Japan to Enforce Exclusion Zone Near Nuclear Plant

     Japanese officials have decided¹ to legally enforce an exclusion² zone within 20 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant starting at midnight Thursday.

    Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that Prime Minister Naoto Kan will announce the new restrictions³ during a visit to the region on Thursday.

    More than 60,000 people were evacuated⁴ from the zone shortly after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami⁵ that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant.  But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday that some residents and others have been venturing back in spite of a government advisory⁶ to stay away.

    Engineers at the plant have been working since Tuesday to pump more than 10,000 tons of highly radioactive water out of the basement and utility tunnel at one of the six reactors⁸.  Officials said water levels in the tunnel - which had been rising about two centimeters a day - were down about one centimeter as of Wednesday morning.

    A French company, Areva, has contracted to build a facility at the plant capable of decontaminating 50 tons per hour of water so it can be recycled to keep the plant's nuclear fuel rods from overheating.  Officials hope to have the facility in operation by the beginning of June.

    Officials with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant's operators, released the first photographs from inside two of the badly damaged reactor⁷ buildings on Wednesday.  The pictures were taken by remote-controlled robots sent in to measure radiation levels to determine whether humans can safely go back inside.

    The Kyodo news agency quoted a doctor who has examined some of the men struggling to stabilize⁹ the plant as saying the men are at risk of depression or death from overwork.  The doctor said the workers, some of whom lost their own family members in the tsunami, are pushing themselves out of a sense of moral responsibility.

    Despite the problems, an official at the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that radiation levels leaking from the plant are coming down steadily¹⁰.  IAEA expert Denis Flory said unless something unexpected happens, he does not expect total radiation leaking into the environment to increase much beyond current levels.

    National police said late Tuesday the confirmed death toll¹¹ from the earthquake and tsunami has topped 14,000, with more than 13,600 others missing.  It said more than 90 percent of the victims recovered so far died from drowning, and that more than 65 percent of them were over age 60.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 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。

2 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

5 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。

6 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

7 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

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 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

10 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

11 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。