Michel Laberge: How synchronized hammer strikes could generate nuclear fusion

譯者: Marssi Draw 審譯者: Isabel Lin

Wow, this is bright.

哇嗚，好亮呀。

It must use a lot of power.

一定用了不少電吧。

Well, flying you all in here

各位飛來這裡

must have cost a bit of energy too.

也消耗了許多能源。

So the whole planet needs a lot of energy,

整個地球需要非常多的能源，

and so far we've been running mostly on fossil fuel.

至今我們大多仰賴石化燃料。

We've been burning gas.

我們一直在燃燒汽油。

It's been a good run.

至今進行得還不錯。

It got us to where we are, but we have to stop.

汽油能夠帶我們帶到想去的地方， 但是我們得就此打住了。

We can't do that anymore.

我們不能再這麼做了。

So we are trying different types of energy now,

我們不斷嘗試不同的能源，

alternative energy,

尋求替代能源，

but it proved quite difficult to find something

但是事實證明很難找到

that's as convenient and as cost-effective

便宜又划算的東西

as oil, gas and coal.

能媲美石油、瓦斯和煤。

My personal favorite is nuclear energy.

我最喜歡的是核能。

Now, it's very energy-dense,

它的能量密度很高，

it produces solid, reliable power,

能製造固態且穩定的能量，

and it doesn't make any CO2.

而且不會產生任何二氧化碳。

Now we know of two ways

我們知道兩種生產核能方式：

of making nuclear energy: fission and fusion.

核分裂與核融合。

Now in fission, you take a big nucleus,

在核分裂中要取一個大原子核，

you break it in part, in two,

把它分成兩半，

and it makes lots of energy,

就會產生很多能源，

and this is how the nuclear reactor today works.

現在的核能反應爐就是採取此法。

It works pretty good.

運作得還不錯。

And then there's fusion.

還有另一種是核融合。

Now, I like fusion. Fusion's much better.

我喜歡核融合，那好多了。

So you take two small nuclei,

取兩個小原子核，

you put it together, and you make helium,

把它們放在一起就會變成氦，

and that's very nice.

而氦是很棒的東西，

It makes lots of energy.

可以產生很多能源。

This is nature's way of producing energy.

這是製造能源的自然方式，

The sun and all the stars in the universe

太陽和所有宇宙中的恆星

run on fusion.

都用核融合。

Now, a fusion plant

而核融合發電廠

would actually be quite cost-effective

十分符合成本效益，

and it also would be quite safe.

而且也很安全。

It only produces short term radioactive waste,

它只會產生短期的放射性廢物，

and it cannot melt down.

而且不能熔化。

Now, the fuel from fusion comes from the ocean.

而核融合的燃料來自海洋。

In the ocean, you can extract the fuel

從海中提煉出燃料

for about one thousandth of a cent

每度電只要千分之一美元，

per kilowatt-hour, so that's very, very cheap.

非常、非常便宜。

And if the whole planet would run on fusion,

如果整個地球持續進行核融合，

we could extract the fuel from the ocean.

我們就能從海裡提煉出燃料。

It would run for billions and billions of years.

此舉能永續經營好幾百億年。

Now, if fusion is so great, why don't we have it?

那麼如果核融合這麼棒 為什麼我們不能用？

Where is it?

它在哪裡？

Well, there's always a bit of a catch.

嗯，總是會有些麻煩。

Fusion is really, really hard to do.

核融合非常難做。

So the problem is, those two nuclei,

麻煩在於那兩個原子核

they are both positively charged,

都帶正電，

so they don't want to fuse.

因此它們不想熔合。

They go like this. They go like that.

它們會像這樣來來去去。

So in order to make them fuse,

因此為了要讓它們熔合，

you have to throw them at each other with great speed,

你得用高速丟擲，讓它們彼此碰撞，

and if they have enough speed,

如果速度夠快，

they will go against the repulsion,

就會克服排斥作用，

they will touch, and they will make energy.

當它們相互碰觸就會產生能量。

Now, the particle speed

而粒子速度

is a measure of the temperature.

就是一種測量溫度的方式。

So the temperature required for fusion

核融合需要達到

is 150 billion degrees C.

攝氏 1500 億度。

This is rather warm,

因為這溫度很高，

and this is why fusion is so hard to do.

所以核融合非常難做。

Now, I caught my little fusion bug

當我在英屬哥倫比亞大學讀博士時，

when I did my Ph.D. here at the University of British Columbia,

解決了這個核融合的小麻煩，

and then I got a big job in a laser printer place

後來我在雷射印表機公司裡擔任要職，

making printing for the printing industry.

為印刷業做印刷。

I worked there for 10 years,

我在那裡做了 10 年，

and I got a little bit bored,

覺得有點無趣，

and then I was 40, and I got a mid-life crisis,

40 歲時碰到了中年危機，

you know, the usual thing:

你知道很平常的問題：

Who am I? What should I do?

我是誰？我該做什麼？

What should I do? What can I do?

我該做什麼？我可以做什麼？

And then I was looking at my good work,

我開始檢視我的好工作，

and what I was doing is I was cutting the forests

我做的事情是砍伐樹林，

around here in B.C.

就在英屬哥倫比亞這裡，

and burying you, all of you,

再用數不盡的垃圾信件

in millions of tons of junk mail.

掩埋在座的每一個人。

Now, that was not very satisfactory.

那可讓人不太滿意。

So some people buy a Porsche.

有人買了台保時捷；

Others get a mistress.

其他些有了小老婆。

But I've decided to get my bit

但是我決定致力於

to solve global warming and make fusion happen.

解決地球暖化，並讓核融合能實現。

Now, so the first thing I did

首先，

is I looked into the literature and I see,

我深入研究文獻，

how does fusion work?

了解核融合的運作方式。

So the physicists have been working on fusion for a while,

物理學家研究核融合已有一段時間，

and one of the ways they do it

他們採取的其中一種方式

is with something called a tokamak.

稱為托卡馬克裝置 (tokamak)。

It's a big ring of magnetic coil,

那是個很大的磁性環形線圈、

superconducting coil,

超導線圈，

and it makes a magnetic field

會在像這樣的環中

in a ring like this,

產生磁場，

and the hot gas in the middle,

而熱氣會在中央，

which is called a plasma, is trapped.

稱為電漿，會被限制住。

The particles go round and round and round

粒子不斷沿著圓圈的邊緣環繞，

the circle at the wall.

Then they throw a huge amount of heat in there

接著它們會在其中釋放大量熱能

to try to cook that to fusion temperature.

來加熱至核融合需要的溫度。

So this is the inside of one of those donuts,

這是那些甜甜圈的內部，

and on the right side you can see

你可以在右邊看到

the fusion plasma in there.

核融合的電漿在裡面。

Now, a second way of doing this

進行核融合的第二種方式是

is by using laser fusion.

使用雷射核融合。

Now in laser fusion, you have a little ping pong ball,

在雷射核融合中，你會有一顆乒乓球，

you put the fusion fuel in the center,

把核融合的燃料放在中央，

and you zap that with a whole bunch of laser around it.

用環繞的大量雷射將它密封。

The lasers are very strong, and it squashes

雷射非常強，

the ping pong ball really, really quick.

且會非常快速地擠壓乒乓球。

And if you squeeze something hard enough,

如果你夠用力擠壓某種東西，

it gets hotter,

那就會變熱，

and if it gets really, really fast,

如果速度非常、非常快，

and they do that in one billionth of a second,

在十億分之一秒之中

it makes enough energy and enough heat

就會有足夠的能源和熱能

to make fusion.

來產生核融合。

So this is the inside of one such machine.

這就是機器內部的模樣。

You see the laser beam and the pellet

你看雷射光束和小球在中央。

in the center.

Now, most people think that fusion is going nowhere.

多數人認為核融合根本不會發生。

They always think that the physicists are in their lab

大家總認為物理學家都在實驗室

and they're working hard, but nothing is happening.

認真工作，但是什麼事也沒發生。

That's actually not quite true.

那其實不太正確。

This is a curve of the gain in fusion

這是核融合

over the last 30 years or so,

在最近 30 年左右的獲益曲線。

and you can see that we're making now

你會發現我們目前做的核融合

about 10,000 times more fusion than we used to

相較於剛開始時，

還多了一萬倍左右。

when we started.

That's a pretty good gain.

那獲益還不賴。

As a matter of fact, it's as fast

事實上，那就和傳說中的摩爾定律一樣快，

as the fabled Moore's Law

that defined the amount of transistors

摩爾定律定義了

一塊晶片中能容納電晶體的數量。

they can put on a chip.

Now, this dot here is called JET,

這個點稱為 JET，

the Joint European Torus.

歐洲聯合環形加速器 (Joint European Torus)。

It's a big tokamak donut in Europe,

那是在歐洲的托卡馬克裝置大甜甜圈，

and this machine in 1997

這機器在 1997 年

produced 16 megawatts of fusion power

製造了 16 百萬瓦特的核融合電力

with 17 megawatts of heat.

和 17 百萬瓦特的熱能。

Now, you say, that's not much use,

你會說那其實不多，

but it's actually pretty close,

但那其實將近

considering we can get

我們最初所能得到的一萬倍以上。

about 10,000 times more than we started.

The second dot here is the NIF.

這裡的第二點是 NIF，

It's the National Ignition Facility.

國家點火設施 (National Ignition Facility)。

It's a big laser machine in the U.S.,

那是在美國的大型雷射機，

and last month they announced

上個月他們的宣布

with quite a bit of noise

惹了些爭議，

that they had managed to make more fusion energy

他們說會盡力從核融合

from the fusion

製造更多核融合能源，

than the energy that they put in the center of the ping pong ball.

比起在乒乓球中間放得還多。

Now, that's not quite good enough,

其實那還不夠好，

because the laser to put that energy in

因為用來把能源放入的雷射

was more energy than that,

消耗的能源比那更多，

but it was pretty good.

但那很棒。

Now this is ITER,

這是國際熱核融合實驗反應爐 (ITER)，

pronounced in French: EE-tairh.

法文是 EE-tairh。

So this is a big collaboration of different countries

這是跨國合作的大計畫，

that are building a huge magnetic donut

將會打造一個很大的磁力圈，

in the south of France,

就在法國南邊，

and this machine, when it's finished,

而當這個機器完工後

will produce 500 megawatts of fusion power

就能製造 500 百萬瓦特核融合電力，

with only 50 megawatts to make it.

只需耗費 50 百萬瓦特的電力。

So this one is the real one.

這是實體，

It's going to work.

它真的會運轉。

That's the kind of machine that makes energy.

那是會製造能源的那種機器。

Now if you look at the graph, you will notice

如果你研究圖表就會發現

that those two dots are a little bit

那兩點稍微偏向曲線右側。

on the right of the curve.

We kind of have fallen off the progress.

我們的進度有些落後了。

Actually, the science to make those machines

事實上，製造那些機器的科技

was really in time

其實在曲線中

to produce fusion during that curve.

正好趕上生產核融合的速度。

However, there has been a bit of politics going on,

然而，有些政治事務仍需處理，

and the will to do it was not there,

而要做的目的並不在那，

so it drifted to the right.

因此會趨向右邊。

ITER, for example, could have been built

例如，國際熱核融合實驗反應爐

in 2000 or 2005,

在 2000 年或 2005 年已建造完成，

but because it's a big international collaboration,

但是因為那是大型的跨國合作，

the politics got in and it delayed it a bit.

涉及政治就會延遲一些時間。

For example, it took them about three years

例如，他們花了大約三年

to decide where to put it.

才決定要把它放在哪邊。

Now, fusion is often criticized

核融合常常被批評

for being a little too expensive.

太昂貴了。

Yes, it did cost

當然，每年要花費一、二十億美元

a billion dollars or two billion dollars a year

to make this progress.

才能有此進展。

But you have to compare that to the cost

但是應該要把它拿來

of making Moore's Law.

和摩爾定律的花費做比較，

That cost way more than that.

摩爾定律的花費遠高於核融合。

The result of Moore's Law

摩爾定律的產物

is this cell phone here in my pocket.

是我口袋裡的行動電話。

This cell phone, and the Internet behind it,

這電話和後頭網路的花費

cost about one trillion dollars,

大約一萬億元，

just so I can take a selfie

如此一來我就能自拍

and put it on Facebook.

並傳到臉書上。

Then when my dad sees that,

當我爸看到那照片

he'll be very proud.

就會感到非常驕傲。

We also spend about 650 billion dollars a year

我們每年也花了大約 6500 億美元

in subsidies for oil and gas

用來補助石油、瓦斯

and renewable energy.

和再生能源。

Now, we spend one half of a percent of that on fusion.

而我們在核融合的花費只有它的 0.5%。

So me, personally, I don't think it's too expensive.

因此我個人不認為那會太貴。

I think it's actually been shortchanged,

我認為一直以來都被騙了，

considering it can solve all our energy problems

總認為那可以解決我們未來幾百億年

cleanly for the next couple of billions of years.

所有潔淨能源的問題。

Now I can say that, but I'm a little bit biased,

我可以說出來，但是我的立場有些爭議，

because I started a fusion company

因為我開了一間核融合公司，

and I don't even have a Facebook account.

而且我還沒有臉書帳號。

So when I started this fusion company in 2002,

因此，當我在 2002 年 開這間核融合公司時，

I knew I couldn't fight with the big lads.

我知道自己無法和一大群人對抗。

They had much more resources than me.

他們擁有的資源遠多於我。

So I decided I would need to find a solution

因此我決定找出

一個較便宜和快速的方法。

that is cheaper and faster.

Now magnetic and laser fusion

磁力和雷射核融合

are pretty good machines.

都是很棒的機器。

They are awesome pieces of technology,

它們都是科技的絕佳產物、

wonderful machines, and they have shown

完美的機器，而且也都證明了

that fusion can be done.

核融合真的能實現。

However, as a power plant,

然而，以發電廠來說，

I don't think they're very good.

我不認為那很好。

They're way too big, way too complicated,

它們都太大、太複雜，

way too expensive,

也太貴了，

and also, they don't deal very much

而且，它們也不太能處理

with the fusion energy.

核融合能源。

When you make fusion, the energy comes out

當你進行核融合，能源以中子呈現，

as neutrons, fast neutrons comes out of the plasma.

高速中子來自電漿。

Those neutrons hit the wall of the machine.

那些中子撞擊機器的邊緣。

It damages it.

中子破壞機器。

And also, you have to catch the heat from those neutrons

而且，你要從那些中子捕捉熱能，

and run some steam to spin a turbine somewhere,

並製造一些蒸汽 來推動某處和那些機器上的渦輪機，

and on those machines,

it was all a bit of an afterthought.

但那都是後來的事了。

So I decided that surely there is a better way of doing that.

我認為一定會有更好的方式能處理。

So back to the literature,

因此我回過頭看文獻，

and I read about the fusion everywhere.

我到處研究核融合的資料。

One way in particular attracted my attention,

有一個方式特別吸引我的注意力，

and it's called magnetized target fusion,

稱為磁化定位核聚變，

or MTF for short.

或簡稱為 MTF。

Now, in MTF, what you want to do

在 MTF 中，你會想要

is you take a big vat

拿一個大桶子，

and you fill that with liquid metal,

在裡面裝滿液態金屬，

and you spin the liquid metal

然後旋轉液態金屬

to open a vortex in the center,

在中央展開一個旋渦，

a bit like your sink.

有點像你的水槽。

When you pull the plug on a sink, it makes a vortex.

當你拉起水槽的拉環，就會產生旋渦。

And then you have some pistons driven by pressure

接著你會有一些受壓力驅動的活塞

that goes on the outside,

會出現在外部，

and this compresses the liquid metal

這麼做會壓縮在電漿周圍的液態金屬，

around the plasma, and it compresses it,

活塞會壓縮液態金屬，

it gets hotter, like a laser,

它的溫度會上升，就像雷射一樣，

and then it makes fusion.

之後就會產生核融合。

So it's a bit of a mix

因此那就像是混合了

between a magnetized fusion

磁化定位核聚變

and the laser fusion.

和雷射核融合。

So those have a couple of very good advantages.

那些都有一些不錯的優點。

The liquid metal absorbs all the neutrons

液態金屬會吸收所有的中子，

and no neutrons hit the wall,

而且沒有中子會撞擊牆面，

and therefore there's no damage to the machine.

因此機器不會損壞。

The liquid metal gets hot,

液態金屬變熱，

so you can pump that in a heat exchanger,

你就可以把它打入熱交換器中，

make some steam, spin a turbine.

製造些蒸汽，推動渦輪機。

So that's a very convenient way of doing

用這個方法來處理這個階段

this part of the process.

非常方便。

And finally, all the energy to make the fusion happen

最後，所有讓核融合產生的能量

comes from steam-powered pistons,

來自於由蒸汽推動的活塞，

which is way cheaper than lasers

這比雷射和超導磁鐵還便宜。

or superconducting coils.

Now, this was all very good

這些都很棒，

except for the problem that it didn't quite work.

只不過它不太可行。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

There's always a catch.

無論如何都有個解套方式。

So when you compress that,

當你壓縮它，

the plasma cools down

電漿冷卻的速度

faster than the compression speed,

就會快於壓縮的速度，

so you're trying to compress it,

因此你會試著壓縮它，

but the plasma cooled down and cooled down and cooled down

但是電漿不斷冷卻，

and then it did absolutely nothing.

最後就會毫無作用。

So when I saw that, I said, well, this is such a shame,

我看到後覺得這還真是可惜，

because it's a very, very good idea.

因為那是非常、非常棒的點子。

So hopefully I can improve on that.

但願我能改進它。

So I thought about it for a minute,

我思考了一分鐘，

and I said, okay, how can we make that work better?

自問我們要如何讓它運作得更好？

So then I thought about impact.

後來我考慮用撞擊。

What about if we use a big hammer

如果我們用個大鐵鎚，

and we swing it and we hit the nail like this,

揮動之後像這樣釘下釘子，

in the place of putting the hammer on the nail

在鐵鎚打入釘子、

and pushing and try to put it in? That won't work.

推擠，並試著置入它的地方？ 那不管用。

So what the idea is

因此我的想法是

is to use the idea of an impact.

運用撞擊的想法。

So we accelerate the pistons with steam,

我們用蒸汽讓活塞加速，

that takes a little bit of time,

會花點時間，

but then, bang! you hit the piston,

接著，成功！你會碰到活塞

and, baff!, all the energy is done instantly,

然後啵！所有能量就會馬上

down instantly to the liquid,

直接傳到液體，

and that compresses the plasma much faster.

接著便更快速地壓縮電漿。

So I decided, okay, this is good, let's make that.

我想這很棒，就決定就這麼做。

So we built this machine in this garage here.

因此我們在這車庫打造了這台機器。

We made a small machine

我們做了台小機器，

that we managed to squeeze

打算從裡面擠出一點中子，

a little bit of neutrons out of that,

and those are my marketing neutrons,

那些是我的行銷中子，

and with those marketing neutrons,

有了那些行銷中子，

then I raised about 50 million dollars,

我賺了五千萬美元，

and I hired 65 people. That's my team here.

我雇了 65 個人，這是我的團隊。

And this is what we want to build.

這是我們想做的東西。

So it's going to be a big machine,

那會是台很大的機器，

about three meters in diameter,

直徑大概有三公尺，

liquid lead spinning around,

液體會帶動旋轉，

big vortex in the center,

中央會有個大旋渦，

put the plasma on the top and on the bottom,

將電漿放在上下方，

piston hits on the side,

活塞撞擊邊緣，

bang!, it compresses it,

砰！活塞壓縮電漿

and it will make some energy,

就會製造一些能量，

and the neutron will come out in the liquid metal,

中子就會在液態金屬裡出現，

going to go in a steam engine and make the turbine,

接著進入蒸汽機後就會產生渦輪，

and some of the steam will go back

有些蒸氣會回過頭來

to fire the piston.

引燃活塞。

We're going to run that about one time per second,

我們大概每秒要跑一次，

and it will produce 100 megawatts of electricity.

如此就能產生 100 百萬瓦特的電力。

Okay, we also built this injector,

我們也製造了注射器，

so this injector makes the plasma to start with.

這個注射器會讓電漿開始運作。

It makes the plasma at about

注射器讓電漿維持微溫的熱度，

a lukewarm temperature of three million degrees C.

大約是攝氏三百萬度。

Unfortunately, it doesn't last quite long enough,

不幸的是那並不持久，

so we need to extend the life of the plasma a little bit,

因此我們得稍微延長電漿的壽命，

but last month it got a lot better,

但上個月有了很大的進展，

so I think we have the plasma compressing now.

那麼我們現在就有了壓縮電漿。

Then we built a small sphere, about this big,

接著我們建立一個小球型， 大概這麼大，

14 pistons around it,

有 14 個活塞環繞它，

and this will compress the liquid.

如此就能壓縮液體。

However, plasma is difficult to compress.

可是電漿很難壓縮，

When you compress it,

當你壓縮它時，

it tends to go a little bit crooked like that,

會變得像那樣有點變形，

so you need the timing of the piston

因此你需要選擇活塞運作最好的時機，

to be very good,

and for that we use several control systems,

為此我們用了幾個控制系統，

which was not possible in 1970,

在 1970 年時這根本不可能辦到，

but we now can do that

但是我們現在可以做到，

with nice, new electronics.

透過良好、全新的電子設備即可。

So finally, most people think that fusion

最後，大多數人會認為核融合

is in the future and will never happen,

在未來也不會實現，

but as a matter of fact, fusion is getting very close.

但事實是，核融合已近在眼前。

We are almost there.

我們就快達成了。

The big labs have shown that fusion is doable,

大型實驗室顯示了核融合是可行的，

and now there are small companies that are thinking about that,

現在也有一些小公司在考量，

and they say, it's not that it cannot be done,

他們發現那並非無法完成，

but it's how to make it cost-effectively.

而是要找出能符合成本效益的方法。

General Fusion is one of those small companies,

公眾核融合 (General Fusion) 是其中一家小公司，

and hopefully, very soon, somebody, someone,

如果順利的話，很快，

will crack that nut,

就會有人解決那個難題，

and perhaps it will be General Fusion.

也許就會是公眾核融合公司。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）