2021年经济学人 比尔盖茨携手巴菲特共建新一代核电站(1)

Nuclear power

核能

Atoms for greenery

绿色原子

Bill Gates's latest venture is a new-style nuclear reactor¹

比尔·盖茨的最新投资是一种新型核反应堆

Since handing over the reins² as Microsoft's chief executive in 2000, Bill Gates has been best-known for his philanthropy.

自从2000年作为微软首席执行官移交权力以来，比尔·盖茨一直以他的慈善事业而闻名。

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest charities, has given billions of dollars to vaccination³ drives, family-planning clinics, research into drug treatments for malaria⁴ and more.

世界上最大的慈善机构之一比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会已经向疫苗接种运动、计划生育诊所、疟疾药物治疗研究等领域捐赠了数十亿美元。

But Mr Gates has not abandoned the business world entirely⁵.

但是盖茨先生并没有完全放弃商业世界。

On June 2nd TerraPower, a company he founded in 2008, announced that it would build a demonstration⁶ of an exotic, high-tech⁷ nuclear power station in Wyoming.

6月2日，他于2008年创立的泰拉能源公司宣布将在怀俄明州建造一座具有异国风格的高科技核电站。

The firm's Natrium reactor is one of a gaggle of new designs that have emerged in recent years,

该公司的钠反应堆是近年来涌现的众多新设计之一，

as engineers try to come up with cheaper, simpler nuclear power plants that can provide low carbon electricity with fewer of the cost and safety worries that have plagued the industry in the past.

工程师们想要设计出更便宜、更简单的核电站，以更低的成本和更少的安全担忧提供低碳电力，过去这些问题一直困扰着核电行业。

The Natrium reactor makes two big changes to the standard nuclear-power-plant design.

钠反应堆对标准核电站的设计做出了两项重大改变。

It replaces the liquid water that normally courses through the core with hot, liquid sodium⁸ (natrium, in Latin).

它用炙热的液态钠(拉丁文是：natrium)取代了通常流经核心的液态水。

And instead of using the heat generated by the reactor to make electricity directly, it first employs it to heat a tank of molten salt that acts as a giant battery.

它并没有直接利用反应堆产生的热量发电，而是首先用它加热一个装有熔盐的水箱，这个水箱就像一个巨大的电池。

The upshot, the firm hopes, will be a cheaper reactor that is better suited to power grids⁹ that will increasingly be dominated by intermittent¹⁰ sources of energy such as wind turbines and solar panels.

该公司希望，其结果将是一种更便宜的反应堆，更适合电网，而电网将越来越多地由断断续续的能源(如风力涡轮机和太阳能电池板)主导。

Start with the reactor itself. Most nuclear power plants are light-water reactors¹¹ (LWRS), a technology developed in America in the 1950s.

从反应堆本身开始。大多数核电站都是轻水反应堆(LWRS)，即20世纪50年代在美国发展起来的一种技术。

They use ordinary water both to cool the reactor core and to increase the intensity¹² of the chain-reaction by moderating the speed of the neutrons¹³ that are emitted when uranium atoms split.

他们使用普通的水来冷却反应堆核心，并通过减慢铀原子分裂时释放的中子的速度来增加链式反应的强度。

Thus slowed, these neutrons are more likely to go on to split more atoms in turn.

这样，这些中子就更有可能依次分裂更多的原子。

1 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。

2 reins   

感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带

参考例句：

• She pulled gently on the reins. 她轻轻地拉着缰绳。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods. 政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。

3 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

4 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

5 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。

6 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

7 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

8 sodium   

n.（化）钠

参考例句：

• Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面，全城的钠光灯都亮了。
• Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。

9 grids   

n.格子( grid的名词复数 )；地图上的坐标方格；（输电线路、天然气管道等的）系统网络；（汽车比赛）赛车起跑线

参考例句：

• Typical framed structures are beams, grids, plane and space frames or trusses. 典型构架结构为梁、格栅、平面的和空间的框架或桁架。 来自辞典例句
• The machines deliver trimmed grids for use or stock. 这种机器铸出修整过的板栅，以供使用或储存。 来自辞典例句

10 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。

11 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。

12 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

13 neutrons   

n.中子( neutron的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The neutrons and protons form the core of the atom. 中子和质子构成了原子核。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• When an atom of U235 is split,several neutrons are set free. 一个铀235原子分裂时，释放出几个中子。 来自《简明英汉词典》