ITER actually refers to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor,

ITER實際上指的是國際熱核實驗反應堆。

but where you'd be right about the food part is a long-awaited experiment.

但你對食物部分的看法是正確的，這是一個期待已久的實驗。

This is currently testing the fuel that ITER needs to gobble up

目前這是在測試ITER需要吞噬的燃料

to hopefully get us that one step closer to the ever-elusive temptress of fusion ignition.

希望能讓我們離聚變點火這個永遠難以企及的誘惑更近一步。

If you're new to the world of nuclear fusion, welcome to the decades-long waiting party.

如果你是核聚變世界的新手，歡迎你加入長達數十年的等待派對。

See, nuclear fission is what most of us are more familiar with:

看，核裂變是我們大多數人更熟悉的東西。

it's when atoms are split apart to create huge amounts of energy.

它是當原子被分裂開來創造巨大的能量。

But fusion is the fusing of two atoms, which releases an energy yield several times greater than fission.

但聚變是兩個原子的融合，它釋放的能量產量比裂變大幾倍。

Almost all fusion experiments work specifically on fusing hydrogen atoms to form helium.

幾乎所有的核聚變實驗都是專門為融合氫原子形成氦而進行的。

We've actually achieved fusion several times in a lab setting, using the most energetic lasers on Earth or alternatively,

我們實際上已經在實驗室環境中多次實現了核聚變，使用的是地球上能量最大的激光器，或者交替使用。

some of the world's strongest magnets.

一些世界上最強的磁鐵。

But the key thing, the thing we've been chasing since fusion's inception, is ignition.

但關鍵的是，自核聚變誕生以來，我們一直在追逐的東西是點火。

That's the tipping p oint at which a fusion reaction starts to sustain itself,

這是核聚變反應開始維持自身的臨界點。

and we get more energy out of it than we put into creating it.

而且我們從中獲得的能量比我們為創造它所付出的更多。

And that's the big dream of fusion ignition—it would produce a limitless supply of clean energy.

而這正是聚變點火的大夢想--它將產生無限的清潔能源供應。

But as you can imagine, heating hydrogen plasmas to 150 million degrees Celsius

但你可以想象，將氫氣等離子體加熱到1.5億攝氏度

and then compressing and confining them down into states of matter even more extreme

然後將它們壓縮並限制在更極端的物質狀態中

than what's at the center of the Sun is...kinda hard.

比起太陽中心的東西......有點難。

There are private and nationally-funded facilities all over the world working toward this...and that's where ITER comes in.

世界各地都有私人和國家資助的設施在努力實現這一目標......這就是ITER的作用。

It's an international collaboration between its member states, and it will be the world's largest-ever tokamak

這是其成員國之間的國際合作，它將是世界上有史以來最大的託卡馬克。

when it's completed and begins experimenting around 2025.

當它完成後，開始在2025年左右進行實驗。

And if you're wondering what a tokamak is, it's a very specific donut-shaped set-up

如果你想知道託卡馬克是什麼，它是一個非常特殊的甜甜圈形狀的裝置

of magnetic and vacuum fields that can create the extreme conditions necessary for nuclear fusion.

的磁場和真空場，可以創造出核聚變所需的極端條件。

So, how do you test the most advanced facility of its kind...before it opens for experiments?

那麼，在開放實驗之前，你如何測試這種最先進的設施呢？

Well, JET to the rescue!

好吧，JET來拯救我們了!

The Joint European Torus is a EUROfusion research facility that opened in 1983.

歐洲聯合環形山是1983年開放的歐洲融合研究設施。

Being a tokamak itself, JET has been the proving ground for all things tokamak fusion.

作為一個託卡馬克本身，JET一直是所有託卡馬克核聚變事物的試驗場。

It's the perfectly scaled-down version of ITER, 1/10th the size—

它是ITER的完美縮減版，大小為ITER的1/10。

essentially, JET walked so that ITER can fly.

從本質上講，JET行走是為了讓ITER能夠飛行。

JET will prove useful once again by testing out ITER's fuel—

JET將通過測試ITER的燃料，再次證明其作用。

kinda like a bodyguard tasting a royal's food to make sure it's not poisoned.

有點像保鏢品嚐皇室的食物以確保它沒有被毒死。

The fuel mix is deuterium and tritium,

燃料組合是氘和氚。

two heavy versions of hydrogen that are typically used as the ingredients that get smashed together to produce helium—

兩種重的氫氣，通常被用來作為原料，粉碎在一起產生氦氣

and all that energy.

和所有這些能量。

And I say ITER is the royal in that relationship because it's the facility many experts around the world

我說ITER是這種關係中的皇家，因為它是世界上許多專家的設施

think has the best shot of actually achieving fusion ignition.

我認為這是真正實現聚變點火的最佳機會。

It's the culmination of many, many decades of fine-tuning all this complex science.

這是許多、許多年來對所有這些複雜的科學進行微調的結果。

But JET needs to test-run ITER's fuel mix because tritium decays super freaking fast,

但是JET需要測試ITER的燃料組合，因為氚的衰變速度快得嚇人。

so it's both really rare in nature and is more difficult to work with than deuterium. In fact, tritium is so rare that the world's supply is just 20 kilograms, produced as a byproduct of nuclear reactors. So, many experiments don't use it at all, and instead only use deuterium smashed into deuterium. Plus, tritium has that extra neutron—that means it produces more neutrons during a reaction than just deuterium does. So, when used by itself or in a 50:50 mix...we get a heck of a lot of neutrons to contend with. These can interfere with or damage the tools that help scientists see what's actually going on. The newest generation of scientists who are working on this experiment...have probably never worked with tritium before this. But that tricky extra neutron also means a high potential energy yield, much higher than just deuterium and deuterium.

所以它在自然界中非常罕見，而且比氘更難處理。事實上，氚是如此稀有，世界上的供應量只有20公斤，是作為核反應堆的副產品生產的。是以，許多實驗根本不使用它，而只使用砸成的氘。此外，氚有那個額外的中子--這意味著它在反應中產生的中子比單純的氘多。是以，當單獨使用或以50:50的比例混合使用時......我們會有大量的中子需要處理。這些中子會干擾或破壞幫助科學家看到實際情況的工具。從事這項實驗的最新一代科學家......在這之前可能從未與氚打過交道。但是那個棘手的額外中子也意味著一個高的潛在能量產量，比單純的氘和

In fact, tritium is so rare that the world's supply to work with in experiments like this is just 20 kilograms,

事實上，氚是如此稀有，以至於世界上用於像這樣的實驗的供應量只有20公斤。

produced as a byproduct of nuclear reactors.

作為核反應堆的副產品而產生。

So, many experiments don't use it at all, and instead only use deuterium smashed into deuterium.

是以，許多實驗根本不使用它，而只使用砸成的氘。

Plus, tritium has that extra neutron—that means it produces more neutrons during a reaction than just deuterium does.

此外，氚有額外的中子--這意味著它在反應中產生的中子比單純的氘多。

So, when used by itself or in a 50:50 mix...we get a heck of a lot of neutrons to contend with.

是以，當單獨使用或以50:50的比例混合使用時......我們會有大量的中子需要處理。

These can interfere with or damage the tools that help scientists see what's actually going on inside a fusion reaction.

這些會干擾或破壞幫助科學家看到聚變反應內部實際情況的工具。

The newest generation of scientists who are working on this experiment...have probably never worked with tritium before.

正在從事這項實驗的最新一代科學家......以前可能從未接觸過氚。

But that tricky extra neutron also means a high potential energy yield, much higher than just deuterium and deuterium.

但是那個棘手的額外中子也意味著高的潛在能量產量，比單純的氘和氘高得多。

So, one key goal of these experiments at JET is to understand how adding tritium to the mix will

是以，在JET進行的這些實驗的一個關鍵目標是瞭解在混合中加入氚會如何

affect the plasma dynamics of a D&T reaction when it's actually happening inside ITER.

當D&T反應在ITER內部實際發生時，會影響D&T反應的等離子體動力學。

And also, this is just a fun fact—but when experiments with tritium start at ITER,

還有，這只是一個有趣的事實--但當在ITER開始進行氚的實驗時。

all those extra neutrons that are produced will actually be used to make more tritium for future experiments,

所有這些額外產生的中子實際上將被用來為未來的實驗製造更多的氚。

which I think is so cool.

我認為這太酷了。

All of this exciting work at JET means that we'll be able to make the most of ITER's capabilities as soon as it's ready

在JET進行的所有這些令人振奮的工作意味著，一旦ITER準備就緒，我們就能充分利用它的能力。

and make sure the new experiments don't wreck any of that specialist equipment

並確保新的實驗不會破壞任何專業設備

we spent so long getting right as soon as it comes online.

我們花了這麼長時間，一上線就把它弄好了。

Because who knows?

因為誰知道呢？

Maybe this is the decade that the dream of fusion ignition comes to fruition.

也許這就是聚變點火的夢想實現的十年。

If you want more on fusion updates, check out this video here,

如果你想了解更多關於核聚變的更新，請看這裡的視頻。

and if you have another nuclear energy technology you want us to cover, leave it for us in the comments down below.

如果你有其他希望我們報道的核能技術，請在下面的評論中為我們留下。

Make sure you come back to Seeker for all your clean energy news, and as always, thanks for watching.

請確保你回來Seeker瞭解所有的清潔能源新聞，並一如既往地感謝你的觀看。

I'll see you next time.

下次見。