2022年12月14日 VOA慢速英语：美国科学家宣布在核聚变发展方面取得重大进展

 

American scientists have announced a "major scientific breakthrough" in the long-sought search for a way to use nuclear fusion to produce energy.
美国科学家宣布在长期寻求利用核聚变产生能量的方法中取得“重大科学突破”。
 
The announcement came Tuesday during a briefing by U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials in Washington, D.C. Granholm said that, for the first time, a fusion reaction experiment had produced more energy than was required to ignite it.
周二，美国能源部长詹妮弗格兰霍姆和其他官员在华盛顿特区举行的简报会上宣布了这一消息。格兰霍姆说，聚变反应实验产生的能量首次超过了点燃它所需的能量。
 
Scientists describe such a result as "net energy gain." This state has until now been an unreachable goal for the scientists because fusion happens at extremely high temperatures and pressures. This makes the process very difficult to control.
科学家将这种结果描述为“净能量增益”。到目前为止，这种状态一直是科学家无法实现的目标，因为聚变发生在极高的温度和压力下。这使得该过程非常难以控制。
 
The new result came last week during an experiment carried out by government scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The lab is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
上周，政府科学家在加利福尼亚州劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室的国家点火设施进行的一项实验中得出了新结果。该实验室隶属于美国能源部。
 
Fusion happens when the nuclei of two atoms are subjected to extreme heat. This leads to the formation of a new, larger atom and the release of energy. Fusion is the process that fuels stars, including the sun.
当两个原子的原子核经受极端高温时，就会发生聚变。这导致形成一个新的更大的原子并释放能量。聚变是为包括太阳在内的恒星提供燃料的过程。
 
Scientists have long understood how nuclear fusion works. Many have tried to repeat the process on Earth. The current efforts centered on fusing a pair of hydrogen isotopes — deuterium and tritium. The Department of Energy says that the combination releases "much more energy than most fusion reactions." It also requires less heat to do so.
在地球上。目前的努力集中在融合一对氢同位素——氘和氚。能源部表示，这种结合释放出“比大多数聚变反应多得多的能量”。这样做还需要更少的热量。
 
Some experts have suggested that fusion energy could one day be used to provide limitless, pollution-free power.
一些专家建议，有朝一日可以使用聚变能来提供无限、无污染的电力。
 
Granholm and other officials said Tuesday that the latest result is a major step forward in helping to create a future source for clean power generation. However, they said commercialization of the technology will likely take many years to be fully developed.
Granholm 和其他官员周二表示，最新结果是在帮助创造清洁能源的未来来源方面向前迈出的重要一步。然而，他们表示，该技术的商业化可能需要很多年才能完全开发。
 
Granholm said the department's ignition success permits scientists for the first time to copy "certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun." She added that the result is a major step toward "the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society."
格兰霍姆说，该部门的点火成功使科学家们第一次能够复制“仅在恒星和太阳中发现的某些条件”。她补充说，这一结果是朝着“为我们的社会提供动力的大量零碳聚变能源的可能性”迈出的重要一步。
 
The experiments involved aiming nearly 200 lasers at a small capsule that contained fuel. When the lasers ignited the fuel, two lighter atoms were joined together to create a denser one. This process produced more energy than was required to ignite it, the scientists said.
实验涉及将近 200 束激光瞄准一个装有燃料的小胶囊。当激光点燃燃料时，两个较轻的原子结合在一起形成一个密度较大的原子。科学家们说，这个过程产生的能量比点燃它所需的能量还要多。
 
The experiment briefly reached "fusion ignition" by generating 3.15 megajoules of energy output. This was after the laser targeting the capsule used 2.05 megajoules of energy, the Energy Department said. A megajoule is a measurement for energy output.
实验通过产生 3.15 兆焦耳的能量输出，短暂地达到了“聚变点火”。能源部表示，这是在瞄准太空舱的激光使用了 2.05 兆焦耳的能量之后。兆焦耳是对
 
Nuclear scientists not involved in the latest result praised the success as a major breakthrough. But they noted there is much more science to be done before fusion can develop into a profitable industry.
没有参与最新结果的核科学家称赞这一成功是一项重大突破。但他们指出，在核聚变发展成为有利可图的行业之前，还有许多科学工作要做。
 
Riccardo Betti is a professor at New York's University of Rochester and an expert in laser fusion. He compared the latest result to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.
里卡多·贝蒂 (Riccardo Betti) 是纽约罗彻斯特大学的教授，也是激光核聚变方面的专家。他将最新的结果比作人类第一次知道将石油提炼成汽油并点燃它会产生爆炸。
 
"You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires," Betti said. "You can't say that you have a car."
“你仍然没有发动机，你仍然没有轮胎”贝蒂说。 “你不能说你有车。”
 
Tony Roulstone is a nuclear energy expert at the University of Cambridge in Britain. He told Reuters news agency that while interesting, the latest experiment still leaves scientists a long way from turning the process into useful, limitless energy.
Tony Roulstone 是英国剑桥大学的核能专家。他告诉路透社，虽然有趣，但最新的实验仍然让科学家们在将过程转化为有用的、无限的能源方面还有很长的路要走。
 
Roulstone said that in order to become commercially successful, a power plant would have to produce enough energy to also power the laser equipment and generate a continuous ignition process.
Roulstone 说，为了在商业上取得成功，发电厂将必须产生足够的能量来为激光设备供电并产生连续的点火过程。Tony Roulstone 是英国剑桥大学的核能专家。他告诉路透社，虽然有趣，但最新的实验仍然让科学家们在将过程转化为有用的、无限的能源方面还有很长的路要走。