China's hardships in making atomic bombs.

Luo Pengfei's file records are as follows: Male, 1934+ 12, born in February, party member, from Nanchang County, Jiangxi Province. 195 1 year participated in the revolution, 1952 graduated from the Third Institute of Nonferrous Metals in Central South China, 1953 was assigned to work in Shuikoushan, Hunan Province, and later transferred to the Central South Geological Bureau. 1955 transferred to the third bureau, engaged in atomic energy industry, successively served as technician, section chief of three subjects, deputy section chief of geology department and laboratory director of zhongnan 309 team1/team. ...

The file resume seems inconspicuous. In fact, after 1955, Luo Pengfei was a soldier who didn't wear a military uniform. His "Third Bureau" was directly led by the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry (later changed to the Second Ministry of Machinery Industry). As we all know, in order to make China's first atomic bomb, the "Engine Three Department" was established, and the first minister was Song Renqiong. For the sake of confidentiality, the geological team looking for uranium deposits is a standard military organization, although it does not wear military uniforms.

In the early 1950s, young people and the country were in great need of development, and imperialist nuclear blackmail hung over the city like a dark cloud. President Mao Zedong's voice was deafening: "Our country should also develop atomic energy." "Very promising, looking for! A large number of uranium mines will be discovered. " As a result, various geological prospectors began a long and mysterious journey.

At the beginning of 1957, 23-year-old Luo Pengfei went to Hunan and Jiangxi with 1 1 team, and entered the mountainous area of northern Guangdong after completing the exploration task. Xiazhuang, Wengyuan, Guangdong, a small mountain village with only a dozen farmers, looked at these people wearing strange clothes and sleeping in the wind in surprise.

Shan Ye in northern Guangdong is covered with a large area of granite. At that time, there was no precedent for the discovery of uranium deposits in granite at home and abroad. Many experts believe that granite is not conducive to uranium mineralization and it is difficult to form uranium deposits with industrial value. Therefore, the granite area is regarded as a "forbidden area" for uranium exploration.

Faced with this blank in the history of uranium exploration, young geologists who dare to be the first in China did not give up their pursuit easily.

In April, teams 1957 and 1 1 formed a survey team, including team leader Yu and geological technician Luo Pengfei. They divided into four groups and went deep into xia zhuang. By August of that year, after more than four months of climbing mountains and mountains, they set foot at the foot of Xiazhuang Mountain, but the effect was not great. The mysterious uranium always plays hide-and-seek with everyone.

A day in geological history

The players were not discouraged. One day in early August of that year, the sun was blazing, the heat was unbearable, and the air was sultry as if it were about to ignite. Luo Pengfei and prospectors Xie Benwu, Zhou and others went up the mountain for exploration as usual.

This day is destined to be recorded in the history of atomic energy development in China. In the book "The Secret-The Birth of China's First Atomic Bomb", there is a special chapter "The Stone of Hope" describing this glorious moment:

..... Three hours later, the team appeared on another ridge.

"Teacher Luo, we broke into the' forbidden zone'!" A team member ran to Peng, shook down the map and reported in panic.

"Forbidden area?" Peng-heart suddenly a tight, quickly took the map, fingers moving along the red route on the map, face serious, frowned.

Perhaps it is because the trees are deep and the roads are hard to separate, or perhaps it is because of the eagerness to win, which violates the ban-entering the prescribed "forbidden zone" for more than 2,000 meters.

For a long time, Luo Pengfei shook off his cigarette butt and stepped on his foot: "Since I'm here, let's get down to business! Keep moving forward, disperse the search, and a mountain and a stone can't be missed! " He realized the principle that there is no uranium mine in granite areas abroad, which does not mean that there is no uranium mine in granite areas of China. Didn't the Chinese Red Army also create the "Long March" that foreign countries didn't have?

This somewhat stubborn and strong pioneer, under the blow of repeated failures, has always been full of confidence in finding uranium deposits.

The sun moves to the west. Xia Guang sprinkled on the bare granite, flashing colorful colors. Enduring fatigue and hunger, the players searched carefully on cliffs, eight miles and rocks.

"Luo technician, did you find it ... found it!" Geological team member Xie Benwu shouted and ran to Luo Pengfei.

Luo Pengfei was surprised and greeted the visitor with an urgent question: "What, what did you say?" Xiao Xie could not restrain his excitement, waved and stammered, "Here it is! Really! More than 1000 ... 1000 gamma, quick ... quick ...! "Don't need him to say more, Peng-fei luo immediately understand. His bright and tired eyes flashed with splendor at once! He grabbed the gamma meter and ran to the left.

A huge round stone, like the legendary seven-color stone in Goddess of Mending Heaven, shines with countless light spots in the sunset.

Luo Pengfei was shocked. He operated the gamma meter quickly. Suddenly, the "giggle" sound from the earphone hit his eardrum. The gamma pointer on the dial is like a clock full of strings. Keep going to the high-end indicator plate. One hundred, full! Five hundred, one thousand, full, full! He changed three gears in a row and the pointer reached the highest index. Luo Pengfei was shocked. Unexpected joy made him just stand where he was, staring straight at the boulder.

Luo Pengfei's will is being tested at this time, on the one hand, it is the conclusion of foreign experts, on the other hand, it is reality. At this point, if he denies himself a little, China's atomic bomb history will be rewritten.

Luo Pengfei persistently expanded the detection surface. From the boulder to the cliff, the pointer of the instrument kept swinging. Finally, a uranium belt with large thickness, high grade and great mining value has been discovered.

At this moment, his joy is no less than Columbus's discovery of the new continent. He hugged his teammates with tears and cheered.

The "stone of hope" under heavy pressure

At first, Luo Pengfei's discovery was not supported and almost denied.

In 1950s, China's uranium geological exploration started with Sino-Soviet joint venture, then was conducted under the technical guidance of Soviet experts, and finally changed to the Soviet Union as a consultant. Luo Pengfei's discovery is tantamount to challenging authority.

"Jokes, jokes, that's impossible." After listening to Luo Pengfei's report, a foreign expert rudely taught him: "Even if this granite contains uranium, it is only a boulder. Can it have mining value? Young people, believe in science and take the right path. I don't like others to do things that go against science. If it affects your work, can you bear the consequences? "

Luo Pengfei recalled that I was under great pressure. Comrade Nesmi, the technical director of the Soviet Union, advocated pulling the team out of the granite body and finding another five-element construction area. However, in the face of the actual situation, we didn't do this, but sweated like rain, dug exploration trenches and explored in depth.

The behavior of Luo Pengfei and his comrades-in-arms caused criticism from foreign experts, and he was labeled as "the waste king Luo Pengfei".

Luo Pengfei now recalls this arduous journey, which is not old-fashioned, but full of heroism: "Our country's uranium geology has a slow start and a weak foundation, so we should learn from others' advanced experience. However, this does not mean that we can only follow carefully with the help of crutches handed over by others. This is not the temperament of China people! As long as you can provide the nuclear materials of the first atomic bomb, no matter what risks he will encounter, everything will be handled by him! "

The price of blood and sweat has brought three deep ditches several meters wide, several meters deep and several tens of meters long. Luo Pengfei led his comrades to run around in the deep ditch with equipment on their backs. Everyone's face was peeled off by the sun many times, and the whole body was stung by poisonous locusts. At this time, Luo Pengfei almost received an ultimatum notice: "Who asked you to explore granite? Who gave you the power? You should immediately withdraw all those who work in the granite belt! "

1 1 Lv Xinhua, captain of the detachment, recalled this experience: Luo Pengfei, a young geologist who had only studied geology for one year, once talked with Soviet experts: "I'm not sure, many granites can be mineralized. My work during this period has proved that this place is promising anyway. " -I hope that the mining area is like this. I always think that hope will never come.

Team party organizations support Luo Pengfei's actions. He led the team to fight day and night on the construction site. After several months' efforts, the roadway of 100 meters was drilled, and three ore bodies were found, with the grade increased from 0.03% to 0. 1%. Faced with this gratifying data, Luo Pengfei couldn't restrain his inner excitement and wrote a proposal for further exploration, proposing to shift from general survey to deep exploration.

Granite contains uranium! This great discovery alarmed Beijing and attracted great attention from leaders and technicians at all levels of China and the Soviet Union. It was concluded that the No.86 belt discovered by Luo Pengfei was promising. 1957 65438+in February, lebedev, a Soviet expert, suggested that the No.86 belt be called the hope mineralized area, wishing the mineralized area to develop healthily into an industrially significant uranium deposit. After exposure and exploration, it finally developed into the first large-scale uranium deposit with industrial value in granite in China.

Therefore, the "hope deposit" has been recorded in the history of geological prospecting in the world.

Unload the glory of the past and retire from ordinary life.

For the sake of confidentiality, Luo Pengfei buried his work and achievements in his heart. 1960, he married Wang Yingxiu, a 22-year-old female worker of Nanchang Cigarette Factory. Of course, this marriage was approved by the organization, and Wang Yingxiu was not simple. She became a provincial model worker at the age of 18. In the second year of marriage, Wang Yingxiu joined the army-this is also for the sake of confidentiality.

Wang Yingxiu, with silver hair, said brightly when interviewed by reporters yesterday: "He lied to me! At that time, he kept his mouth shut about his work. I only saw him fiddling with all kinds of stones, but I didn't know it was an atomic bomb-this was only known in the past two years! "

1984, Luo Pengfei, a regimental engineer, and his wife transferred to Nanchang cigarette factory, and successively served as party branch secretary of tobacco branch, labor service company and equipment branch. 1994 retired. During the period, he strictly enforced the party's confidentiality discipline and kept his mouth shut to his colleagues.

Luo Pengfei once had a nephew who studied at Peking University. He accidentally found his uncle's name in a foreign language material introducing nuclear technology in the library, so he wrote to ask. Luo Pengfei wrote back: "There are many people with the same name and surname in China."

After the 1990s, China began to gradually decrypt "two bombs and one satellite", and the feats of Wang, Guo Yonghuai and Deng Jiaxian moved the Chinese people. People will naturally not forget the hero who discovered the raw materials of the atomic bomb. Luo Pengfei's name is mentioned in many memoirs. When colleagues in the factory asked him about it, although it had been decrypted, Luo Pengfei didn't want to lie on the credit book. He often avoids the admiration of people with the same name.

1993 10. After 3 6 years, the State Science and Technology Commission awarded Luo Pengfei the second prize for scientific and technological progress. The winning project is "Research on Discovery, Development and Metallogenic Regularity of Xiazhuang Granite Uranium Deposit", and his wife Wang Yingxiu "only knows what the old man did at this time".

Until now, Luo Pengfei's "popularity" in Nanchang cigarette factory dormitory is still limited. He plunged into the pile of retired men and women, and no one could recognize the hero who discovered China's first atomic bomb, the Stone of Hope. Luo Pengfei has never reached out to the organization. His two sons and two daughters are ordinary workers and cadres. The eldest son is 35 years old and still driving a taxi. Nanchang cigarette factory old couple dormitory, no decoration. Looking back, Luo Pengfei was filled with emotion: "There are countless people who have made selfless contributions to the atomic bomb cause of the motherland. Take, for example, the nameless ditch where we later made uranium by local methods. After work-related injuries, accidents and radiation, when we made the first batch of ammonium diuranate for atomic bombs, many of the 150 comrades who went in were already dead ... "

The old hero said with emotion, "Let his past glory pass. What our party and country are doing now is facing the future. " (