VOA常速英语2008年-Australia Starts to Bury Greenhouse Gases

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
02 April 2008

Australia's first large underground carbon storage facility has opened in the southern state of Victoria. The geo-sequestration plant will capture carbon dioxide from a power station and store it two kilometers beneath the surface. Researchers think the pilot program will help Australia make deep cuts to its greenhouse gas emissions¹. But as Phil Mercer reports from Sydney, environmentalists are not convinced the technology is appropriate.

Australia's new carbon tomb lies near the town of Warrnambool, west of Melbourne. It is the first of its type in the Southern hemisphere. Under this type of geo-sequestration, carbon dioxide from power plants is compressed into liquid and pumped underground.

Several years of testing have convinced scientists that the facility in southern Australia will be able to safely absorb 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases.

Rock formations have been described as giant sponges that will soak up the carbon dioxide. The hope is that the dense² fluid will remain locked away indefinitely.

Professor Victor Rudolph, a chemical engineer at the University of Queensland, says the technology should be an effective way to curb³ carbon dioxide emissions.

"You've got to, A: capture the CO2 [carbon dioxide], so you've got to get a hold of it first of all, then you compress it effectively into liquid form and you pump it down into the ground somewhere where it's securely kept for a long time," he said. "So, you've got to either find a cave or a space and something that seals it within that space then it just stays there forever."

Gases such as carbon dioxide, which are produced by burning fuels such as coal, oil and wood, are thought to contribute to global warming. Governments around the world are trying to reduce emissions of such gases by developing new green technologies.

Some critics, however, say though that this process is expensive, and there are concerns too that leaks from underground facilities could have harmful consequences in the future.

One of the project's chief architects, Peter Cook, says the technology will be carefully scrutinized⁴.

"What we'll have is probably the most comprehensive monitoring program for stored carbon dioxide anywhere in the world. It will also be one of the largest pilot projects in the world," he said. "It's a very, very significant project even by world standards and we're having a number of international groups who'll be working with us as part of this experiment. So, it will be the first real test of geo-sequestration under Australian conditions."

The program has the support of the Australian government and the country's powerful coal industry.

Geo-sequestration technology is also being developed elsewhere, including in Japan and the United States.

Some environmental groups think that geo-sequestration has too many unknowns. Some have argued that the money spent on the Victorian project should have been allocated⁵ to proven technologies, such as solar and wind power.

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

4 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

5 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。