如果聚变发电得以实现，并且已有迹象表明它将会实现，那么世界将需要大量更多的锂。
If fusion power pans out, and there are signs that it will, the world will need a lot more lithium.
这就是Licube这家初创公司的赌注，该公司已从日本弘前大学获得技术授权，旨在提纯锂-6——聚变电厂制造自身燃料所需的锂形式——从天然存在的锂中分离出来。
That’s the bet behind Licube, a startup that has licensed technology from Hirosaki University in Japan, to purify lithium-6, the form of lithium that fusion plants need to make their own fuel, out of naturally occurring lithium.
原因在于燃料供应。要让聚变发电并入电网，许多条件都必须具备，其中之一就是燃料。大多数规划中的电厂计划使用两种燃料的混合物：氘和氚。氘易于获取，但氚在自然界中极其稀少，聚变领域内人尽皆知的是，目前的氚储量不足以供应所有规划中的电厂运行。
The reason comes down to the fuel supply. A lot of things have to go right for fusion power to hit the grid, and one of them is the fuel. Most planned plants would run on a mix of two fuels, deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is easy to come by, but tritium is extremely rare in nature, and it’s an open secret in the fusion world that there isn’t enough of it to power every planned plant.
提出的解决方案是在电厂内部现场制造氚。聚变反应会释放出一束称为中子的快速移动粒子。初创公司计划在反应堆周围包裹一层锂毯，这样当中子撞击锂原子时，该原子会分裂成氦和氚。然后可以收集、提纯氚，并将其作为燃料送回反应堆。
The proposed workaround is to make tritium on site, inside the power plant itself. A fusion reaction gives off a stream of fast-moving particles called neutrons. Startups plan to surround the reactor with a blanket of lithium, so that when a neutron strikes a lithium atom, the atom splits into helium and tritium. The tritium can then be collected, purified, and fed back into the reactor as fuel.
并非所有锂在这项工作中的表现都相同。锂存在两种略有不同的形式，分别称为锂-6和锂-7，命名依据是它们的原子量。锂-6在捕获中子和产生氚方面效果远好于锂-7，但它仅占天然锂的约7.5%，其余部分是较重的锂-7。分离这两种同位素非常困难，且目前几乎没有具备这种能力的设施，因此世界同样缺乏足够的锂-6。
Not all lithium does this job equally well. It comes in two slightly different forms, lithium-6 and lithium-7, named for their weights. Lithium-6 is far better at capturing neutrons and producing tritium, but it makes up only about 7.5% of natural lithium, and the rest is the heavier lithium-7. Separating the two is difficult, and there is little capacity to do it today, so the world doesn’t have enough lithium-6 either.
Licube认为解决这一问题蕴藏着巨大的市场机遇。“如果聚变技术实现并网发电，到2040年这一市场规模应达到500亿美元，”Licube的联合创始人兼首席执行官木口洋平向TechCrunch表示。
Licube sees a big market in solving that problem. “If fusion comes online, it should be a $50 billion market by 2040,” Yohei Kiguchi, co-founder and CEO of Licube, told TechCrunch.
Licube是参加在旧金山举行的TechCrunch Disrupt大会Startup Battlefield pitch竞赛的20家初创公司之一，这些公司将在舞台上进行路演展示。
Licube is one of 20 startups that are presenting onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco as part of the Startup Battlefield pitch competition.
虽然聚变有潜力占据万亿美元级能源市场的重要份额，但聚变初创公司距离建造第一座发电站仍需数年时间。
While fusion has the potential to capture a significant chunk of the multitrillion-dollar energy market, fusion startups are still years away from building their first power plants.
“聚变是未来最大的市场，但我们也明白，未来可能会晚几年才到来，”木口说道。
“Fusion is the biggest market in the future, but we also understand the future might be late by a few years,” Kiguchi said.
在聚变成为主要市场之前，Licube 计划利用相同技术提纯锂，用于半导体、医药、裂变反应堆和航天器行业。
Until fusion becomes a major market, Licube plans to use the same technology to purify lithium for use in semiconductor, pharmaceutical, fission reactors, and spacecraft industries.
核心技术基于电解槽——一种利用电流驱动化学反应的装置。在 Licube 的案例中，锂溶解在陶瓷膜一侧的液体中。当电流从膜的一侧流向另一侧时，锂-6 的移动速度更快。Licube 随后可以抽出该液体并分离出锂-6。
The core technology is based on the electrolyzer, a device that uses electrical current to drive chemical reactions. In Licube’s case, lithium is dissolved in a liquid on one side of a ceramic membrane. As electrical current flows from one side of the membrane to the other, lithium-6 moves faster. Licube can then draw off that liquid and separate the lithium-6.
目标是将锂浓缩至至少 99.995% 的锂-6。聚变公司可以将这种高度浓缩的锂输入其燃料繁殖系统。
The goal is to enrich the lithium to at least 99.995% lithium-6. Fusion companies can feed that highly enriched lithium into their fuel breeding systems.
木口在参观位于法国南部的实验聚变堆 ITER 后受到启发，决定创立 Licube。他表示，退休前曾在日本能源切换平台网络公司 Enechange 工作，退休后居住在摩纳哥，驱车几小时即可到达 ITER。
Kiguchi was inspired to start Licube after visiting ITER, the experimental fusion reactor being built in the south of France. He said he was living a couple of hours’ drive away in Monaco after retiring from his previous company, Enechange, an energy-switching platform network in Japan.
“我发现自己退休得太早了，”他说。“我是个能源领域的人。我想做更大的事情。”
“I found out that I was too young to retire,” he said. “I’m an energy guy. I want to do something bigger.”