedicated to the country and the people and their sense of honor for the cause of national defense will live on.
Editor: Yin Haiyan;
Source of the article: Qinghai Observation Client Statement: Except for the articles with source indication, all the above content are original articles of Qinghai Daily. The copyright belongs to the media platform to which Qinghai Daily belongs. Any reproduction without written permission is strictly prohibited, and violators will be held accountable!
