TED演讲:恐惧核能是怎样伤害环境的(6)

 We did a report: "How to Make Nuclear Cheap." 我们做了一个报告：《如何降低核能价格》。

In particular, the thorium reactor¹ shows a lot of promise. 具体来说，钍反应堆带来了光明的前景。

And so when the climate scientist, James Hansen,  所以当环境科学家詹姆斯·汉森

asked if I wanted to go to China with him and look at the Chinese advanced nuclear program, I jumped at the chance.  问我想不想跟他去中国，去看中国先进的核能发电项目时，我就欣然接受了邀请。

We were there with MIT and UC Berkeley engineers.  我们和麻省理工，还有加州伯克利的工程师一起。

And I had in my mind that the Chinese would be able to do with nuclear what they did with so many other things 我的想法是：中国人能够改良核电，就像他们改良其他东西一样，

start to crank out small nuclear reactors² on assembly lines, ship them up like iPhones or MacBooks and send them around the world. 先开始在流水线上拆分小型核能反应堆，然后把它们像iPhone和Macbook一样装上船并运到世界各地。

I would get one at home in Berkeley. But what I found was somewhat different.  我可以在伯克利的家里放置一台，但是事实上却是不同的。

The presentations were all very exciting and very promising³; they have multiple reactors that they're working on. 演说令人激动，鼓舞人心，他们正在研究复合反应堆。

The time came for the thorium reactor, and a bunch of us were excited. 当讲到钍反应堆的时候，我们中很多人都十分激动。

They went through the whole presentation, they got to the timeline, and they said,  演讲快结束的时候，他们讲到了时间线。他们说：

"We're going to have a thorium molten salt reactor ready for sale to the world by 2040." And I was like, "What?" “我们的钍盐熔融反应堆，将在2040年准备好走向世界”。我的反应是 “啥？”

I looked at my colleagues and I was like, "Excuse me -- can you guys speed that up a little bit? 我看向我的同事们，“抱歉，你们能加快一点速度吗？

Because we're in a little bit of a climate crisis right now. And your cities are really polluted, by the way." 因为我们现在好像正面临着气候危机，而且，你们的城市污染貌似也很严重啊。”

And they responded back, they were like, "I'm not sure what you've heard about our thorium program, but we don't have a third of our budget,  然后，他们回答我，类似说：“我不知道你之前是否听说过我们钍反应堆的项目，但是我们缺少三分之一的经费，

and your department of energy hasn't been particularly forthcoming with all that data you guys have on testing reactors." 而且你们的能源局似乎不是很愿意把你们测试反应堆的数据全部给我们。”

And I said, "Well, I've got an idea. You know how you've got 10 years where you're demonstrating that reactor? 我说：“好吧，我有一个主意。”你们不是有十年时间用于展示反应堆吗？

Let's just skip that part, and let's just go right to commercializing it. That will save money and time." 让我们直接跳过那部分，然后我们直接市场化。这样能够节约我们的时间和金钱。”

And the engineer just looked at me and said, "Let me ask you a question: 然后那个工程师就看着我说道：“让我问你一个问题，

Would you buy a car that had never been demonstrated before?" 你会在没有看过产品展示的情况下买一辆车吗？”

1 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

2 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

3 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。