2007年VOA标准英语-Experts Investigate Possible Nuclear Plant Leak

By Catherine Makino
Tokyo
17 July 2007

A day after a powerful earthquake struck Japan's northwestern coast, officials are investigating the possibility of radioactive¹ leaks at a nuclear power plant. As Catherine Makino reports from Tokyo, the search for people buried under the rubble² continues as thousands crowd shelters.

 

transformer3 near one of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Plant's four reactors4 following a strong earthquake in Kashiwazaki, 16 Jul 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070719/0941100.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Black smoke rises from a burning electrical transformer near one of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Plant's four reactors following a strong earthquake in Kashiwazaki, 16 Jul 2007

Tokyo Electric, the company that operates the plant, said Tuesday that after the earthquake, water containing radioactive material leaked from an exhaust tank at the Kashiwazaki nuclear power plant. In addition, about 100 drums containing low-level radioactive waste were knocked over and some lost their lids.

However, company officials say neither incident affected⁵ the environment.

 

The water leak was not reported to the public for 12 hours after the quake.

 

The incident adds to concerns about safety standards at Japan's nuclear power plants, which supply 30 percent of the country's electricity. There have been several accidents and cover-ups in the past few years.

 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to residents as he visits a temporary evacuation center for quake victims in Kashiwazaki city, 16 Jul 2007

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the quake area in northwestern Japan's Niigata prefecture. He spoke⁶ to reporters about the fire at the nuclear plant.

Mr. Abe says the plant was slow to report the fire yesterday. He says he has instructed nuclear plant mangers to report a fire or anything like this as accurately⁷ as possible.

 

Government officials have told Tokyo Electric not to resume⁸ operations at the plant until there is a safety review.

 

Other officials have said the plant's firefighting team did not respond to the blaze⁹ as it should have. Four employees tried to fight the fire, but after an hour they gave up and called the fire department for help.

 

Yuki Kojima of the Kashiwazaki Fire Department questioned the handling of the fire.

 

He says the fire would have been put out much earlier if the power company had a well-trained firefighting team in place.

 

At least nine people were killed by Monday's earthquake and nearly 1,000 were injured. More than 13,000 people have crowded into shelters because their homes were damaged or destroyed by the quake, which had a magnitude¹⁰ of 6.8.

 

Schools and many businesses have been closed and officials do not know when they can reopen. Large areas in Niigata prefecture remain without power or water and telecommunications are down. Airlines are flying emergency supplies to area without charge.

1 radioactive   

adj.放射性的

参考例句：

• People should keep away from the radioactive waste.人们应远离放射性废物。
• The radioactive material is stored in a special radiation-proof container.放射性材料储存在防辐射的特殊容器里。

2 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

3 transformer   

n.变形金刚，变压器

参考例句：

• Keep away from the transformer.不要靠近那个变压器。
• The transformer is more expensive than the toy train.变形金刚比玩具火车贵得多。

4 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。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

8 resume   

v.（中断后）继续，恢复；n.摘要，简历

参考例句：

• We'll stop now and resume at two o 'clock.我们现在停下来，到两点再干。
• My resume shows that I have the right qualifications for the job.我的简历表明我正符合这项工作的条件。

9 blaze   

n.火焰，火堆，火光，火灾；vi.燃烧，着火

参考例句：

• In a blaze of anger he shouted at them.他怒火中烧，对着他们大吼起来。
• Dry wood makes a good blaze.干木燃起夺目的光焰。

10 magnitude   

n.大小；重大；星等

参考例句：

• I want to know the magnitude of this equipment.我想知道这个设备的大小。
• I hadn't realized the magnitude of the problem.我没有认识到这个问题的重要性。