新奇事件簿 日本开始取出福岛核燃料棒（在线收听）

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has started removing fuel rods from Japan's stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Tepco is the company that operates the nuclear power plant. It was badly damaged and suffered meltdowns following being hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Tepco started the removal of the nuclear fuel on Monday, five years behind schedule. The work to remove and relocate the hazardous rods was delayed because of a whole series of malfunctions of the devices that had been designed for the removal operation. Another factor that caused delays was high levels of radiation observed in the area. Tepco said this posed a "significant challenge" for engineers.

东京电力公司（Tepco）已经开始转移日本福岛第一核电站的燃料棒。Tepco是一家运营核电站的公司。2011年受大地震和海啸重击后，该公司严重受创，股价大跌。预定计划制定五年后，Tepco于周一开始转移核燃料。取出并转移核料工作延期的原因是由于拆卸操作设备出现了一系列的故障。引起延期的另一个因素是观测到该地区辐射水平很高。Tepco表示这给工程师造成了一个“巨大的挑战”。

Tepco said it is removing seven unspent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor's pool. There are a total of 1,573 spent and unspent fuel rods stored at the power plant. The rods will be transferred to safer storage pools at the plant. Tepco said the work would be completed by the end of March 2021. A company spokesman, Tomohiko Isogai, said: "I believe everything is going well so far. We will watch the progress at the site as we put safety first. Our goal is not to rush the process but to carefully proceed with the decommissioning work." Another spokesman said: "Safety is our priority. We will carefully continue this work." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would do its best to rebuild the area.

Tepco表示其正在从反应堆中取出7根未使用过的核燃料棒。核电站中共有1573根使用和未使用过的燃料棒。燃料棒将被转移至核电站内一个更加安全的储存池。Tepco称该工作将于2021年3月完成。公司发言人Tomohiko Isogai表示：“我认为到目前为止一切都很顺利。我们将把安全放在第一位，关注现场工作进展。欲速则不达，我们的目标是仔细推进拆除工作。”另一名发言人表示：“安全是我们的首要任务。我们将仔细进行该工作。”首相安倍晋三称日本将尽一切努力重建该区域。