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MichaelShellenberger_2016T-_恐核如何对环境造成伤害_
Have you heard the news? 你听说了吗？
We're in a clean energy revolution . 我们处于洁净能源革命之中。
revolution:n.革命;旋转;运行;循环;
And where I live in Berkeley, California, it seems like every day I see a new roof with new solar panels going up, electric car in the driveway . 在我居住的加州柏克莱, 我几乎每一天都能看到新铺上太阳能板的屋顶, 电动车在路上奔驰。
panels:n.面板(panel的复数); v.嵌镶(panel的第三人称单数形式); electric:n.供电;adj.电的;用电的;电动的;发电的; driveway:n.(从建筑物,住房,车库等通往大路的)私人车道;
Germany sometimes gets half its power from solar, and India is now committed to building 10 times more solar than we have in California, by the year 2022. 德国有时能有一半能源来自太阳能, 印度现正筹备建设的太阳能发电装置数量, 比加州在2022年将建成的 还要多10倍。
committed:adj.坚信的; v.做出错事; (commit的过去分词和过去式)
Even nuclear seems to be making a comeback . 甚至核能似乎都卷土重来了。
nuclear:adj.原子能的;[细胞]细胞核的;中心的;原子核的; comeback:n.恢复;复原;
Bill Gates is in China working with engineers, there's 40 different companies that are working together to try to race to build the first reactor that runs on waste, that can't melt down and is cheaper than coal. 比尔·盖茨在中国与工程师们合作, 40家公司一起合作 试图争先建造第一个依靠核废料运行的反应堆, 它的炉心不会熔化, 而且比煤更便宜。
reactor:n.[化工]反应器;[核]反应堆;起反应的人; melt:v.融化;(使)软化;
And so you might start to ask: 所以,你可能会想问:
Is this whole global warming problem going to be a lot easier to solve than anybody imagined? 那么全球暖化问题 真的比任何人想像中都要容易解决吗？
global warming:n.全球(气候)变暖;地球大气层变暖;
That was the question we wanted to know, so my colleagues and I decided to take a deep dive into the data. 这是我们想知道的问题, 所以我和同事决定深入研究数据。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数); dive:n.潜水;跳水;俯冲;猛冲;v.猛冲;(头朝下)跳入水中;[体]跳水(运动);
We were a little skeptical of some parts of the clean energy revolution story, but what we found really surprised us. 我们对洁净能源革命的故事 其中有某些地方有点疑问。 但是研究的结果却让我们感到惊讶。
skeptical:adj.怀疑的;怀疑论的,不可知论的;
The first thing is that clean energy has been increasing. 第一件事就是洁净能源的使用一直在增加。
This is electricity from clean energy sources over the last 20 years. 这是洁净能源过去的20年发电量
electricity:n.电力;电流;强烈的紧张情绪; sources:n.来源;出处;起源;根源;原因;v.(从…)获得(source的第三人称单数和复数)
But when you look at the percentage of global electricity from clean energy sources, 但是,当你看全球电力的百分比 来自洁净能源的部分,
percentage:n.百分比;百分率;利润的分成;提成;
And if you care about climate change, you've got to go in the opposite direction to 100 percent of our electricity from clean energy sources, as quickly as possible. 如果你在乎气候变化, 你会觉得我们需要逆转这个趋势, 我们需要尽快把清洁能源所占的 发电比例提升到100%
Now, you might wonder, "Come on, how much could five percentage points of global electricity be?" 现在,你可能会问, “嘿！全球电力的5%能有多少嘛？“
Well, it turns out to be quite a bit. 事实上,这并不少。
It's the equivalent of 60 nuclear plants the size of Diablo Canyon , California's last nuclear plant, or 900 solar farms the size of Topaz , which is one of the biggest solar farms in the world, and certainly our biggest in California. 而是相当于60座,加州最后的发电厂 代阿布洛峡谷核电厂的发电量, 或900座加州托帕石太阳能电厂的发电量, 这可是世界上最大的太阳能电厂。 当然也是加州最大的。
equivalent:adj.等价的,相等的;同意义的;n.等价物,相等物; Diablo:n.暗黑破坏神(游戏名); Canyon:n.(周围有悬崖峭壁的)峡谷;( Topaz:n.[宝]黄晶,黄玉;[鸟]南美蜂鸟;
A big part of this is simply that fossil fuels are increasing faster than clean energy. 图中大部分的区域显示, 化石燃料持续增加,比洁净能源还快。
fossil:n.化石;老人;老古董;adj.从地下发掘出来的;化石的;属于旧时代的;陈腐的;
And that's understandable . 这是可以理解的,
understandable:adj.可以理解的;可以了解的;
There's just a lot of poor countries that are still using wood and dung and charcoal as their main source of energy, and they need modern fuels. 还有很多贫穷国家 仍在使用木材、粪便和木炭 作为主要的能源要来源, 他们需要现代燃料。
dung:vt.施粪肥于;n.粪; charcoal:n.木炭; vt.用木炭画(过去式charcoaled,过去分词charcoaled,现在分词charcoaling,第三人称单数charcoals);
But there's something else going on, which is that one of those clean energy sources in particular has actually been on the decline in absolute terms, not just relatively . 但还有别的事情, 那就是,有一项洁净能源的数据 从绝对数值来看,其实一直在下降, 不只是相对数值,
in particular:尤其,特别; decline:v.下降;衰退;减少;谢绝;n.下降; relatively:adv.相当程度上;相当地;相对地;
And that's nuclear. 这就是核能。
You can see its generation has declined seven percent over the last 10 years. 你可以看到核电发电量在过去的10年 下降了百分之七。
declined:v.减少;下降;衰弱;婉言拒绝;(decline的过去分词和过去式)
Now, solar and wind have been making huge strides , so you hear a lot of talk about how it doesn't really matter, because solar and wind is going to make up the difference. 现在,太阳能和风能已经有了巨大的进步, 所以你听到了很多演讲,说核能其实并不重要, 因为太阳能和风能足以弥补差额。
strides:n.大步;步幅(stride的复数形式);v.跨过;迈步(stride的第三人称单数形式);
But the data says something different. 但数据显示并非如此。
When you combine all the electricity from solar and wind, you see it actually barely makes up half of the decline from nuclear. 当你把所有太阳和风能相加, 你看它实际上只能勉强弥补核能下降值的一半。
barely:adv.仅仅,勉强;几乎不;公开地;贫乏地;
Let's take a closer look in the United States. 让我们来檢视美国的数据。
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
Over the last couple of years -- really 2013, 2014 -- we prematurely retired four nuclear power plants. 在过去的几年: 2013--2014年, 我们提早除役了四座核电厂。
prematurely:adv.过早地;早熟地; nuclear power:na.核大国;
They were almost entirely replaced with fossil fuels, and so the consequence was that we wiped out almost as much clean energy electricity that we get from solar. 几乎完全以化石燃料发电取代, 等同我们减少了 与太阳能发电量相同的电能
consequence:n.结果;重要性;推论;
And it's not unique to us. 这不是特例
unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物;
People think of California as a clean energy and climate leader, but when we looked at the data, what we found is that, in fact, 人们认为加州是洁净能源和对抗气候变迁的领导者, 但是,当我们看了一下数据, 我们发现的是:事实上,
California reduced emissions more slowly than the national average, between 2000 and 2015. 在2000和2015年之间, 加州减少碳排放量速度低于全国平均水准。
emissions:n.(光、热、气等的)发出,排放;排放物;散发物;(emission的复数)
What about Germany? 至于德国呢？
They're doing a lot of clean energy. 他们有很多洁净能源。
But when you look at the data, 但是,当你看一下数据,
German emissions have actually been going up since 2009, and there's really not anybody who's going to tell you that they're going to meet their climate commitments in 2020. 德国的排放量居然自2009年以来一直往上走, 有真的没有任何人能告诉你 他们要怎么达成2020年的减碳承诺。
commitments:n.承诺,保证;委托;承担义务;献身;(commitment的复数)
The reason isn't hard to understand. 究其原因不难理解。
Solar and wind provide power about 10 to 20 percent of the time, which means that when the sun's not shining,the wind's not blowing, you still need power for your hospitals,your homes, your cities, your factories. 太阳能和风能可提供电能时间约占一天中10％到20％, 这意味着当没阳光照耀、风不吹拂, 但医院、城市及工厂仍需要电力
And while batteries have made some really cool improvements lately, the truth is, they're just never going to be as efficient as the electrical grid . 电池在最近已经取得不小进步 事实是,电池永远不会像电网一样有效率。
batteries:n.电池;炮组;炮列;[法]殴打;(batteries是battery的复数) improvements:n.改善;改进;改善的事物;(improvement的复数) efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的; electrical:adj.有关电的;电气科学的; grid:n.网格;格子,栅格;输电网;
Every time you put electricity into a battery and take it out, you lose about 20 to 40 percent of the power. 每回你将电能以电池储存后,再次将它拿出来, 就会损失约20%至40%电能。
battery:n.[电]电池,蓄电池;n.[法]殴打;n.[军]炮台,炮位;
That's why when, in California, we try to deal with all the solar we've brought online -- we now get about 10 percent of electricity from solar -- when the sun goes down, and people come home from work 这就是为什么在加州 我们试图将太阳能与电网相连 我们现在约10％电力取自太阳能发电。 当太阳下山、人们下班回家,
and turn on their air conditioners and their TV sets, and every other appliance in the house, we need a lot of natural gas backup . 打开他们的空调、电视机, 及屋里其他电器, 我们需要大量的天然气备载电力。
conditioners:[自]调节器;调料槽;调节剂(conditioner的复数); appliance:n.器具;器械;装置; natural gas:n.天然气; backup:n.后援;增援;(文件等的)备份;adj.后补的;支持性的;伴奏的;
So what we've been doing is stuffing a lot of natural gas into the side of a mountain. 因此,我们一直将 大量天然气储存于一座山中。
stuffing:n.填料;填充物;v.填满;装满;塞满;灌满;把…塞进;(stuff的现在分词)
And that worked pretty well for a while , but then late last year, it sprung a leak . 这工作已持续好一阵子了, 但去年年底,它如雨后春笋般涌现泄漏。
for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时; leak:n.泄漏;渗漏;漏洞;裂缝;v.漏水;透露;使泄漏;传开;
This is Aliso Canyon. 这是加州阿利索峡谷。
Aliso:阿里索桤木;
So much methane gas was released , it was the equivalent of putting half a million cars on the road. 这么多的甲烷(天然气)外泄, 它是把相当于五千辆汽车在道路行驶。
methane:n.[有化]甲烷;[能源]沼气; released:v.释放;使免除;已发布;(release的过去分词和过去式)
It basically blew through all of our climate commitments for the year. 它基本上已超出我们全年的碳排放量承诺。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
Well, what about India? 那么,看看印度的情形？
Sometimes you have to go places to really get the right data, so we traveled to India a few months ago. 有时你要得到正确的数据,还不得不亲自跑一趟。 因此,我们在几个月前到访印度。
We met with all the top officials -- solar, nuclear, the rest -- and what they told us is, "We're actually having more serious problems than both Germany and California. 我们会见了所有的高级官员 --管太阳能、核能及其他种种 ….. 他们告诉我们: “我们实际上还有比德国和加州 更严重的问题。
We don't have backup; we don't have all the natural gas. 我们没有备载,没有足量的天然气。
And that's just the start of it. 而这只是开端,
Say we want to get to 100 gigawatts by 2022. 假设我们预计到2022年达到100万千瓦。
gigawatts:n.千兆瓦;十亿瓦特;
But last year we did just five, and the year before that, we did five." 但去年我们只建了5万千瓦, 而在这之前一年,我们建了5万千瓦。“
So, let's just take a closer look at nuclear. 所以,让我们仔细审视核能。
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has looked at the carbon content of all these different fuels, and nuclear comes out really low -- it's actually lower even than solar. 联合国政府间气候变迁专门委员会 一直关注所有不同燃料的排碳量, 核能真的很低 –实际上甚至低于太阳能。
United Nations:n.联合国; Intergovernmental:adj.政府间的; carbon:n.[化学]碳;碳棒;复写纸;adj.碳的;碳处理的; content:n.内容,目录;满足;容量;adj.满意的;vt.使满足;
And nuclear obviously provides a lot of power -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 而且明显能提供了大量的电能 - 每天24小时,每周七天。
During a year, a single plant can provide power 92 percent of the time. 一座核电厂一年中有92％的时间可以提供电力。
What's interesting is that when you look at countries that have deployed different kinds of clean energies, there's only a few that have done so at a pace consistent with dealing with the climate crisis . 有趣的是,当你看那些 已经发展各式洁净能源的国家, 只有几个在处理环境危机上 采取与治理环境一致的步伐。
deployed:v.部署(deploy的过去式);展开; consistent:adj.始终如一的,一致的;坚持的; crisis:n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻;adj.危机的;用于处理危机的;
So nuclear seems like a pretty good option , but there's this big problem with it, which all of you, I'm sure, are aware of, which is that people really don't like it. 因此,核能似乎是相当不错的选择, 但是核能有个大问题, 我敢肯定你们都知道的, 就是人们真的不喜欢它。
option:n.选择;可选择的东西;
There was a study, a survey done of people around the world, not just in the United States or Europe, about a year and a half ago. 大约一年半前有一项研究,针对世界各地的人们, 不只是在美国或欧洲, 所进行的调查。
survey:n.调查;测量;审视;纵览;vt.调查;勘测;俯瞰;vi.测量土地;
And what they found is that nuclear is actually one of the least popular forms of energy. 他们发现 核能是最不受欢迎的能源形式。
Even oil is more popular than nuclear. 甚至石油都比核能更受欢迎。
And while nuclear kind of edges out coal, the thing is, people don't really fear coal in the same way they fear nuclear, which really operates on our unconscious . 虽然核能替代了煤,但实情是, 人并不像惧怕核能那样害怕煤, 这确实在存在我们的潜意识中。
unconscious:adj.无意识的;失去知觉的;未发觉的;
So what is it that we fear? 那么,是什么让我们恐惧？
There's really three things. 有三件确定的事:
There's the safety of the plants themselves -- the fears that they're going to melt down and cause damage; there's the waste from them; and there's the association with weapons. 核电厂本身的安全 - 害怕炉心熔化,造成损坏。 其次是核电厂的核废料。 最后还有与核武器的关联。
association:n.协会;关联;联想;交往;
And I think, understandably , engineers look at those concerns and look for technological fixes. 我认为,这是可以理解的, 工程师们专注于这些疑虑,并在技术上加以修正。
understandably:adv.可理解地; concerns:n.关注; v.使关心(concern的三单形式); technological:adj.技术[工程](上)的;因工艺技术高度发展而引起的;
That's why Bill Gates is in China developing advanced reactors . 这就是为什么比尔·盖茨在中国开发先进的反应器。
advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式) reactors:n.[化工]反应器(reactor的复数);反应者;
That's why 40 different entrepreneurs are working on this problem. 这就是为什么40个不同的企業家正在研究这个问题。
entrepreneurs:n.企业家;(entrepreneur的复数)
And I, myself, have been very excited about it. 而我自己,一直对此非常兴奋。
We did a report: "How to Make Nuclear Cheap." 我们完成一份报告:“如何使核能变便宜。”
In particular, the thorium reactor shows a lot of promise. 特别是,釷反应器使很多事变得可行。
thorium:n.[化学]钍(放射性金属元素,元素符号Th,原子序数为90);
So when the climate scientist, James Hansen, asked if I wanted to go to China with him and look at the Chinese advanced nuclear program, 所以当气候科学家詹姆斯·汉森 询问我是否愿意到与他到中国去, 并瞧瞧中国的先进核能计划,
I jumped at the chance. 我立刻跃跃欲试。
We were there with MIT and UC Berkeley engineers. 我们与MIT和加州大学柏克莱分校的工程师到那裏。
And I had in my mind that the Chinese would be able to do with nuclear what they did with so many other things -- start to crank out small nuclear reactors on assembly lines, ship them up like iPhones or MacBooks and send them around the world. 我脑中相信 中国将能够将核能做起来。 就像他们已经完成的其他许多事情 -- 开始在生产线上制出小型核反应器, 把它们装船像iPhone或MacBook笔电般运到世界各地。
crank:n.曲柄;奇想;adj.易怒的;vt.装曲柄; assembly:n.装配;集会,集合;
I would get one at home in Berkeley. 我在柏克莱的家中也能弄到一个。
But what I found was somewhat different. 但我发现有些不同。
somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微;
The presentations were all very exciting and very promising; they have multiple reactors that they're working on. 这些介绍都非常令人兴奋且觉得前途似锦。 他们拥有多个反应器且正在运行,
presentations:n.展示;自我介绍;业务陈述(presentation的复数形式); multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数;
The time came for the thorium reactor, and a bunch of us were excited. 介绍釷反应器时,我们一幫人都很兴奋。
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆;
They went through the whole presentation, they got to the timeline , and they said, "We're going to have a thorium molten salt reactor ready for sale to the world by 2040." 他们介绍完了,谈到计画时程时, 他们说: “我们不得不将釷熔盐反应器 上市的时间订于 2040年。"
timeline:n.时间轴,时间线;大事年表; molten:adj.熔化的;铸造的;炽热的;v.换毛;脱毛(molt的过去分词);
And I was like, "What?" 我当时就像这样--“啥？”
(Laughter) （笑声）
I looked at my colleagues and I was like, "Excuse me -- can you guys speed that up a little bit? 我看了看我的同事,然后就像这样, “对不起 - “ 你们可以稍微加速一点吗？
Because we're in a little bit of a climate crisis right now. 因为我们现在有一点气候危机,
a little bit of a:一点点了;
And your cities are really polluted, by the way ." 而同时你们的城市污染真的是严重。
by the way:顺便说一下;
And they responded back, they were like, "I'm not sure what you've heard about our thorium program, but we don't have a third of our budget , and your department of energy hasn't been particularly forthcoming with all that data you guys have on testing reactors." 他们回应道,他们也想, “我不知道你听说过我们的什么釷计划, 但我们连三分之一的预算都没有, 你们能源部好像也不是很主动 公开你们测试的反应器数据。“
responded:v.回答,回应;作出反应;响应;反应灵敏;(respond的过去式和过去分词) budget:n.预算,预算费;v.安排,预定;把…编入预算;adj.廉价的; particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地; forthcoming:adj.即将到来的;即将发生(或出版等)的;现成;n.来临;
And I said, "Well, I've got an idea. 我说:“嗯,我有一个想法。
You know how you've got 10 years where you're demonstrating that reactor? 你知道10年你们在哪里展示这反应器？
demonstrating:n.演示;v.证明;示威;显示;(demonstrate的现在分词)
Let's just skip that part, and let's just go right to commercializing it. 让我们跳过这一部分, 直接商業化。
commercializing:商业化;商业化的;
That will save money and time." 这将节省时间和金钱。“
And the engineer just looked at me and said, "Let me ask you a question: 工程师看着我,说: “让我问你一个问题:
Would you buy a car that had never been demonstrated before?" 你会买一辆从来没有展示过的汽车吗？“
demonstrated:v.证明;证实;论证;说明;表达;(demonstrate的过去分词和过去式)
So what about the other reactors? 那么,关于其他的反应器呢？
There's a reactor that's coming online now, they're starting to sell it. 也就说即将上线的反应器,现在他们已经开始出售了。
It's a high-temperature gas reactor. 这是一个高温气体反应器。
high-temperature:高温;
It can't melt down. 它不会熔毁。
But it's really big and bulky , that's part of the safety, and nobody thinks it's going to ever get cheaper than the reactors that we have. 但它确实又大又笨重,这是安全的一部分, 没有人认为会有 比我们更便宜的反应器。
bulky:adj.体积大的;庞大的;笨重的;
The ones that use waste as fuel are really cool ideas, but the truth is, we don't actually know how to do that yet. 使用核废料作为燃料真的是很酷的想法,但事实是: 我们实际上并不知道该怎么做。
There's some risk that you'll actually make more waste, and most people think that if you're including that waste part of the process , it's just going to make the whole machine a lot more expensive, it's just adding another complicated step. 你要冒着实际上制造更多的核废料的风险, 大多数人认为如果你把 处理废料的部份加上去, 整个机器将更加而昂贵不少, 它只是增加另一个复杂的步骤。
process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的; complicated:adj.复杂的;难懂的;v.使复杂化;(complicate的过去分词和过去式)
The truth is, there's real questions about how much of that we're going to do. 事实是, 有多少真正的问题是我们要处理的。
I mean, we went to India and asked about the nuclear program. 我的意思是,我们去了印度,并要求看核能计划。
The government said before the Paris climate talks that they were going to do something like 30 new nuclear plants. 政府表示,巴黎的气候谈判之前 他们打算做些什么,例如盖30座新的核电厂。
But when we got there and interviewed people and even looked at the internal documents, they're now saying they're going to do about five. 但是,当我们到了那里并采访相关人士 甚至看了看内部文件, 他们现在说大约要盖5座。
interviewed:v.对(某人)进行面试(或面谈); (媒体)采访(interview的过去分词和过去式) internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的;
And in most of the world, especially the rich world, they're not talking about building new reactors. 而在世界上大多数国家,尤其是有钱人的世界, 他们不要建立新的核反应器。
especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分;
We're actually talking about taking reactors down before their lifetimes are over. 我们实际上是在谈论 关于在使用期限前将其除役。
Germany's actually pressuring its neighbors to do that. 德国实际上施压他的邻居这样做。
I mentioned the United States -- we could lose half of our reactors over the next 15 years, which would wipe out 40 percent of the emissions reductions we're supposed to get under the Clean Power Plan. 我提到美国 - 在接下来的15年里,我们可能会关掉一半的反应器。 这将使碳排放减少40％。 前提是得全由洁净能源取代才行。
wipe:v.擦;抹;拭;消除;n.擦;拭;揩;(湿)抹布; reductions:n.减少;缩小;降低;减价;折扣;缩图;(reduction的复数) supposed:adj.误信的;所谓的;v.认为;假设;设想;(suppose的过去分词和过去式)
Of course, in Japan, they took all their nuclear plants offline , replaced them with coal, natural gas, oil burning, and they're only expected to bring online about a third to two-thirds . 当然,在日本,他们将所有的核电厂下线, 用煤、天然气及石油取而代之, 而他们只预期将约三分之一到三分之二的反应器再上线。
offline:n.脱机;挂线;adj.脱机的;离线的,未连线的;adv.未连线地; two-thirds:n.三分之二;三分之二的;三分之二地;
So when we went through the numbers, and just added that up -- how much nuclear do we see China and India bringing online over the next 15 years, how much do we see at risk of being taken offline -- this was the most startling finding. 所以,当我们核算一下数字, 给它们算了算 - 接下来的15年里, 中国和印度将有多少核电厂上线, 有多少是有被下线的风险 。 这是最令人吃惊的发现。
startling:adj.惊人的;让人震惊的;极鲜亮的;v.使惊吓;使吓一跳;(startle的现在分词)
What we found is that the world is actually at risk of losing four times more clean energy than we lost over the last 10 years. 我们发现的是,世界其实是有风险可能失去 4倍于过去10年减少量的洁净能源。
In other words: we're not in a clean energy revolution; we're in a clean energy crisis. 换句话说:我们不处于洁净能源革命, 而是在洁净能源危机中。
So it's understandable that engineers would look for a technical fix to the fears that people have of nuclear. 所以工程师将寻求技术性修正 人们对核能的疑虑是可以理解的。
technical:adj.工艺的,科技的;技术上的;专门的;
But when you consider that these are big challenges to do, that they're going to take a long time to solve, there's this other issue , which is: 但是,当你考虑这些都是巨大的挑战, 他们要花费很长的时间来解决, 还有这另一个问题,这就是:
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行;
Are those technical fixes really going to solve people's fears? 那些技术性修正真的能解决人们的恐慌、
Let's take safety. 使我们感到安全吗？
You know, despite what people think, it's hard to figure out how to make nuclear power much safer. 要知道,尽管人们这样想, 还是很难弄清楚如何才能使核电更加安全。
despite:prep.尽管,不管;n.轻视;憎恨;侮辱;
I mean, every medical journal that looks at it -- this is the most recent study from the British journal, "Lancet," 我的意思是,每本探讨这个问题的医学期刊- 这是英国医学期刊“柳叶刀”最近的研究。
journal:n.杂志;日记;日志;(用于报纸名)…报;
one of the most respected journals in the world -- nuclear is the safest way to make reliable power. 世上最受尊敬的期刊之一 - 核能是最安全可靠的能源。
journals:n.学术期刊(journal的复数);日记;日记账; reliable:adj.可信赖的;可依靠的;真实可信的;可靠的;
Everybody's scared of the accidents. 发生事故时,每个人都吓坏了。
So you go look at the accident data -- 所以,你去看看事故的数据 -
Fukushima, Chernobyl -- the World Health Organization finds the same thing: the vast majority of harm is caused by people panicking , and they're panicking because they're afraid. 福岛、车诺比尔 - 世界卫生组织发现同样的事情: 绝大多数的危害是人们恐慌造成的, 他们恐慌,因为他们害怕。
Chernobyl:n.切尔诺贝利(乌克兰的一座城市); Organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体; majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人: panicking:v.(使)惊慌,惊慌失措;(panic的现在分词)
In other words, the harm that's caused isn't actually caused by the machines or the radiation . 换一种说法, 造成损害的不是实际的机器 或辐射。
radiation:n.辐射;放射线;放射疗法;
It's caused by our fears. 它是恐惧。
And what about the waste? 那核废料呢？
Everyone worries about the waste. 每个人都担心核废料。
Well, the interesting thing about the waste is how little of it there is. 好了,关于核废料有趣的是: 它有多么小。
This is just from one plant. 这是从一个核电厂运出来的废料。
If you take all the nuclear waste we've ever made in the United States, put it on a football field, stacked it up, it would only reach 20 feet high. 如果你把所有的核废料,我们已经在美国做过, 把它放在足球场上堆积起来, 它只会达到20英尺 (6.1m) 高。 -
nuclear waste:n.核废料; stacked:adj.放有大量…的; v.(使)放成整齐的一叠(或一摞、一堆); (stack的过去分词和过去式)
And people say it's poisoning people or doing something -- it's not, it's just sitting there, it's just being monitored. 人们说这会使人中毒或造成一些事情。 它不会,它只是放在那里,被监控着,
There's not very much of it. 就只是这样而已。
By contrast , the waste that we don't control from energy production -- we call it "pollution," and it kills seven million people a year, and it's threatening very serious levels of global warming. 相较之下,能源生产中不受控制的废料 - 我们称之为“污染”,一年杀死七百万人。 并造成全球暖化的严重威胁。
contrast:n.对比;对照;反差;明显的差异;v.对比;对照;形成对比;
And the truth is that even if we get good at using that waste as fuel, there's always going to be some fuel left over. 而事实是,即使我们能善用核废物作为燃料, 总是有一些核燃料遗留下来。
That means there's always going to be people that think it's a big problem for reasons that maybe don't have as much to do with the actual waste as we think. 这意味着有总是有人认为这是一个大问题。 他们的顾虑也许和真正产生了多少废料没有我们想象的那么大关系。
Well, what about the weapons? 那么,核电与核武的关联呢？
Maybe the most surprising thing is that we can't find any examples of countries that have nuclear power and then, "Oh!" decide to go get a weapon. 也许最令人吃惊的事情是, 我们找不到任何的例子,有拥有核电的国家表示, “哦！”,决定把核废料变核武。
In fact, it works the opposite. 事实上,它的工作原理是相反的。
What we find is the only way we know how to get rid large numbers of nuclear weapons is by using the plutonium in the warheads as fuel in our nuclear power plants. 我们发现就所知能摆脱大量核武的唯一途径, 就是将核武中的鈽弹头 就是将核武中的鈽弹头 做为核电厂的燃料。
plutonium:n.[化学]钚(94号元素); warheads:na.弹头;(warhead的复数)
And so, if you are wanting to get the world rid of nuclear weapons, then we're going to need a lot more nuclear power. 所以,如果你让世界摆脱核武器, 那么我们会需要更大量的核电。
(Applause) （掌声）
As I was leaving China, the engineer that brought Bill Gates there kind of pulled me aside, and he said, "You know, Michael, I appreciate your interest in all the different nuclear supply technologies , but there's this more basic issue, which is that there's just not enough global demand. 当我要离开中国时, 带比尔·盖茨到那里的工程师把我拉到一边, 他说: 迈克尔我感谢你 关注所有不同的核能供应技术, 但眼前有更根本的问题, 我们的全球需求有限。
appreciate:v.欣赏;感激;感谢;理解; technologies:n.技术;科技(technology的复数);
I mean, we can crank out these machines on assembly lines, we do know how to make things cheap, but there's just not enough people that want them." 我的意思是,我们在生产线组装这些机器、 我们知道如何让东西便宜, 但只是没有足够的买主。"
And so, let's do solar and wind and efficiency and conservation . 所以,让我们先改进太阳能和风能的效率和保存。
efficiency:n.效率;效能;功效; conservation:n.保存,保持;保护;
Let's accelerate the advanced nuclear programs. 我们要加快先进核能计划。
accelerate:v.加快;加速;n.接受速成教育的学生;
I think we should triple the amount of money we're spending on it. 我认为应该多花三倍钱就可以了。
triple:adj.三部分的; n.三倍的数[量]; v.成为三倍;
But I just think the most important thing, if we're going to overcome the climate crisis, is to keep in mind that the cause of the clean energy crisis isn't from within our machines, it's from within ourselves. 但我认为当务之急是: 如果我们要克服气候危机, 是要记住,引发洁净能源危机的, 不是我们的机器, 这是我们内心的恐惧。
overcome:vt.克服;胜过;vi.克服;得胜; keep in mind:记住;
Thank you very much. 非常感谢你。
(Applause)