美全面評估核電廠安全

U.S. nuclear officials say exhaustive reviews of safety standards and procedures have been conducted at American reactors since the Japanese nuclear crisis stemming from a March earthquake and tsunami. That's what leaders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sought to reassure wary lawmakers Thursday at a senate hearing.

美國的核能官員表示，自從今年三月日本大地震和海嘯引起日本核危機後，美國對核電廠的安全標準和操作程序作出了詳盡評估。美國核能管制委員會官員星期四在聽證會上，對關切這個問題的國會議員再度做出保證。

One hundred and four nuclear power reactors currently operate in the United States, providing roughly 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. It has been more than three decades since the United States suffered a major nuclear scare - the 1979 partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which resulted in no deaths or injuries.

美國目前有104座核反應堆在運轉，供應美國大約百分之二十的電力需求。自1979年發生賓州三哩島核事故以來，已經有三十多年了。三哩島核事故造成部分爐心融毀，但是沒有引起傷亡。

But recent events in Japan have refocused attention on nuclear safety and accident preparedness in the United States. Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey summed up the concerns of many lawmakers:

日本最近的核事故再度引起人們關切美國的核安全以及對事故的準備。來自新澤西州的民主黨籍參議員勞敦伯格發出了許多議員的共同心聲。勞敦伯格說：

“Since Japan’s nuclear disaster began unfolding, Americans have asked, with a good deal of trepidation: could it happen here? Nothing can be taken for granted where nuclear power is concerned," said Lautenberg. "Japan, a world leader in technology, believed the Fukushima plant was strong enough to withstand a worst-case scenario. And now we know it was not.”

他說：“日本發生核災難後，美國人民深感不安，不禁要問：這種事會不會發生在這裏？在覈能運轉的地方，沒有任何事應該被視爲是理所當然。日本，這個技術領先全球的國家，當初也認爲福島核電廠足以抵擋最壞的情況。而現在，我們都知道，實際並不是這樣。”

All five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were on hand to answer senators’ questions. Chairman Gregory Jaczko detailed the commission’s actions since the Japanese crisis began.

核能管制委員會的五名委員全部列席這次聽證會，回答參議員們的提問。核能管制委員會主席傑茲科詳細敘述了自日本核危機開始後，該委員會所採取的行動。

“We issued instructions to our inspectors calling for immediate, independent assessments of each plant’s level of preparedness. The instructions covered extensive damage mitigation guidelines, station blackout, flooding, and seismic issues, as well as severe accident management guidelines,” he said.

傑茲科說：“我們給我們的檢查人員下達指示，要他們對每一座核電廠的防災準備，立即做出獨立的評估。評估的範圍包括廣泛的減少損害指導準則，核電廠停電，淹水，還有大地震，以及嚴重事故的管理指導守則。”

Last month, the NRC reported that potential safety issues had been detected at 12 nuclear facilities.

上個月，核能管制委員會報告說，在美國的12處核設施裏，檢查出具有潛在的安全問題。

The chairwoman of the Senate Committee on the Environment, Barbara Boxer, seemed troubled by problems discovered at a nuclear site in her home state of California.

參議院環境委員會主席鮑克瑟女士，似乎對她的家鄉州--加利福尼亞州一座核電廠被檢查出有問題而感到困擾。

“NRC’s inspections at the Diablo Canyon power plant [in California] found that state highways and access roads needed to reach diesel fuel and an alternative seawater source for cooling may be inaccessible after an earthquake," said Boxer. "And hoses needed to get cooling water from the reservoir to the plant were blocked by a security fence.”

鮑瑟爾參議員說：“核能管制委員會對加州迪亞柏樓谷核電廠的檢查發現，州際公路和進出道路需要能夠容易接觸到柴油燃料，以及在地震發生後無法取用海水作爲替代冷卻水。此外，從蓄水池取水噴灑降溫的橡皮水管，又被安全防護籬笆給阻擋。”The NRC said such issues are being corrected.

核能管制委員會表示，這類問題已經得到改正。

The commissioners acknowledged there are lessons to be learned from the Japanese nuclear crisis. Jaczko highlighted one lesson in particular.

委員會主席傑茲科承認從日本的核危機裏學到一些教訓。傑茲科特別提到其中的一項教訓。

“Our traditional approach has always been to assume a single incident at a single reactor," he said. "Clearly Fukushima-Daiichi showed us that we have to consider the possibility of multiple units at a single site, perhaps multiple spent fuel pools being affected at the same time.”

他說：“我們傳統的作法一直是認爲，在單一的反應爐發生單一的事故。但是福島第一核電廠事故很明確地顯示，我們必須考慮到在單一地點多個反應爐可能同時發生問題，可能多個冷卻池水同時受到影響。”

The hearing exposed divided opinions in the Senate on the wisdom and utility of employing nuclear power in the United States. Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is a strong supporter.

這次聽證會也曝露了參議員們對美國使用核能到底是否正確的分歧，來自田納西州的共和黨參議員亞力山大是核能發電的強烈支持者。

“The subject in America today is jobs. We want jobs (and) we have got to have large amounts of reliable, low-cost electricity," said Alexander. "Seventy percent of our carbon-free, sulfur-free, nitrogen-free, mercury-free electricity comes from nuclear plants.”

亞力山大參議員說：“這件事在今日的美國來說是工作問題。我們需要工作，同時我們也必須得到大量可靠而且低成本的電力。我們所有不排放二氧化碳，不排放硫化物，不排放氮，不排放鉛的電力，其中有百分之是七十來自核能發電。”

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkeley of Oregon is far less enthusiastic.

但是，來自奧勒岡州的民主黨籍參議員莫克里卻對核能發電不以爲然。

“I have a lot of doubts about nuclear power being able to be competitive, taking into account costs, potential terror threats, natural disasters, and human error," he said. "But I also think it is very important to look at all options as we wrestle with ways to generate non-carbon power.”

莫克里參議員說：“如果計算進建造成本，潛在的恐怖威脅，天然災害和人爲過失，我非常懷疑核電廠具有競爭力。所以，當我們致力尋求辦法去生產不排碳的發電廠之際，我認爲很重要的是考慮到所有的選擇。”

A political battle has raged for years over what to do with America’s spent nuclear fuel. A site in sparsely-populated Nevada was designated as a nuclear repository in the 1980s. Billions of dollars have been spent to develop the Yucca Mountain repository, but under President Barack Obama the project has been mothballed, with no replacement site identified to date.

至於如何處理美國的核廢料，多年來已經成爲美國的政治爭論議題。在上個世紀80年代，內華達州一處人煙稀少的地區被指定作爲核廢料的貯存地點。爲了修建這個猶加山核廢料貯存庫，已經花費了數十億美元，但是在奧巴馬總統主政下，這項計劃又遭到凍結。到目前爲止，還沒有選出其他取代的地點。