科技动态:将二氧化碳储存起来（在线收听）

Now from the Boston Museum of Science. Sci Tech today on NECN.

有线新闻波士顿消息。

In Sci Tech today, could the New England coastline hold the key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Researchers are considering a plan to bury carbon dioxide emissions under water. Doctor Julie Sable is joining us live, from the museum of Boston and talk about the idea. Julie, thanks for being here. Hey, Beth.

今天的Sci-tech Today我们将讨论的是，新英格兰海岸线会成为减少温室气体排放的关键吗？研究人员正试图把二氧化碳深埋进水下。来自波士顿博物馆的Julie Sable博士将向我们做详细介绍，Julie，欢迎你。谢谢主持人，Beth。

So there has been a lot of concerns that these emissions are behind climate change, what's the theory behind storing carbon dioxide under ground?

人们认为这些气体的排放是由气候变化造成的，把二氧化碳埋入地下的理论基础是什么？

We are facing a big problem with greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide alone, the world emits thirty billion tons per year. And even though, a lot of nations are trying to cut back on emissions, it looks like that overall number will increase more in coming years. So as one of several solutions to offset those emissions, experts are looking at carbon capture and storage when you collect carbon dioxide from emitters like power plants and then inject it under ground. But there are some challenges with that on the storage side which I am particular talking about here. You have to choose the right areas to put that carbon dioxide. You need a lot of volume to store on a really large scale. And also choose safe areas that minimize risk of leakage.

温室气体排放问题十分严峻。全球每年光是二氧化碳就要排放30亿吨。虽然许多国家试图减少排放量，但未来几年的总排放量还是会增加。因此，作为抵消这些排放的解决办法之一，专家们正在寻找适合的容器和储藏地来收集发电厂等排放的二氧化碳，并把封存好的容器注入地下。但是对于储藏地点的选择还存在一些问题，这也是我正要详细说明的，你必须选择合适的地点储存二氧化碳。首先你需要大量的空间储存温室气体。其次，你需要选择安全的地区，减小气体泄露的危险。

Which brings us to the topic of Basalt, the idea is to store the CO2 in Basalt. What exactly is it? Why would it be a good home for storing CO2?

这让我们联想到了玄武岩，用玄武岩来盛放二氧化碳。这究竟是怎么回事？用玄武岩有什么好处？

Basalt is a really common rock, I have some of them here, makes most of the ancient crust. And some researchers from Colombia and Rutgers are recently pointed out that there are some areas of basalt offshore the east coast, including off Massachusetts going down into New Jersey where that could be a specially good reservoir for storing carbon dioxide. One advantage to basalt, is that there is lots of volume, lots of space where we can pump the carbon dioxide in. And that's because basalt is often bubbly, they have a lot of holes and there are some here, I have a photo to show, closer up. And also the tops of basalt level flows are often broken up and fractured and that rubbly top creates lot of interconnected space to inject carbon dioxide.

玄武岩是很常见的岩石，我手里拿着的就是，多由古地壳构成。来自哥伦比亚和罗格斯的研究人员最近指出一些近海地区拥有大量玄武岩，包括马萨诸塞州到新泽西的近海区域可能是很好的二氧化碳储存地。这里的一个优点是空间大，可以注入大量的二氧化碳。另一个优点是玄武岩上有许多孔，我有一张特写图片可以显示出这里有许多小洞。此外，表面上的玄武岩通常是破碎的断裂的由碎石堆积而成的，这造就了许多可以注入二氧化碳的相连的空间。

So why the east coast, why this area?

那么，为什么是东海岸呢？为什么是这篇区域？

Oh, if you don't mind I wanna to finish up with the very special thing about basalt that make the scientist especially excited. Yes, go ahead.

如果你不介意我想介绍完玄武岩，它有一项特质让科学家们兴奋不已。好的，请。

OK, that is that basalt naturally reacts with carbon dioxide and water to form another rock, limestone. This is also a very common rock and the idea is that over time you will be able to lock the carbon dioxide into solid rock in these reservoirs.

玄武岩和二氧化碳，水会自然而然产生化学反应，形成一种新的岩石，石灰岩，也是一种常见的岩石。也就是说，随着时间的推移，你可以通过固体岩石来锁住二氧化碳。

And why the east coast?

那么为什么是东海岸呢？

So, a few advantages to the east coast. One is that these basalts are confined to some ancient basins. So that there they should have abundant outside and also capped up to a thousand feet of impermeable sediments. So that reduces the risk of leakage. Another advantage is that it's pretty close to population centers where we make a lot of power but not too close for comfort. And also compared to the west coast, the east coast is much less volcanically and seismically active. So it's safer for that too.

选择东海岸有几个好处。其一是玄武岩只存在于部分古老的盆地地区。因此，东海岸外部有大量玄武岩覆盖不透水的沉积岩。另一个好处是这里距离人口稠密区较近，但又不是特别近，距离适中。另外，相对于西海岸，东海岸火山和地震因素相对稳定，更加安全。

All right, interesting stuff, Doctor Julie Sable, Thanks for so much for joining us. Thanks a lot.

好的，十分有趣，Julie Sable博士，谢谢你的介绍。谢谢。

And remember to join us on wednesday afternoon at 5:30 and Tuesday morning at 9:30 for the latest developments in Science and Technology and Sci-Tech today.

欢迎每周三下午5:30或周二早上9:30收看Sci-tech的最新科技动态。