Peng Shilu’s colleagues remember him at a ceremony in Beijing last month that conferred the nuclear expert with the title of “Role Model of the Times” for his contributions. (PAN XU / XINHUA)

When China launched its first nuclear submarine in 1970, people around the world asked this question: How did the Chinese pull off such a feat? 

Well, if anyone is still seeking answers, a lot of credit for that huge achievement goes to nuclear expert Peng Shilu and his team of scientists and engineers.

The task was anything but easy. At the start of the ambitious work plan in the 1960s, Peng and his team faced a dilemma. They wanted to build a nuclear submarine for China, but had no blueprint, no authoritative experts, and no foreign technical aid. The only reference materials available to them were several blurry photos of foreign nuclear submarines from a newspaper, and a model toy sub.

Also, Peng, a pioneer in nuclear propulsion technology, found that most research group members had no nuclear power studies background. 

Following the launch of the nuclear submarine project, the team had to make progress on its own, designing and building everything from scratch — from the highly complicated navigation system to a simple, tiny screw head.

In fact, all 46,000 components, involving around 1,300 categories of equipment, used in the country’s first submarine were independently designed and manufactured with the team’s own hands, enabling China to become the fifth country in the world to have nuclear-powered submarines.

Despite being one of the founding members of China’s nuclear power industry, Peng was reluctant to be called “father of the nuclear submarine in China” and described himself as playing a tiny role in the grand scheme.

“It’s enough to spend my lifetime loving my country, being loyal to it and dedicating myself to its prosperity,” said Peng, who played an indispensable role in building China’s first nuclear submarines and developing the key parts.

Peng, who passed away earlier this year, once said that he only did two things in his entire life: one was to build nuclear submarines, and the other to build nuclear power plants. This declaration may sound bold but, considering his achievements, it is more of an understatement.

In fact, he held leading positions in most of China’s early nuclear power projects, from the first-generation nuclear submarines to the establishment of Dayawan and Qinshan nuclear power stations.

“Maybe because my zodiac animal is the ox, I very much admire the headstrong spirit of the animal. If I decide to do something, I will persevere to the end,” he once said.

Born in November 1925 in Haifeng, Guangdong province, Peng was the second son of a family of heroes, who devoted themselves to the Communist revolutionary cause and sacrificed their lives. His mother, Cai Suping, was killed by Kuomintang authorities when Peng was 2 years old. His father, Peng Pai, a renowned revolutionary leader, was killed by the KMT a year later.

A file photo shows Peng (second from right), an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, working with researchers. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

The KMT forces sought to arrest the young boy, but the locals, out of gratitude to his father, hid him and moved him from village to village. He was raised by dozens of families entrusted with that task by the CPC. Despite that, Peng still found himself in jail when he was 8 years old. 

A village woman, who took him in as a member of her family, was also arrested but refused to confirm, even under torture, that the boy was Peng Pai’s son.

After he was released, Peng joined the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), and went to the center of the Chinese revolution, Yan’an, Shaanxi province, in 1940. He worked in several civilian posts there and joined the CPC in 1945.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he was selected to study chemical engineering in the Soviet Union in 1951.

In 1956, when he was about to graduate, Peng faced a turning point in his life. At that time, the central government decided to select a group of outstanding students abroad for a transfer to studies in atomic energy.

Peng willingly agreed and shifted his major to nuclear propulsion, marking the beginning of a lifetime of work dedicated to developing China’s nuclear power sector. After Peng graduated and came back to China in 1958, he began his career in the nuclear industry. Returning to his motherland, he brought back not only all the university textbooks, but also a number of nuclear reactor reference materials that he purchased in the Soviet Union.

It was the same year that China started to look to independently develop its own nuclear submarines, as they were considered key to protecting the country’s core interests. 

“(Chairman Mao Zedong once said that) nuclear submarines have to be developed, even if it takes 10,000 years. As scientists, 10,000 years is too long, so we must seize every minute,” Peng said, referring to the founding father of the PRC.

Four years earlier, in 1954, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, was launched by the United States Navy. Soon, the US and the Soviet Union began to develop nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. 

In 1959, the Soviet Union refused to provide assistance for China’s research and development of nuclear submarines, citing reasons such as technological complexity.

In the early 1960s, the young scientist was assigned to take part in the research and design work of the nuclear propulsion system for China’s first nuclear submarines. He led the development and construction of a land-based experimental reactor, and later saw the reactors installed in the nation’s first nuclear submarines.

The nuclear expert often had to work so hard to solve difficult issues that he once spent five days and nights in a row without any rest. During an on-site inspection in 1974, the then 49-year-old Peng was rushed to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with acute gastric perforation. 

Doctors had to remove three quarters of his stomach, but after only about a month’s recuperation, Peng went back to his post. In the last years of his life, Peng’s stomach basically lost its function and he had to get nutrition via nasal feeding tubes. Someone once asked him if it was all worth it. Peng answered, without the slightest hesitation: “It was worth it. To develop the nuclear submarine, everything was worth it, even if I lost my own life.”

In the 1980s, China decided to build a commercial nuclear power plant. Appointed as the project’s director-in-chief, Peng once again devoted himself to its preparation and construction.

During his career, Peng held a variety of high-ranking titles such as the vice-minister of the ministries of shipbuilding, water resources and electricity. However, for the most part of Peng’s life, his work was strictly confidential. It was not until decades later that he was known to the public as the first chief designer of Chinese nuclear submarines.

In 1994, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, one of the top academic bodies in China.

Entering the 21st century, Peng’s health declined and he had to use a wheelchair when he went outdoors. Still, he continued to attend academic conferences and go on field trips to nuclear power plants.

In 2017, he was conferred with the top science and technology achievement award by the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, but he donated all the prize money as a fund to award young people who make significant innovative achievements in the field of nuclear power.

“Our nuclear industry must be bigger and stronger. The new generation (that) works in the nuclear industry should buckle down and do its best,” Peng said in 2020, when China marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of its nuclear industry.

Peng passed away in Beijing on March 22 at the age of 95. Honoring his contributions, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee recently conferred the title “Role Model of the Times” on Peng.

Peng was known for his dedication to his missions and to the cause of China’s nuclear submarine sector, said Zhang Jinlan, chief researcher of nuclear submarines at China State Shipbuilding Corp.

Zhao Lei in Beijing contributed to this report.

Contact the writers at vivienxu@chinadailyapac.com