VOA标准英语2012--After Japan, Experts Rethink Costs, Safety of Nuclear Power

After Japan, Experts Rethink Costs, Safety of Nuclear Power

The power plant was designed to withstand the largest tsunami¹ ever to hit Japan, a 1960 event linked to a 9.5 magnitude earthquake in Chile, the largest earthquake in recorded history.

The earthquake that struck Japan last March was a magnitude 9.0. It set off a tsunami that crippled the Fukushima plant, killing² 20,000 people and displacing 340,000 more. The plant suffered a partial meltdown and released potentially dangerous radiation over a wide area

Underestimating the danger

Thorne Lay, a seismologist with the University of California Santa Cruz, says the chances that a great wave could shut down the emergency backup systems at the power plant were underestimated. 

“There are things we could do better.That is often the case with very complex technical systems that we build and don’t anticipate all the failure points.” For example, he says, “The project could have been engineered with backup power at very high elevations³ so that it could not possibly get drowned out.” 

The Japan earthquake was one of a series of large quakes around the world in recent years. From them, scientists have learned that one quake can closely follow another, that they can occur in shallow parts of faults and not just in deep waters, and that they can occur across an ocean ridge⁴. 

Scientists now understand more about how and where earthquakes occur. But despite its growing ability to anticipate risk in certain regions, science cannot provide decision makers⁵ with all the answers. 

“What people have to do if they live in areas with earthquake potential is recognize that scientists are going to do their best to identify the long-term shaking hazard that guides engineering and construction standards," Lay says. "We will try to our best to give early warning if that’s possible and set up emergency response systems, but ultimately individuals need to prepare themselves.”

Rethinking economics of nuclear power

Safety is just one concern for the nuclear power industry. 

Since the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia in 1986, nations have been rethinking the economics of nuclear power, says Peter Bradford, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

The cost of building a nuclear plant and generating electricity from it is much higher than other sources of power. 

“New nuclear just hasn’t been able to compete in the power markets," says Bradford. "Investors⁶ just won’t take the risk of somehow being able to make money by selling 12-cent kilowatt⁷ hours in a five or six-cent market.”

The price of natural gas in some areas is that low and in addition, Bradford says, the demand for electricity has fallen. 

“When you add to that the fact that the public has now seen several reactors⁸ blow up on their television screens, politicians have seen the fall of Japanese government, largely as a result of the accident, thousands of people being unable to return to their homes and liability estimates that start at $100 billion. That certainly has made the nuclear case even harder to make.”

Building new reactors

But a new plant is under construction in the U.S. state of Georgia, the country’s first since the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in Pennsylvania. The costs will be passed on to customers.

Even if that plant is built on time and on budget, Bradford says, it is still a recipe for going broke, given the current power market. But, he points out, that doesn’t mean nuclear can’t and isn’t working elsewhere. 

“The Chinese, for example, are still building, a substantial number of new reactors. That’s really the paradigm⁹, the only paradigm that can still work for new nuclear is a strong central government that is committed to making the public pay, either as taxpayers¹⁰ or as customers.” 

For some, nuclear power is justified¹¹ by its primary virtue¹²: it is clean energy. The problem is balancing that virtue against the financial and environmental risks.

The role for nuclear in the energy power marketplace and how it can be managed safely will be on the agenda later this month when world leaders gather at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea.

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 elevations   

（水平或数量）提高( elevation的名词复数 )； 高地； 海拔； 提升

参考例句：

• Weight of the crust changes as elevations are eroded and materials are deposited elsewhere. 当高地受到侵蚀，物质沉积到别的地方时，地壳的重量就改变。
• All deck elevations are on the top of structural beams. 所有甲板标高线均指结构梁顶线。

4 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 kilowatt   

n.千瓦

参考例句：

• They pay thirty fen per kilowatt hour.他们每度电付三角钱。
• The watt is a small unit of power so that we use the kilowatt instead.瓦特是小功率的单位，因此我们用千瓦代之。

8 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。

9 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。

10 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

11 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

12 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。