美国国家公共电台 NPR--乌克兰一座核电站的大火已被扑灭

 

The fire at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been extinguished

Transcript¹

A fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant is out — it had been attacked by Russian troops in Ukraine. The U.S. Department of Energy activated² its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Russian forces captured Europe's largest nuclear power plant, located in Ukraine. Heavy fighting caused a fire to break out near one of the plant's six reactors⁴, but Ukrainian authorities say the fire has been extinguished. They also say there were many casualties from the fighting around the plant, which started late Thursday. At a press conference earlier this morning, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said that the plant's safety systems are intact.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

RAFAEL GROSSI: There has been no release of radioactive material.

MARTINEZ: Joining us to discuss what's going on is NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel. Geoff, so what is going on at the site right now?

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE⁵: Well, as you just said there, overnight, there was this attack staged by Russian forces against the plant. And footage verified by NPR showed what appeared to be light armored vehicles engaged in combat at the site. Troops were firing flares⁶ and tracer rounds, and one of the plant's buildings caught fire. Now, that fire was in a training center by the plant's main gate, not in a central building. And it does appear to be out, as you said. According to my colleague Lauren Frayer's reporting, Russian troops are in control of the entrance and some administrative⁷ buildings at the plant. But it still remains⁸ under operation by the Ukrainians. So a statement from Ukraine's safety agency also says that the reactor³ closest to the fighting sustained some damage. But its integrity appears to be intact.

MARTINEZ: I mean, damage to a nuclear reactor - it sounds terrifying. I mean, how worried should everyone be?

BRUMFIEL: Well, yeah, I mean, this is not good. Any sort of damage to a reactor is never good, but these are huge machines. The nuclear material in the reactor sits inside this thick metal pressure vessel⁹ known as its containment¹⁰. And it's really tough. So it's entirely¹¹ possible this building sustained some kind of damage superficially. But the reactor itself is safe. You know, still, though, we've just never been here before, either in terms of nuclear power or modern warfare¹². This is something that's never happened as far as I know.

MARTINEZ: Yeah. So why would, then, Russia want to take control of this plant?

BRUMFIEL: Well, about half of Ukraine's electricity comes from nuclear power. And this plant is the biggest. It's located in the southeast and hugely important to the nation. These six reactors provide up to 6,000 megawatts of power. And we've already seen Russia move in on other essential infrastructure¹³ like hydroelectric dams, so it makes sense they'd try to seize this facility.

MARTINEZ: I think we all know this, but Ukraine is already home to the worst nuclear disaster the world has ever seen, and that's Chernobyl. Could we be looking at a Chernobyl-like meltdown at some point?

BRUMFIEL: Probably not - definitely not a Chernobyl-like meltdown. These reactors are a different design. And overall, they're much safer than what was in operation at Chernobyl. But I got to say this remains a super serious situation. Large reactors like these - you can't just flip¹⁴ a switch and turn them off. Their nuclear cores remain hot for days or even weeks after shutdown. So this plant still needs operators working there. It needs power and water to cool the cores. And there's still three other nuclear power plants in other parts of the country, including one near Odesa. So, I mean, I think we are still dealing¹⁵ with a very fluid situation, and there's a lot of risk here. It's something really unprecedented¹⁶.

MARTINEZ: That's NPR's Geoff Brumfiel. Geoff, thanks a lot.

BRUMFIEL: Thank you.

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 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

8 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。

9 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

10 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。

11 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

12 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

13 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。

14 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

15 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

16 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。