World Energy Market Adjusting to Japan Nuclear Crisis

    The earthquake and tsunami（海啸） disaster in Japan has disrupted that Asian nation's power plants, including nuclear facilities（核设施） that are still threatening the area with radiation leaks. The crisis at Japan's nuclear plants has caused a re-assessment of nuclear power plants and projects worldwide and could cause an uptick in demand for other sources of energy including coal, petroleum¹（石油） and natural gas. But energy experts do not believe the Japanese crisis will cause a major upset in world energy markets or even a major pullback from nuclear energy.
    The disaster in Japan will have some short-term effect on the world energy market, but energy experts say there is unlikely to be a strong long-term impact. Japan is the third largest economy in the world and it imports almost all of its energy, with nuclear plants, until now, providing around 27 percent of the country's electrical generation. The price of crude oil dipped in recent days on speculation³ that Japan's demand for oil will continue to be low for many months to come as a result of the catastrophe⁴. Damage to ports and refineries⁵ in Japan as well as a lack of electrical power to run those facilities has already caused a sharp decrease in petroleum use.
    But Ken⁶ Medlock, an energy analyst⁷ at Rice University's James Baker⁸ Institute for Public Policy, says Japan will be importing some of its oil in a different form. “That crude is going to be redirected to other refineries and Japan will, as soon as they can get things back up and running with some sense of normalcy, will be importing petroleum products instead of crude, likely from some of their Asian neighbors, possibly from the US as well because we have some slack in our refining capacity here,” he said.
    Some economists⁹ have suggested that there may be a spike¹⁰ in crude oil prices in coming months as Japan imports more oil to use in its recovery and rebuilding effort.  But Medlock does not foresee that either, because he believes the Japanese will have to restrict much of their normal energy usage until they have fully¹¹ recovered.
    “There's a lot of people who will not be driving in their cars they way they were before the accident. Their power consumption patterns may not be the same and quite frankly¹², the Japanese have demonstrated(证明展示) in the past when they have crises that they are willing to ration² electricity to their customer base. I suspect they will do that even as they start to rebuild,” he said.
    Medlock does see some increase in Japan's use of coal and natural gas as the country repairs coal and gas-burning power plants damaged by the earthquake and perhaps uses those plants more than nuclear plants for electricity generation. Japan is already imports more coal than any other nation. But, Medlock notes, building new power plants will take a long time and the world market will have time to absorb the additional demand.
    The picture for nuclear, however, is mixed. While the Japanese struggle to deal with their current problems it is too early to say what  impact this disaster will have there. But news reports about the disaster are seen around the world and many people are now rethinking their plans to use nuclear power.  Here in Texas plans for expansion of a nuclear plant south of Houston have been shelved. Germany  has shut down seven of its nuclear plants, France has increased inspect, but is continuing its extensive use of nuclear power and Italy remains¹³ committed to building its first nuclear power plant.
    Robert Bryce, author of the book  “Power Hungry” is an energy expert who advocates more use of nuclear energy. But he concedes the fear kindled¹⁴ by images of the stricken plants in Japan will set back the industry in some countries.
    “Regardless , I think, of what happens from now forward, the psychological effects, the political issues surrounding nuclear are going to be much more difficult for any country or any company that is proposing to build them, particularly in the West,” Bryce said.
    But Bryce says developing nations are likely to continue their aggressive programs to build nuclear capacity. China, which accounts for around 40 percent of the world's planned nuclear reactors¹⁶, has suspended approval of new plants because of the crisis in Japan, but once new safety measures are instituted, the projects will probably move forward.
    Bryce says interest in nuclear will continue because countries hungry for more electrical power have few other options.“For India, for China, for a lot of other developing countries nuclear is going to continue to be their most attractiveoption simply because of basic physics and math. The power densities¹⁸ that you can get with nuclear are just not available anywhere else,” Bryce said.
    Bryce also notes that the damaged reactors in Japan were built decades ago before the development of safer designs that address some of the problems the Japanese now face in containing radiation and preventing a reactor¹⁵ meltdown.
    “This is an important accident, it is going to change the industry, but a lot of the reactors that are now being designed are this new Generation Three reactors, they use passive fueling designs that should be far safer than the boiling water reactors that are 40-years-old-plus that are now causing the problems in Japan,” Bryce said.
    Some environmental groups and anti-nuclear activists¹⁹ have suggested that Japan should abandon its nuclear sector²⁰ and opt¹⁷ for “green” energy projects like wind and solar. But, as Robert Bryce has long argued, such energy alternatives are no where close to being able to replace the energy generated by a nuclear plant. Both wind and solar produce intermittent²¹ energy, depending on when the wind blows and when the sun shines, and neither of them are yet capable of producing more than a small fraction of  the energy demanded by a nation like Japan. In order to recover and get its economy back on track, Japan will have to rely on what is left of its nuclear power sector and increase its use of coal, natural gas and oil.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

2 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

3 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

4 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

5 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

6 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

9 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 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。

14 kindled   

（使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光

参考例句：

• We watched as the fire slowly kindled. 我们看着火慢慢地燃烧起来。
• The teacher's praise kindled a spark of hope inside her. 老师的赞扬激起了她内心的希望。

15 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。

16 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。

17 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

18 densities   

密集( density的名词复数 )； 稠密； 密度（固体、液体或气体单位体积的质量）； 密度（磁盘存贮数据的可用空间）

参考例句：

• The range of densities of interest is about 3.5. 有用的密度范围为3．5左右。
• Densities presumably can be probed by radar. 利用雷达也许还能探测出气体的密度。

19 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

21 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。