美国国家公共电台 NPR--Examining the security of the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant in Ukraine

Examining the security of the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant in Ukraine

Transcript¹

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Mariana Budjeryn of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center about concerns Russian forces are launching attacks from the plant knowing Ukrainians won't risk returning fire.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Russia has occupied Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, since shortly after the invasion began. Now Western intelligence officials say Russian forces are launching attacks on Ukrainian forces from the facility, knowing that the Ukrainians wouldn't risk returning fire. To learn more about what's at risk, we've called on Ukrainian nuclear scientist Mariana Budjeryn at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.

Good morning, Mariana. Thank you for being back on the program.

MARIANA BUDJERYN: Good morning. It's nice to be with you.

FADEL: So we spoke² at the very beginning of this invasion about concerns about the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia plant. But today, hearing these reports that Russian forces are launching attacks from the plant, how concerned are you now about the safety and security?

BUDJERYN: Well, in a word, I'm extremely concerned, and so are my colleagues who are watching these events develop. It is rather clear that the Russian invading force is using this facility as part of its military strategy, sort of as a military base. As you mentioned, there's armor and heavy equipment and ground fire that has been deployed³ to the station. There were reports of shelling that has originated at that station and is targeted at the nearby town of Nikopol, which is under Ukrainian control. And those, of course - cheap shots, right? You can't turn around and take out...

FADEL: And shoot back.

BUDJERYN: ...That - and shoot back. So that, of course, disadvantages Ukrainian forces to - a great deal. And this is sort of this nuclear fortress⁴, as it were, that Russians have built up. And all of that is on actively⁵ operating nuclear power plant. There are cruise missiles flying low. There's explosions at the station. We really do not have access to very good quality information, and we cannot corroborate⁶ some of these reports. So we have to compute⁷ the possible motivations for any one of the sides to shell the Zaporizhzhia station. But it certainly looks like Russians have a lot more motivation or incentive⁸ to cause some kind of trouble there than Ukrainians do.

FADEL: Now, you've talked about how there's concerns, so you don't shoot back. But there's munitions⁹ coming from inside the plant. I mean, what's the risk of a disaster here? How far could the fallout spread, and what would a radioactive cloud do to the region?

BUDJERYN: Well, the most - some of the most vulnerable systems there are the power lines that lead to the station. So, of course, nuclear power station produces electricity, but its safe operation very much relies on the stable supply of offsite electricity. And in the recent days, we have heard that three out of four high-voltage power lines have been damaged. So the power station now operates on this one voltage line. And what happens - basically that this electricity feeds some of the very crucial cooling systems that keep a nuclear reactor¹⁰ operating at a certain temperature, as it were. It pumps water in and takes heated water out of the reactor in order to make sure that the core operates within these safe limits. This is also true for the spent-fuel pools.

So some of this fuel that's taken out of the reactor - it needs to cool for several years, actually, in these pools outside of the reactor. And that fuel is still very active and still very hot and also relies very much on the cooling system. If the supply of electricity and the supply of water - if these pumps are no longer operating, then the water basically evaporates. The fuel heats up. It can catch on fire in spent-fuel pools. If you have fire, you have smoke. That stuff goes into the atmosphere and then gets carried by the prevailing¹² winds in whichever direction.

There are, of course, backup safety systems at every nuclear power plant. There are diesel-powered generators¹³. But those are not designed to run the station for a long time. There's a limited supply of fuel. And, of course, you know, the supply lines to this power stations - to Zaporizhzhia - are entirely¹⁴ under Russian control. So we really can't rely on this military administration, these people who do not know - who know very little how to safely operate nuclear power plants and what can go wrong, to provide this kind of backup.

FADEL: So if these safety mechanisms¹⁵ fail, if there is a disaster, this could be a Chernobyl or a Fukushima situation in Ukraine.

BUDJERYN: Indeed. And even more so - what we've learned, especially with Fukushima, is the value of timely response to any kind of nuclear accident and how that - the mitigation of consequences can actually ease - you know, ease the suffering and the damage...

FADEL: Right.

BUDJERYN: ...That is done by a nuclear accident on that scale. And here, there really isn't a guarantee. In fact, we can safely assume that there won't be a reliable way to bring relief supplies, to bring mitigation workers, to supply the necessary parts, to evacuate¹⁶ people...

FADEL: Right.

BUDJERYN: ...Because, again, this facility is trapped inside an active war zone.

FADEL: An unprecedented¹⁷ situation - the head of Ukraine's state nuclear power firm told Reuters that he believes the Russians want to sever¹¹ the plant from the Ukrainian power grid¹⁸. If that happens, what then?

BUDJERYN: Well, it might be that the recent developments - the recent shelling and the damage to power lines - in some way, a part of this Russian plan to switch Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Russian grid, basically to steal. This is how you steal a power plant. And what you mentioned - the president of Ukraine's nuclear operator, Petro Kotin - he indeed described this plan in some detail yesterday. Again, we have no way to corroborate whether - you know, how reliable is this information and this plan. But apparently¹⁹ the plan is to switch off - to disconnect the power plant from the Ukrainian grid.

FADEL: Mariana Budjeryn from the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENEMIES' "WE'VE BEEN TALKING")

1 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。

2 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。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

5 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。

6 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

7 compute   

v./n.计算，估计

参考例句：

• I compute my losses at 500 dollars.我估计我的损失有五百元。
• The losses caused by the floods were beyond compute.洪水造成的损失难以估量。

8 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

9 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

10 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。

11 sever   

v.切开，割开；断绝，中断

参考例句：

• She wanted to sever all her connections with the firm.她想断绝和那家公司的所有联系。
• We must never sever the cultural vein of our nation.我们不能割断民族的文化血脉。

12 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

13 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》

14 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。

15 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

17 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

18 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

19 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。