能源圣杯：核融合付诸实用 Mar 12, 2007 《纽时周报全文精译》能源圣杯：核融合付诸实用 Practical Fusion, or Just a Bubble? 张佑生 译 洛杉矶加大物理所研究生布莱恩‧卡帕斯盖住一管透明的圆筒，不让里面 清澈液体产生的一些气泡逸出。他钳紧圆筒，笔直放在一个小旋盘上，开始旋 转。轻弹另一个开关，每秒50次的上下强力震动开始摇晃圆筒。 LOS ANGELES － Brian Kappus, a physics graduate student at the University of California, Los Angeles, tipped the clear cylinder to trap some air bubbles in the clear liquid inside. He clamped the cylinder, upright, on a small turntable and set it spinning. With the flip of another switch, powerful up-and-down vibrations, 50 a second, started shaking the cylinder. 一颗气泡漂浮在磷酸液上，气泡发光，变成一颗像迷你恒星的强烈光球。 A bubble floating in the liquid － phosphoric acid － started to shine, brightening into an intensive ball of light like a miniature star. 闪亮的气泡并未产生任何显着的能量，但有朝一日也许会，就像一颗恒星 。一些小公司和特立独行的大学实验室，包括由物理学教授赛斯．普特曼主持， 位於加州校园的这间实验室，要为未来的能源追求异想天开的解决之道：用桌 面就能搞定的装置开发太阳的能量，也就是热核融合反应。 The shining bubble did not produce any significant energy, but perhaps someday it might, just like a star. A few small companies and maverick university laboratories, including the one on this California campus run by Seth Putterman, a professor of physics, are pursuing quixotic solutions for future energy, trying to tap the power of the Sun－ hot nuclear fusion － in devices that fit on a tabletop. 普特曼的做法是利用被称为声核融合，或气泡核融合的声波，使溶液中的 微小气泡膨胀破碎，产生超高温。当温度够高时，原子真的能融合并释出比核 分裂还大的能量。目前核能电厂和核子武器都运用核分裂。 Dr. Putterman’s approach is to use sound waves, called sonofusion or bubble fusion, to expand and collapse tiny bubbles, generating ultra hot temperatures. At temperatures hot enough, atoms can literally fuse and release even more energy than when they split in nuclear fission, now used in nuclear power plants and weapons. 普特曼尚未在实验中达成核融合。他和其他科学家致力将小规模的桌上型 核融合装置转换成可用的系统。虽然距离成功仍很遥远，原理却似乎很扎实。 Dr. Putterman has not achieved fusion in his experiments. He and other scientists are devoted to turning small-scale desktop fusion into usable systems. Although success is far away, the principles seem sound. 「脉冲装置」是加州草谷小镇一家小公司，和普特曼同样在探索声波驱动 的核融合。总裁泰希恩坦承，公司的投资风险很高，但潜在收益也高。 Impulse Devices, a small company in the small town of Grass Valley, California, is exploring the same sound-driven fusion as Dr. Putterman. Its president, Ross Tessien, concedes that Impulse is a high-risk investment, but the potential payoffs are high. 「你解决了全球的污染问题，」泰希恩表示，「你消除战争的必要性。你 排除燃料的匮乏。又刚好很有市场价值。就道德观点来看，一切诱因都齐了。」 “You solve the world’s pollution problems,” Mr. Tessien said. “You eliminate the need for wars. You eliminate scarcity of fuel. And it happens to be a very valuable market. So from a commercial point of view, there’s every incentive. From a moral point of view, there’s every incentive. 四个氢原子融合为一个氦原子，是最简单的核融合反应，使太阳这类直径 140万公里的气体球变成光芒四射的恒星。但要在地球上制造能源，仍嫌太慢。 The simplest fusion reaction, four hydrogen atoms into one helium, works for turning a ball of gas like the Sun, 1.4 million kilometers across, into a shining star. But it is far too slow for generating energy on Earth. 核融合有多样吸引力：不会产生温室气体，没有放射性废料的头痛问题， 而且燃料充足。 The appeals of fusion are many: no planet-warming gases, no radioactive -waste headache, plentiful fuel. 「从海洋、湖泊或河川汲取的一桶水，就有相当於200加仑汽油的能量，」 泰希恩说：「这是能源科技的圣杯，人人免费使用燃料。」 “One bucket of water out of the ocean or a lake or a river has 200 gallons of gasoline worth of energy in it,” Mr. Tessien said. “It’s the holy grail of energy technologies, and everybody has the fuel for free.” 主流科学以两种途径追求核融合发电。一种是托克马克装置，用一个形如 甜甜圈的环形磁场约束电浆粒子的运动。另一个主流途径是以雷射光束将燃料 粒向内压缩加热，造出导致核融合反应的温度和密度条件。 Mainstream science is pursuing fusion along two paths. One is the tokamak design, trapping the charged atoms within a doughnut-shape magnetic field. The other mainstream approach is blasting a pellet of fuel with lasers, creating conditions hot and dense enough for fusion. 核融合一再蒙受的批评是，它许诺的愿景总得在几十年後才能实现。即使 雷射核融合和托克马克磁场控制核融合技术上证明可行，巨大昂贵的核融合反 应器仍然可能因价格过高而没有实用价值。 The recurrent criticism of fusion is that its promise has always been decades away. Even if lasers and tokamaks prove technologically feasible, giant, expensive fusion reactors could still turn out to be too expensive to be practical. 於是特立独行者问：何不仔细审视某些替代方式？独立科学家布萨德鼓吹 回归又称「惯性约束核融合」的法恩斯沃斯核融合反应器，使用两个同心栅网 球形电极，加速将离子射入中心。 So the mavericks ask: Why not take a closer look at some alternative approaches? Robert W. Bussard, an independent scientist, advocates a return to the Farnswrth Fusor, otherwise known as inertial confinement fusion. It uses two electrically charged concentric spherical grids. They accelerated charged atoms, or ions, to the center. 过程中，正离子射穿中心，接近正极极板网栅时速度减缓，停止，後退， 朝中心方向落下，像弹珠在碗内滚来滚去。有时两个离子在中心相撞并融合。 但大多数时候，离子尚未融合就撞向栅网。布萨德表示已经有移除栅网的设计。 In the process, positively charged ions fly through the center, slow down as they approach the positively charged outer grid, then stop and fall back toward the center like a marble rolling back and forth in a bowl. Sometimes two ions collide at the center and fuse. But too often the ions run into the grids before they fuse. Dr. Bussard said he had a design eliminating the grids. 布萨德自认已用惯性静电约束法解决所有基本物理问题，而且知道如何建 造一座可运转的核融合发电机，但大多数核融合科学家怀疑其说法。 Most fusion scientists doubt Dr. Bussard’s assertion that he has solved all the underlining physics issues with Inertial electrostatic confinement and knows how to build a working fusion power generator. 2002年，塔拉亚克汉领衔的研究人员声称，实现了气泡核融合。但除了他 的实验室，尚无其他实验室复制其实验，普特曼和泰希恩也无法复制那项实验。 In 2002, researchers led by Rusi P. Taleyarkhan claimed to have achieved bubble fusion. That result has yet to be reproduced outside Dr. Taleyarkhan’s laboratories. Neither Dr. Putterman nor Mr. Tessien could duplicate that experiment. 泰希恩表示，已放弃塔拉亚克汉的方法，回到自己的设计。他有信心可以 发现核融合。「毫无疑问，核融合藏在某个系统里。」他说：「我只要找出正 确的秘方。」 Mr. Tessien said he had abandoned using Dr. Taleyarkhan’s approach and returned to his own designs. He is confident that he will find fusion. “There is zero question that fusion is hiding in some system,” he said. “I just need to figure out the right recipe.” By KENNETH CHANG 关键字句 麦克阿瑟在1944年履行「我将重返」的诺言後，向菲律宾人民发表演说， 有一句是这麽说的：Follow in His name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory.（跟随上帝之名走向代表正义胜利的圣杯。）句中的「圣杯」是耶稣 基督在最後晚餐时所用的杯（盘），曾是亚瑟王和圆桌武士追寻的目标。 本文主题在能源科技（energy technologies）中的核融合，对应的词汇 是核分裂（nuclear fission），牵涉到原子（atom）、离子（ion）、中子 （neutron）和质子（proton）。核能电厂（nuclear power plant）、放射性 废料（radioactive waste）和核子武器（nuclear weapons）都是常见的字汇。 特立独行（maverick）的实验室投入核融合研究。按maverick原意为未烙 饲主印记的小牛，a political maverick可说是政坛独行侠。源於赛凡提斯名 着《Don Quixote》（唐吉诃德）的quixotic，比喻异想天开，浪漫到不切实 际的地步。（张佑生） 【2007-03-12/联合报/B6版/UNITED DAILY NEWS】 ※ 编辑: precession 来自: 139.223.28.55 (03/16 09:59)