Engineers and scientists are constructing a huge mini-star, which will produce the same reactions that happen in the sun to provide energy for the future.

工程师和科学家们正在建设一个巨大的迷你星，这将产生与太阳同样的反应，为未来提供能量。

The project, known as Iter, is based in Cadarache, near Aix-en-Provence in southern France. It will weigh three times as much as the Eiffel Tower and be as big as 60 football pitches.

该项目，称之为国际热核聚变实验堆，建在卡达拉奇，就在法国南部的艾克斯省附近。它将是埃菲尔铁塔的三倍重，与60个足球场一样大。

Inside the new building will be a nuclear reactor¹ that scientists hope can provide power through nuclear fusion². In doing so it could generate clean, safe energy and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

这个新的建筑物内部是一个核反应堆，科学家们希望能通过核聚变提供电力。这样做可以产生清洁、安全的能源，减少对化石燃料的依赖。

Earlier this year, the team behind the project appointed a new leader, Bernard Bigot.

今年早些时候,该项目背后的团队任命了一位新的领导人,伯纳德·比戈。

"We are now entering into manufacturing and preparations for assembly," he said as he joined in March. Bigot said that he had joined as part of a new management team that was set up to deliver "both a research and an industrial facility".

"我们正打算开始进行生产制造，还有为大会进行筹备工作，"他于3月份加入时说道。比戈说他加入了一个新的管理团队，成为了其中的一份子。这个管理团队是设立起来作为"既是研发机构，又是产业设施"。

Inside that facility there will be a smaller and controlled version of the same reactions that happen in our sun, nuclear fusion. That happens when two atomic nuclei³ collide with each other, releasing energy in the form of photons. The scientists hope to harness that energy and re-use it, to replace the dirty and limited forms of energy that we use today.

设施内部会有一个较小的，与太阳核聚变相同反应的控制版本。当两个原子核相互碰撞时，就会以光子的形式释放出能量。科学家们希望能够驾驭住这股能量，然后重复使用它，用以取代我们当前使用的肮脏的，有限形式的能量。

The project was launched in an early stage in 1987. It is now being pushed forward by a group of seven entities⁴ — including the EU, as well as the US, Russia and China.

该项目于1987年开始进入其初期阶段。现在由一个7个实体集团共同推动——其中包括欧盟，美国，俄罗斯和中国。

Since then, the project has repeatedly run into problems, with the schedule being pushed back. But scientists hope that early operations can begin in the 2020s, with harnessed energy coming sometime after that.

自那时以来,该项目就不断遇到问题,计划也被推迟。但是科学家希望可以从2020年代开始进行早期操作,从那之后就可以开始驾驭这股能量了。

Iter is the Latin for "the way" — intended to highlight the possibilities of the energy as a way of creating safe and peaceful power for the world. But it was once known as International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, a name that was dropped because of its potential worrying connotations.

国际热核聚变实验堆的缩写"Iter"在拉丁语里面表示"方式"——旨在突出将这股能源作为为世界创造安全与和平力量的方式。但它曾经一度都以全称形式出现，之所以放弃使用全称是因为它潜在的令人担忧的内涵。