STARSET_MirrorUS Hails Fusion Breakthrough as Energy Dream Takes Shape
After more than 50 years of false starts, nuclear fusion is finally taking a resolute step closer to becoming the world’s newest energy source.
在经历了50多年的失败后，核聚变终于向成为世界最新能源迈出了坚定的一步。
The US Department of Energy said Tuesday that scientists at a laboratory in California managed for the first time to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than they needed to trigger it. The milestone raises the prospect that some day — perhaps decades from now — the global economy will be run on carbon-free electricity generated by the very process that powers the sun.
美国能源部周二表示，加州一个实验室的科学家首次通过核聚变反应产生的能量超过了触发核聚变所需的能量。这一里程碑带来了这样一种前景:也许在几十年后的某一天，全球经济将依靠无碳电力运行，而这种电力正是太阳能发电的过程产生的。
“The fusion breakthrough will go down in history,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said during a press conference. “This is what it looks like for America to lead.”
美国能源部长詹妮弗·格兰霍姆在新闻发布会上说:“核聚变的突破将被载入史册。”“这才像美国领导世界的样子。”
Researchers at the Energy Department’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used lasers to bombard hydrogen isotopes held in a superheated plasma state to fuse them into helium, releasing neutrons and carbon-free energy in the process. It’s a stunning moment for a technology that has failed for nearly half a century, and comes as leaders of the world’s 10 biggest economies — and dozens of smaller nations — have pledged to shift to clean energy sources.
能源部劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室的研究人员使用激光轰击处于过热等离子体状态的氢同位素，将它们聚变成氦，在这个过程中释放中子和无碳能量。对于一项已经失败了近半个世纪的技术来说，这是一个令人震惊的时刻。与此同时，世界十大经济体以及数十个较小国家的领导人都承诺转向清洁能源。
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