美国国家公共电台 NPR--Nuclear inspectors arrive at Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine

Nuclear inspectors² arrive at Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine

Transcript³

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrive today at the troubled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to assess damage and establish safety and security conditions.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

International inspectors are in Ukraine preparing to visit a nuclear power plant at risk of disaster.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Yeah. The Zaporizhzhia plant has been under Russian occupation since March. And in recent weeks, it's been a cause for grave concern among nuclear watchdogs because there's been shelling in the area along with power cuts.

FADEL: Joining us to discuss this inspection⁴ is NPR's Geoff Brumfiel. Hi.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE⁵: Good morning.

FADEL: Good morning. So let's just talk quickly about conditions at the plant. What do we know?

BRUMFIEL: Well, things are looking pretty dicey at the moment. A satellite image Monday from the company Maxar showed Russian armored vehicles parked at the nuclear reactors⁶. There were holes in the roof of an auxiliary⁷ building, presumably from recent shelling. And wildfires are burning nearby. So all in all, this is really not the way you want a nuclear power plant to look.

FADEL: No. OK. And into all this are heading these inspectors. Who are they?

BRUMFIEL: So this is a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency. They're based out of Vienna. And they traveled to nuclear facilities all over the world. They've been to some pretty dicey places like Iran and North Korea. But Zaporizhzhia is really something different. Not only do you have this huge plant, Europe's largest, but Russian and Ukrainian troops are actively⁸ fighting around it. I spoke⁹ to Lars van Dassen, the executive director of the World Institute for Nuclear Security. He says there's never been a mission like this one.

LARS VAN DASSEN: This is an environment that I cannot imagine that the IAEA has ever been in before, coming in between two warring parties.

FADEL: So in an active war zone, coming into this plant where two sides are fighting all around it, what can the inspectors actually do?

BRUMFIEL: Well, a former inspector¹ named Shirley Johnson told me they actually should be able to figure out quite a bit about how the big reactors are doing.

SHIRLEY JOHNSON: Just by going to the control room, they're going to be able to look at pressures and flows and coolants and really get a good picture of how the facilities are working.

BRUMFIEL: And they can also do things like check to make sure the backup generators¹⁰ and safety systems are running properly. But there's something much more important here, and that's the people working at the plant. A skeleton crew of Ukrainians have been running it. And they've reportedly been doing so while being harassed¹¹ by Russian troops. Johnson says it's really important to find out how they're doing. And that's going to be a tough job for inspectors.

JOHNSON: It kind of depends on whether the Ukrainian operators are going to be able to speak truthfully and openly.

BRUMFIEL: But it's really important because the Ukrainian workers are ultimately the ones keeping this plant running safely.

FADEL: Yeah. So Geoff, assuming everything goes smoothly¹², the IAEA is going to spend a few days going through the plant, evaluating everything. But then what after that?

BRUMFIEL: Well, they'll head back to their base in Vienna and tell the world what they saw. And that's actually pretty important because all we have are these satellite images and tiny fragments of information from the plant right now. Beyond that, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said this morning he hopes they can establish a permanent presence at the plant. And that could be a foot in the door for some bigger agreement about security, which all the experts I talked to say is really badly needed because safety at the plant is getting worse.

FADEL: NPR's Geoff Brumfiel, thanks so much.

BRUMFIEL: Thank you.

1 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

2 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

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 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。

7 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

12 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。