VOA标准英语2010年-Former US Nuclear Weapons Plant Underg

The Fernald wilderness¹ preserve today, 21 years after the nuclear weapons plant closed for good.

The Fernald Preserve in Ohio is home to deer, turkeys, muskrat² and many other creatures, including 200 species of birds.

However, not too long ago, the same site housed a facility that processed uranium ore for weapons. The plant spewed radioactive uranium dust into the air and contaminated the local water supply.

Since the plant's closing in 1989, the former nuclear weapons site has traveled a dangerous and expensive path to recovery.

The Fernald Feed Materials Processing Center secretly processed uranium ore for weapons plants elsewhere in the United States.

 

Secret plant

 

For years, most residents of southwestern Ohio thought the Fernald Feed Materials Processing Center was a Purina dog food plant.

The name and the distinctive³ red and white checkered⁴ water tower may have been intended to give just that impression. But for nearly four decades, the facility was actually processing uranium ore and feeding it to weapons plants elsewhere in the country.

The plant operated around the clock, seven days week, employing several thousand people over its four decades. Engineer Cathy Glassmeyer started working at Fernald in 1985, just a few years before it closed. She says it was a great place to work. The plant's employees were a close-knit community, drawn⁵ together by the secrecy⁶ surrounding their work and pride in their contributions to the nation's defense⁷.

"It did have a good culture of family almost. Some people had worked here their whole lives," says Glassmeyer. "There were a lot of people who met and got married from here. And everybody ate in the company cafeteria, from the company presidents on down to the lowliest porters who mopped the floors."

The containment⁸ mound⁹ in the background, which looms¹⁰ over the preserve, contains entombed A darker side to Fernald culture

 

Operated by for-profit companies under government contract, production was the top priority.

Workplace safety and environmental concerns seemed to have been secondary concerns at best. As an example, Glassmeyer points to a lack of documentation in the facility.

"We found out that none of the valves in the building had numbers, none of the lines had identifying labels, because all of the old guys who worked here knew what everything was. Well, at that time, turning over to a new generation, we were all coming in, going, 'We don't want to guess.'"

Treated in an equally cavalier fashion was the 340,000 metric tons of radioactive waste generated over the years by the uranium extraction process.

It was stored right on the property.

"It had to go somewhere," says Jane Powell, current manager of the Fernald site. "It started out being disposed of in unlined pits, then lined pits, then - when that wasn't possible - it was put into drums."

Shocking discovery

Fernald's waste emitted relatively¹¹ low levels of radiation. But the facility was also storing highly radioactive waste from other weapons plants. It was this more dangerous waste that first brought Fernald to the attention of local environmental activist¹² David Fankhauser.

Fankhauser is a professor of biology at the nearby University of Cincinnati.

He recalls doing a radiation survey around the perimeter¹³ of the plant with two members of the Sierra Club. "I had what's called a scintillation counter that detects gamma radiation, and as we drove along the road, I took readings and plotted how far we had gone and there was a clear, dramatic increase in radiation at one point."

What Fankhauser detected in the early 1980s turned out to be nuclear waste created 40 years earlier as part of the Manhattan Project, America's World War II drive to build an atomic bomb.

Fankhauser says when he published his findings, the local press scoffed¹⁴ at his concerns. But soon after, it was revealed that the plant was also spewing radioactive uranium dust into the air, and contaminating the local water supply.

Then, he says, the community took notice and the press did an abrupt¹⁵ about-face.

Public outrage¹⁶

"Well, suddenly, it was like somebody threw the switch," Fankhauser says. "And I'll never forget that first Enquirer¹⁷ [local newspaper] headline, talking about radioactive releases from Fernald and finally looking at what were clearly dangers to the genetic¹⁸ material of people that lived in that neighborhood."

Fernald was closed in 1989, and the more dangerous, high-level waste - about 20 percent of the total - was shipped to disposal sites in Western states.

The remaining 80 percent was entombed in a 720 meter long, grass-covered mound, 20 meters high, that runs along one edge of the property. Surrounded by a stone moat and razor-topped fencing, the mound is a series of clay-lined containment cells. Inside the cells are 40 years worth of nuclear waste, contaminated soil and the remains¹⁹ of Fernald's 300 buildings.

The rest of the 420-hectare site makes up the nature preserve.

The Fernald site was covered with concrete, buildings and tanks.

 

Uncertain future

 

When the Fernald plant closed, its future development was unclear.

Government officials decided²⁰ to open the question of how to retire the plant to public input²¹. They even developed a game for local residents to play: an exercise that balanced time, resources and ecological²² concerns against possible outcomes.

Site manager Jane Powell explains that people recognized it would likely have proved impossible to make the land habitable again, free of all contamination. So the final solution was a compromise.

"The former Feed Materials Production Center was cleaned to a standard, or remediated to a standard, to allow an undeveloped park with an emphasis on wildlife," says Powell.

New mission

As part of the compromise, the Fernald workers were retrained to perform the cleanup.

Engineer Cathy Glassmeyer admits her fellow Cold War warriors²³ were a bit skeptical²⁴ at first. "When you're sitting here looking at [400 hectares], every bit of which is covered with concrete and buildings and drums and pumps and tanks and all that, it's very hard to get your imagination wrapped around what it's going to look like when all that's gone."

In the end, Glassmeyer says, the Fernald workers took as much pride in the cleanup as they had participating in the nation's defense. They came to see ecological restoration as an equally valuable contribution.

"Retirees come through here all the time," she says, adding that they're all amazed at how well the restoration worked. "[They say,] 'Wow, look what we made. We made something nice now as opposed to back when we made uranium.'"

Department of Energy
The Fernald Preserve in Ohio is home to deer, turkeys, muskrat and many other creatures, including 200 species of birds.

 

Turning back the clock

 

The site has been returned to the mixed woodlands and prairie that existed in this corner of Ohio when European explorers first arrived.

Powell explains they had some guidance in choosing the correct plants. "In 1819, there was a land survey done and they noted²⁵ things like the trees that were here, the grasses that were growing, and we based our seed mixes and our planting on that."

Fernald doesn't look like untamed 19th century wilderness yet. Still, the transformation²⁶ is quite remarkable²⁷. And apparently²⁸, the local wildlife agrees.

Students from nearby Northwest High School have been participating in wildlife studies here for the last two years. Their teacher, Jeff Davis, is amazed at how quickly wildlife returned to site.

"I had a friend come in from Belize about a month ago," he reports, "and I brought him out here, and we're standing²⁹ in a field watching an adult bald eagle soaring overhead and there are Black Necked Stilts³⁰ and Wilson's Phalaropes. Two hundred species of birds on one [400 hectare] parcel of property on Southwest Ohio is pretty impressive," he concludes.

Davis describes himself as a born pessimist³¹, especially where environmental issues are concerned, but he's clearly impressed by what the Fernald restoration has accomplished³². "What I have learned from here is, if the time is spent to do it correctly, and especially if the money is available to do it correctly, things can change. Things can reverse. Things can definitely heal and things can get better."

It took ten years and 4.4 billion dollars to begin that healing process. The product of compromise, the Fernald Preserve is far from an ideal solution, but it is one community's solution for pushing the Cold War firmly into the past.
 

1 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

2 muskrat   

n.麝香鼠

参考例句：

• Muskrat fur almost equals beaver fur in quality.麝鼠皮在质量上几乎和海獭皮不相上下。
• I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice.我看到一只麝鼠从冰里面钻出来。

3 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

4 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

9 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

10 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

13 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

14 scoffed   

嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He scoffed at our amateurish attempts. 他对我们不在行的尝试嗤之以鼻。
• A hundred years ago people scoffed at the idea. 一百年前人们曾嘲笑过这种想法。

15 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

16 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

17 enquirer   

寻问者，追究者

参考例句：

• The "National Enquirer" blazoned forth that we astronomers had really discovered another civilization. 《国民询问者》甚至宣称，我们天文学家已真正发现了其它星球上的文明。
• Should we believe a publication like the national enquirer? 我们要相信像《国家探秘者》之类的出版物吗？

18 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

19 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

20 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

21 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

22 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

23 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

24 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

25 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

26 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

27 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

28 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

29 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

30 stilts   

n.（支撑建筑物高出地面或水面的）桩子，支柱( stilt的名词复数 )；高跷

参考例句：

• a circus performer on stilts 马戏团里踩高跷的演员
• The bamboo huts here are all built on stilts. 这里的竹楼都是架空的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

31 pessimist   

n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世

参考例句：

• An optimist laughs to forget.A pessimist forgets to laugh.乐观者笑着忘却，悲观者忘记怎样笑。
• The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity.The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.悲观者在每个机会中都看到困难，乐观者在每个困难中都看到机会。

32 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。