美国国家公共电台 NPR--The last reactor at Europe's largest nuclear power plant has stopped

The last reactor¹ at Europe's largest nuclear power plant has stopped

Transcript²

Operations at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were fully³ stopped on Sunday as a safety precaution. Russia and Ukraine are accusing each other of shelling the plant.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We're also following developments of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. You may recall Russian troops occupy it and that fighting continues nearby. The plant's Ukrainian operators now say they have powered down the last working reactor. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel has been following this story. Geoff, good morning.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE⁴: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What does it mean to power down a reactor?

BRUMFIEL: Well, basically, what it means is that you put in the control rods. You stop the nuclear reactions. And you sort of switch it off so it can't produce electricity anymore and take it off the grid⁵.

INSKEEP: OK. So is it safe now?

BRUMFIEL: Not exactly. So it turns out that...

INSKEEP: (Laughter) OK.

BRUMFIEL: ...Nuclear reactors⁶ use heat to make electricity. And it's kind of like cooking with charcoal⁷. So these reactor cores stay hot even after they're turned off. You have to keep water moving through the cores to keep everything cool. And so even in this moment, although everything's switched off, there is still a need to keep water circulating through the reactors.

INSKEEP: And of course, the continued worry is there about some kind of shell landing in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, something going terribly wrong, which does raise a question. This has been going on for months. Why did the Ukrainians not shut this reactor down before now?

BRUMFIEL: Well, they actually did shut down several other reactors at the site. But of course, they had the same problem. These reactors still had warm cores, still had nuclear reactions going on, heating water in the cores. And so they needed water moving through them and they kept losing power to the site. Shelling kept knocking out power lines repeatedly throughout August and early September. So what they did was they took one of the reactors and they started something called island mode. Basically, this is a cool trick where they can use the reactor at very low power to keep the lights on at the plant and keep water moving through its core and all the other cores as well.

INSKEEP: OK. So that's why one reactor was still on. But then, why switch it off now?

BRUMFIEL: Right. Right. I mean, now it's kind of the opposite question because it seems like that's pretty essential to safety. But the problem is island mode can only work for so long. The turbines and pumps and things on these reactors are designed to operate at much higher power outputs. And they get damaged the longer island mode goes on. On top of that, you have staffing issues. They've had trouble with the staff in the nearby town of Enerhodar, where they've had power and water and sewage problems. And of course, there's ongoing⁸ shelling. So on Sunday, they got power restored to the plant from the grid. And I think they really saw an opportunity here to shut down that last reactor safely while they were connected to external electricity. They took it. And they brought that final reactor offline. So now it is in the process of cooling down like all the others.

INSKEEP: All right. What happens if the electricity goes out again? We might even say when it goes out again, given that it is a war zone.

BRUMFIEL: Yeah, exactly. I mean, this is why the IAEA continues to describe the situation at the plant as precarious⁹. These reactors need to be cooled for years, honestly, I'm hearing...

INSKEEP: Wow.

BRUMFIEL: ...From some nuclear experts. So they're going to have to rely on emergency diesel¹⁰ generators¹¹ at the site if the light goes that - if the lights go out again. Now, fortunately, the atomic agency says that there are 20 generators available. But they only have about 10 days of fuel. So if something happens over a long period, they're going to need extra fuel. And that's why the agency wants to have this permanent safe zone around the plant, to make sure that the power is secure.

INSKEEP: Geoff, thanks for the update.

BRUMFIEL: Thank you, Steve.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Geoff Brumfiel.

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 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。

3 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。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 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。

6 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。

7 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

8 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

9 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

10 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

11 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》