關注社會:福島核電站難以控制放射性水源外泄
To stem the advance of radioactive water to the sea, the operator of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has tried plugs, walls, pumps and chemicals that harden the ground into a solid barrier.
爲了阻止放射性水源流向海洋，發生事故的福島第一核電站(Fukushima Daiichi)的運營商嘗試了一系列措施，包括堵漏、修 、抽水和投放化學制劑，以加固地面，使之成爲堅固的屏障。But as Tokyo Electric Power Co. +3.26% prepares this week to start work on a new set of measures that would ring off and cap the area where the most highly contaminated water has been found, some experts and regulators are saying that the battle to completely contain radioactivity to the site of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents may be a losing one.
東京電力(Tokyo Electric Power Co.)本週準備開始實施一系列新措施來隔離一個區域，這個區域的水被發現受放射性污染最嚴重。但與此同時，一些專家和監管部門則說，旨在完全將放射物控制在事故發生地的努力可能會失敗。這次事故是全球最嚴重的核事故之一。In the most recent example of Tepco's Sisyphean struggle, the company said late last week that rising levels of contaminated groundwater may have already overtopped a sunken barrier that the utility started only a month ago, and wasn't even expecting to complete until late this week.
最近就有一個事例顯示東京電力沒完沒了的努力只是徒勞的。上週晚些時候該公司說，受放射性污染的地下水位不斷上升，可能已經越過了一個在建水下屏障，這個屏障是一個月前纔開始修建的，預計到本週晚些時候纔會完工。
Tepco's water-control measures, such as pumping out contaminated water and putting it in storage, are 'merely a temporary solution,' said Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, at a news conference last week. Eventually, 'it will be necessary to discharge water' that's still contaminated into the sea, he said.
日本原子能規制委員會(Nuclear Regulation Authority)主席田中俊一(Shunichi Tanaka)上週在一個新聞發佈會上說，東京電力採取了一系列控制放射性水的措施，比如抽出放射性水，並將其倒入儲存箱中，但這些只是暫時性措施，最終有必要將依然含有放射性物質的水排放到海洋中。'We're taking a number of measures' to counter the recent worries of contaminated-water overflow, Tepco said in an emailed statement Monday. 'We'll continue to strengthen our monitoring of the impact on sea and marine life in the waters near the plant, and work on estimating the outflow of [contaminated water] following our measures.'
東京電力週一在一份電子郵件聲明中說，我們正在採取一系列措施，應對近期對於放射性水溢出的擔憂，我們將繼續加強對福島第一核電站附近海水和海洋生物所受影響的監控，並將着手評估採取措施後放射性水的溢出情況。Controlling contaminated water has been a struggle at Fukushima Daiichi ever since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the power at the plant and sent its three active reactors spiraling out of control. Some 400 metric tons of water a day is still being used to cool the melted fuel cores─though much of that water is now recycled. More troubling is another 400 tons a day of groundwater that flows down from hills and mountains into the compound, and toward the sea.
自2011年3月份的大地震和海嘯令福島第一核電站電力中斷並導致其三個核反應堆失控以來，在該核電站控制放射性水的工作一直較爲艱難。每天仍需使用400噸左右的水來冷卻熔化的堆芯燃料，但現在這些水大部分可循環使用了。更大的問題在於每天還有400噸的地下水流下山坡，流入核電站，進而流向海洋。For the past two years, Tepco has been trying to keep the contamination contained by pumping accumulated water out of the highly radioactive reactor buildings, and storing it in tanks on the plant grounds. But the company's efforts went into overdrive a few months ago, when it found that groundwater sampled near the crippled reactors was showing spiking levels of radioactive elements. It was unclear why. What's more, Tepco said that the water was likely leaking into the sea.
過去兩年，東京電力一直嘗試通過將高放射性反應堆建築中的水抽出並儲存在覈電站地面上的水箱中來控制污染。但幾個月前，當發現受損反應堆附近地下水樣品的放射性物質水平飆升後，該公司加大了控制力度。出現這種情況的原因不詳，更重要的是東京電力說，這些放射性水可能正在滲入海洋。The continuing problems at the reactor site, including the company's lack of transparency over the radioactive leaks, have drawn criticism from Japanese regulators. On Friday, a newly created task force at Japan's nuclear regulator held its first meeting aimed at increasing the government's role in the flawed cleanup process. The panel is also pushing Tepco to improve its communication and credibility at a time of strong public opposition to nuclear power.
反應堆場區持續存在的各種問題受到了日本監管部門的批評，包括該公司對放射性物質泄漏問題的信息披露缺乏透明性。上週五，日本核監管部門新成立的一個特別工作組首次召開會議，旨在增強政府在清理過程中的作用。目前的清理工作存在種種不足。在公衆強烈反對核電之際，該工作組還將推進東京電力公司增強溝通和信譽。As an emergency measure, Tepco last month started to inject the ground near the coast with chemicals that hardened it into an underground barrier. But since then, groundwater levels in the area have risen faster, as they hit the barrier. Recently, Tepco has found that the groundwater has risen to around a meter below the surface─already above the level of the underground barrier, which starts 1.8 meters down.
作爲一項應急措施，東京電力公司上個月開始向海濱附近地區的地下注入化學物，使土壤變硬成爲一道地下屏障。但那之後，隨着該地區的地下水位觸及地下屏障，水位以更快的速度上升。最近，東京電力公司發現，地下水已經升至地面以下約一米的地方，這個高度已經在地下屏障之上了，地下屏障始於地面以下1.8米的地方。Now, Tepco is planning to pump out some of the water that's built up behind the barrier, and store it as well. It's preparing to extend the underground hardened-earth barrier in a ring around the most heavily contaminated section of coastline, in hopes of heading groundwater off before it can flood in. Tepco is also proposing to cap that ringed section with gravel and asphalt, so nothing gets out. The operator is hoping to get an initial ring of hardened ground done by October.
目前，東京電力公司正在計劃將地下屏障後面的部分積水抽出，並也儲存起來。該公司正準備將地下硬化土壤屏障擴展爲環形，將污染最嚴重的海濱地區圍起來，希望藉此避免地下水的涌入。此外，東京電力公司還提議用碎石和瀝青將這個環形區域蓋起來，以避免任何物質泄漏出來。該運營商希望在10月前使硬化土壤屏障初步成環。The company has some other more experimental ideas on the table as well. One involves surrounding the contaminated reactor buildings with a shield of frozen soil.
該公司還提出了其他一些試驗性的想法。其中一個想法是用一層凍土將受污染的反應堆建築物圍起來。But there's a risk to changing the flow of groundwater in the ways that Tepco is considering, said Tatsuya Shinkawa, nuclear accident response director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, at a news conference last month. The water could pool dangerously underground, softening the earth and potentially toppling the reactor buildings, he said. Tepco should also try things like using robots to fix cracks in the reactor buildings where the water is likely seeping through.
但日本經濟產業省(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)核事故響應負責人Tatsuya Shinkawa上個月在新聞發佈會上說，用東京電力公司正在考慮的方式改變地下水流動情況，這樣做可能有風險。他說，地下水可能在地下危險地積聚起來，導致土壤變軟，可能造成反應堆建築物倒塌。東京電力公司還應該嘗試其他做法，比如使用機器人修復反應堆建築物上的裂縫，水可能從這些裂縫滲漏出來。Freezing soil has its own problems, said Kunio Watanabe, a geology professor at Saitama University. The technology, which is used in civil engineering to dig tunnels, may be able to cut down the amount of groundwater entering the contaminated site, but it is expensive. 'You'll need hundreds of millions of yen to build a system,' Mr. Watanabe said. 'You'll also need a large amount of electricity to maintain the ice walls.''
日本琦玉大學(Saitama University)地質學教授渡邊邦夫(Kunio Watanabe)說，將土壤凍起來也有問題。這項技術常用於土木工程中的隧道挖掘，這樣做或許能夠減少進入受污染場區的地下水量，但成本很高。渡邊邦夫說，需要數億日圓修建一個系統，還需要大量電力維持冰牆不化。Mr. Tanaka, the nuclear regulatory chairman, has said that Tepco should admit it'll never be able to handle all the inflow of water, and start arranging for the release of contaminated water into the ocean, as long as it's under allowable limits for radioactivity. But local fishery cooperatives, which since June of last year have been catching octopus and other sea life that consistently test low for radiation, are still holding on to the hope that they can eventually get back to business as usual.
日本原子能規制委員會主席田中俊一說，東京電力公司應該承認它永遠無法解決全部的水流入問題，應該開始安排將受污染的水排放到海里，只要這些水的放射水平在允許範圍內。但當地漁業合作社仍抱着希望，他們希望最終捕魚作業能夠恢復正常。自去年6月以來，當地漁業合作社捕捉到的章魚和其他海產品體內不斷檢測出少量放射性物質。'We are in trouble,' said Kazunori Endo, an official of the Soma Futaba Fishery Cooperative, about the latest leaks of contaminated water into the bay. 'What if consumers start rejecting our fish?'
漁業合作社Soma Futaba Fishery Cooperative的管理人員Kazunori Endo在談到受污染的水泄漏進海灣的最新事件時說，我們遇到了麻煩。如果消費者開始不買我們的魚，該怎麼辦？
