美国国家公共电台 NPR--Ukrainian coal miners say they're on the energy front line in the war with Russia

Ukrainian coal miners say they're on the energy front line in the war with Russia

Transcript¹

Ukraine's long-declining coal industry is finding itself in the middle of Russia's invasion — and global demand for coal is rising.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

While the brutal² fighting in Ukraine goes on, concerns are already growing about the coming winter and Ukraine's ability to heat its homes. The country has vast energy resources but depends on imports. As NPR's Nathan Rott reports, there are hopes in coal-rich eastern Ukraine that may change.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE³: It's the beginning of a shift at this eastern Ukrainian coal mine. Men and women in stained uniforms crowd into a dark elevator platform and descend⁴ some 265 meters below the surface into a wide tunnel. The crew walks out across metal platforms laid across the hard rock floor, scanning in for their shift and cramming⁵ into a small metal tram with wood plank⁶ seats - four people to a car. Oleksander Aksonov is the mine's chief engineer.

OLEKSANDER AKSONOV: (Through interpreter) So people are taken by these wagons⁷ on horizontal routes and also, it declines.

ROTT: Another hundred-plus meters below the surface.

AKSONOV: (Through interpreter) So we'll use a kind of transport with these monorails.

ROTT: A series of monorails, actually - three in total to get where we're going. Riding down, Aliona Samarsk, one of the mine's employees, leans towards us in the cart.

ALIONA SAMARSK: (Through interpreter) Aren't you afraid?

ROTT: Should I be?

SAMARSK: (Through interpreter) Yes.

ROTT: I thought being underground is the safest place to be right now in Ukraine.

SAMARSK: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: The miners think so. A lot of them think so.

ROTT: Underground mining, dangerous as it can be, is normal. Missile strikes? Not so much. All the same, we've agreed not to give the exact name or location of this mine for security reasons. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's electrical infrastructure⁸ since the start of the war and taken control of multiple coal mines, part of a wider campaign, Ukrainian officials say, to cripple the country and its economy. That's why some coal miners, like the ones we meet at the end of the rail, some seven kilometers into the mine, call this the war's other front line.

IAN KALVECHUKIAN: (Non-English language spoken).

ROTT: "It's very important for us to be here," says miner Ian Kalvechukian, "providing our country with energy, with power." It's a role coal miners here are more than happy to embrace. Their industry has long been on a similar trajectory⁹ to coal mining in the U.S. - down, phased out by cleaner energy sources, like natural gas and renewables, as Ukraine looks to give itself a more Euro-friendly energy portfolio¹⁰. Now, Aksonov says, standing¹¹ next to a boring machine at the end of the tunnel...

AKSONOV: (Through interpreter) I believe that the demand for coal in the whole world will increase because - due to the sanctions, the import of oil is limited now. So coal will be in high demand.

ROTT: He's not wrong. Coal demand has increased globally over the last year as gas prices have climbed, in part because of Russia's invasion. Earlier this month, Ukraine suspended exports of gas and coal. And its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stressing the importance of both, warned of the winter ahead.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Non-English language spoken).

ROTT: "Due to Russia's aggression¹², this will indeed be the most difficult heating season since independence," he said. Hearing the calls for more extraction, more fossil fuels, Iryna Holovko sits in her Kyiv office and shakes her head.

IRYNA HOLOVKO: I do hope that this would be really short-term solution.

ROTT: Holovko is the head of Ecoaction, one of the largest environmental organizations in Ukraine. She wears a pin of Lisa Simpson on her shirt.

Lisa Simpson?

HOLOVKO: Yeah.

ROTT: Why?

HOLOVKO: I feel like Lisa Simpson in this world (laughter). It's not easy.

ROTT: (Laughter).

Holovko says that before the war, Ukraine was on a path towards decarbonizing its economy. Coal plants and mines were in decline. Coal communities were warming to the idea of a just transition. Ukraine pledged at the Glasgow Climate Conference to go fossil fuel-free by 2035.

HOLOVKO: And now the priority is on the internal extraction.

HOLOVKO: She gets it. The country is in a war. But longer term, she says, shifting to renewables is still the better answer. It provides energy independence and helps fight climate change. Herman Halushchenko is Ukraine's minister of energy.

HERMAN HALUSHCHENKO: In the long term, of course, we should follow this green course and this Paris agreement and everything.

ROTT: But he says the concerns about the next heating season, next winter, are very real and very now.

HALUSHCHENKO: They hit and target the energy sector¹³ because they know that we are preparing for the next heating season. So that's quite a challenge for us.

ROTT: Halushchenko says there are coal mines that could be modernized¹⁴, even expanded, to help meet Ukraine's energy demands. And he says the country already has agreements in place with American-based Westinghouse Electric Company to build more nuclear plants as soon as the war is over. But in the short term, the country needs to do everything it can to provide for its immediate¹⁵ needs, which brings us back to the energy front line, nearly 400 meters underground in eastern Ukraine.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALARM BLARING)

ROTT: The miners direct us to put on respirators and move to a tunnel wall before keying hydraulics that move a gnarled circular drill bit up towards the rock wall at the tunnel's end. Small seams of coal glitter in the headlamp's light.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).

ROTT: The tunnel becomes a cloud of fine particulate¹⁶. Fist-sized chunks¹⁷ of rock fall to a conveyor belt below. Normally, they do this six hours a day. After the demonstration¹⁸, Oleksander Aksonov, the mine's chief engineer, says he hopes investments will be made in the region's coal industry.

AKSONOV: (Non-English language spoken).

ROTT: "After the 24 of February," he says, "our miners realized how important their work is to provide Ukraine with power because," he says, "that work is on their shoulders now." For how long, nobody knows.

Nathan Rott, NPR News, eastern Ukraine.

(SOUNDBITE OF PHILANTHROPE'S "RELIEF")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

5 cramming   

n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

7 wagons   

n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车

参考例句：

• The wagons were hauled by horses. 那些货车是马拉的。
• They drew their wagons into a laager and set up camp. 他们把马车围成一圈扎起营地。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

10 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

11 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。

12 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

13 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

14 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

16 particulate   

adj.微小的；n.微粒，粒子

参考例句：

• A special group was organized to dig up the particulate of the case.成立了一个专门小组来查明该案件的各个细节。
• Lungs retain relatively insoluble particulate material.肺脏内留有不溶解的颗粒物质。

17 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

18 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。