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Nuclear power today comes from fission which captures the energy of splitting atoms.
今天的核能来自于裂变，捕获的是原子分裂产生的能量。
But that splitting also causes radioactive byproducts that can be harmful.
但这种分裂也会产生有害的放射性副产品。
Fusing those atoms into helium as happens inside the sun does not produce harmful byproducts and could produce abundant clean energy.
如果像太阳内部发生的那样，将这些原子融合成氦，就不会产生有害的副产品，而且可以产生丰富的清洁能源。
Ben Levitt directs research and development at the US fusion startup Zap Energy.
本·莱维特在美国核聚变初创公司——Zap能源负责研发工作。
Fusion really is the next step in humanity's development.
核聚变确实是人类发展的下一步。
The fuel is abundant and safe and carbon free and can set US free from the confines of, you know, terrestrial sources of energy
这种燃料丰富、安全、无碳，可以使美国摆脱陆地能源的限制
fusion power is not commercially viable today because it is harder to fuse atoms than it is to split them.
如今，核聚变发电在商业上还不可行，因为原子聚变比分裂原子更难。
In part, that is because of the extreme energy and heat required to produce that reaction in a controlled environment.
在某种程度上，是因为在受控环境中进行这种反应需要极大的能量和热量。
Levitt explains Zap Energy's approach passes a high current through a gas plasma of ionized atoms without negatively charged electrons or positively charged ions.
莱维特解释说，Zap能源的方法是将高电流通过电离原子的等离子气体，而不包含带负电荷的电子或带正电荷的离子。
You can think of it as like a a lightning bolt.
你可以把它想象成一道闪电。
It creates its own magnetic field and its own magnetic fields gives it its own confinement and heats it to fusion conditions.
它产生了自己的磁场，磁场限制了它自己，并把它加热到聚变的条件。
Zap's progress earned it one of eight US department of energy development grants this year.
Zap的进展为它赢得了今年美国能源部八项拨款之一。
Part of those funds will be used to build a pilot plant to test fusion technologies, says energy department lead fusion coordinator Scott Hsu.
能源部首席核聚变协调员斯科特·许说，这些资金的一部分将用于建设一个试验工厂，以测试核聚变技术。
We want to find ways to really leverage that great private interest in fusion development and try to shrink the timelines.
我们希望找到一种方法，能够真正利用个人对核聚变发展的巨大兴趣，并且缩短耗费的时间。
It really represents, we're at a turning point of, okay if we really focus on the the technology the engineering needs now, the materials needs.
它真的代表，我们正处于一个转折点，好吧，如果我们真正关注工程需要的技术，需要的材料。
I do think it's possible to accelerate it, it may be a matter, more a matter of will and investment than of time at this point.
我确实认为有可能加速，这或许是一个问题，但更多的是意愿和投资的问题，而不是时间问题。
Decades of promising theories about the commercial viability of fusion have still not produced breakthrough technologies.
几十年来，关于核聚变商业可行性的、充满希望的理论仍然没有产生突破性的技术。
And neither Zap nor the US energy department has estimated when consumers might power their homes with the energy of fused atoms.
Zap和美国能源部都没有估计出消费者何时才能用聚变原子的能量为家庭供电。
But when that day comes it will be worth the wait and the effort.
但是当那一天到来的时候，等待和努力都是值得的。
