哪个农村地区将接收英国的核废料?
2024-09-14 jiangye111 5943
正文翻译
Which rural area will take the UK’s nuclear waste?

哪个农村地区将接收英国的核废料?


(Scientists study how nuclear waste can be "baked" into solid, stable materials, like glass.)

(科学家们研究如何将核废料“烘烤”成固体、稳定的材料,比如玻璃。)
新闻:

A repeating tone - blip, blip, blip - is the audible reminder that we are in one of the most hazardous nuclear sites in the world: Sellafield.

不断重复的声音——哔,哔,哔——提醒着我们,我们身处世界上最危险的核设施之一:塞拉菲尔德。

That sound - pulsing from speakers inside the cavernous fuel-handling plant - is a signal that everything is functioning as it should.

这种声音——从巨大的燃料处理厂的扬声器里传出——是一个信号,表明一切都在正常运转。

That is comforting because Sellafield, in Cumbria, is the temporary home to the vast majority of the UK’s radioactive nuclear waste, as well as the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium.

这是令人欣慰的,因为位于坎布里亚郡的塞拉菲尔德是英国绝大多数放射性核废料的临时所在地,也是世界上最大的钚储备地。

That waste is the product of reactions that drive the UK’s nuclear power stations and it is highly radioactive.

这些废料是驱动英国核电站的反应的产物,具有高放射性。

It releases energy that can penetrate and damage the cells in our bodies, and "it remains hazardous for 100,000 years", explains Claire Corkhill, professor of radioactive waste management at University of Bristol.

布里斯托尔大学放射性废物管理教授克莱尔·科克希尔解释说,它释放的能量可以穿透并破坏我们体内的细胞,“它在10万年内仍然有害”。

Sellafield is filling up - and experts say we have no choice but to find somewhere new to keep this material safe.

塞拉菲尔德快被填满了,专家说我们别无选择,只能找一个新的地方来保护这些材料的安全。

Nuclear power is also part of the government’s stated mission for ”clean power by 2030”. More nuclear power means more nuclear waste.

核能也是政府宣称的“到2030年实现清洁能源”的一部分。更多的核能意味着更多的核废料。

Inside Sellafield’s fuel-handling plant, we watch from behind one metre-thick, lead-lined glass as operators remotely control robotic arms.

在塞拉菲尔德的燃料处理厂,我们从一米厚的铅衬玻璃后面看到操作员远程控制机械臂。

They manoeuvre joysticks on what look like large retro game-controllers, as the arms pull used nuclear fuel rods – still glowing hot and highly radioactive - from the heavy metal containers in which they arrived.

他们操纵着看起来像大型复古游戏控制器的操纵杆,同时把用过的核燃料棒从他们到达的重金属容器中拉出来,这些燃料棒仍然发着炽热的光,具有很高的放射性。

This complex operation never stops. Sellafield runs 24 hours a day with 11,000 staff. It costs more than £2bn per year to keep the site going, and it comprises more than 1,000 buildings, connected by 25 miles of road.

这种复杂的操作从未停止。塞拉菲尔德拥有11000名员工,全天24小时运转。每年的运营成本超过20亿英镑,它由1000多座建筑组成,由25英里的道路相连。

However, in recent years, doubts have been raised about the site's security and physical integrity.

然而,近年来,人们对该遗址的安全性和物理完整性提出了质疑。

One of its oldest waste storage silos is currently leaking radioactive liquid into the ground. That is a “recurrence of a historic leak” that Sellafield Ltd, the company that operates the site, says first started in the 1970s.

其中一个最古老的废物储存筒仓目前正在向地下泄漏放射性液体。运营该核电站的塞拉菲尔德公司表示,这是最早始于上世纪70年代的“历史性泄漏的重演”。

Sellafield has also faced questions about its working culture and adherence to safety rules. The company is currently awaiting sentencing after it pleaded guilty, in June, to charges related to cyber-security failings.

塞拉菲尔德还面临着有关其工作文化和遵守安全规定的质疑。今年6月,该公司承认了与网络安全相关的指控,目前正在等待判决。

An investigation by the Guardian revealed that the site’s systems had been hacked, although the Office for Nuclear Regulation said there was “no evidence that any vulnerabilities had been exploited” by the hackers.

《卫报》的一项调查显示,该网站的系统遭到了黑客攻击,尽管核监管办公室表示,“没有证据表明黑客利用了任何漏洞”。

All of this has cast a shadow over an operation that, as well as taking in newly created nuclear waste, also houses several decades worth of much older radioactive material.

所有这些都给这项工作蒙上了一层阴影,这项工作除了吸收新产生的核废料外,还容纳了几十年的老得多的放射性物质。

The site no longer produces or reprocesses any nuclear material, but this is where the race began to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons at the height of the Cold War.

该基地不再生产或再加工任何核材料,但在冷战高峰时期,这里是生产用于核武器的钚的竞赛开始的地方。

“It was the dawn of the nuclear age,” says Roddy Miller, Sellafield’s operations director. “But because it was a race, not a lot of thought was given to the long-term safe storage of the waste materials that were produced.”

“那是核时代的黎明,”塞拉菲尔德的运营总监罗迪·米勒说。“但因为这是一场竞赛,所以没有太多考虑长期安全储存所产生的废料。”

The leaking storage silo, which was built in the 1960s, is just one of the buildings that now has to be emptied so the material inside can go into more modern silos. The building was only ever designed to be filled, and Sellafield says its plans to clear the site and demolish the building are the safest option.

泄漏的储存库建于20世纪60年代,只是现在必须清空的建筑物之一,这样里面的材料才能进入更现代化的储存库。这座建筑的设计初衷就是为了填满,塞拉菲尔德表示,清理场地并拆除这座建筑的计划是最安全的选择。

The site’s head of retris, Alyson Armett, points out that without a “permanent solution” for the nuclear waste, the plans to decommission could be delayed.

该基地的回收主管艾莉森·阿蒙特指出,如果没有核废料的“永久解决方案”,退役计划可能会被推迟。

The current plan for that permanent solution is to bury the waste deep underground.

目前的永久解决方案是将废料深埋地下。

A complicated search – both scientifically and politically - is currently on for somewhere to lock it away from humanity permanently.

一项从科学上和政治上复杂的搜索目前正在寻找一个地方将它永久地与人类隔离开来。

"We need to isolate it from future populations or even civilisations, that’s the timescale we’re looking at," says Prof Corkhill.

考克希尔教授表示:“我们需要将它与未来的人口甚至文明隔离开来,这是我们正在考虑的时间尺度。”

She studies how radioactive waste material can be made safe for extremely long-term storage, and is searching for the most stable, inert substance that nuclear waste could be "baked into".

她研究如何使放射性废料在极长时间的储存中变得安全,并正在寻找最稳定的,可以将核废料“烘烤”进去的惰性物质。

"We turn it into a solid - glass, ceramic or a material that’s just like the rocks that the uranium originally came from," she explains. At Sellafield, the highest level of radioactive waste is stabilised in a similar way before it is stored on-site.

她解释说:“我们把它变成固体——玻璃、陶瓷或一种材料,就像铀最初来自的岩石一样。”在塞拉菲尔德,最高水平的放射性废物在就地储存之前以类似的方式稳定下来。

The plan for permanent, underground storage is to contain that solid waste in a Russian doll-like series of barriers. The glass, encased in steel, will be shielded in concrete, then buried beneath the Earth‘s own barriers - layers of solid rock.

永久地下储存的计划是将固体废物储存在俄罗斯套娃般的一系列屏障中。用钢包裹的玻璃将被混凝土屏蔽,然后被埋在地球自身的屏障——坚固的岩层之下。

The question is, where will that facility be?

问题是,这个设施会建在哪里?

‘The waste is already here’

“废料已经在这里了”

Six years ago, communities in England and Wales were asked to come forward if they were willing to consider having a disposal facility built near their town or village.

六年前,英格兰和威尔士的社区被要求挺身而出,他们是不是愿意考虑在他们的城镇或村庄附近建立一个处理设施。
原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Potential sites will need the ideal geology - enough solid rock to create that permanent barrier. However, they also need something that might be more difficult - a willing community.

潜在的地点需要理想的地质条件——足够的固体岩石来形成永久的屏障。然而,他们还需要一些可能更困难的东西——一个自愿的社区。
原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


There are financial incentives for communities to take part in this discussion. So far, five have come forward. Two have already been ruled out. Allerdale in Cumbria was deemed unsuitable because there was not enough solid bedrock. Then, in September, councillors in South Holderness, in Yorkshire, withdrew after a series of local protests.

社区参与这一讨论是有经济激励的。到目前为止,已有5个社区站出来。其中两个已经被排除。坎布里亚郡的阿勒代尔被认为不合适,因为那里没有足够的坚固基岩。然后,在9月,在一系列当地抗议之后,约克郡南霍尔德内斯的市议员们退出了。

Government scientists are assessing the remaining three communities that are currently in the running. Geologists have been carrying out seismic testing - looking for that all-important impermeable rock.

政府的科学家们正在评估目前剩余的3个社区。地质学家一直在进行地震测试,寻找最重要的不透水岩石。

One of the communities being considered is very close to the Sellafield site in West Cumbria, at Seascale.

其中1个正在考虑的社区非常靠近西坎布里亚郡的塞拉菲尔德遗址。

Local councillor David Moore says the industrial complex is "just down the road, and it’s the biggest employer in the area".

当地议员大卫·摩尔说,这个工业综合体“就在这条路的尽头,它是该地区最大的雇主”。

He adds: “I think that’s why conversation here’s different. We’re already the hosts of the waste. And we all want to find it a safer location.

他补充道:“我认为这就是为什么这里的对话不同。我们已经是垃圾的主人了。我们都想找个安全点的地方。

"I have seven grandchildren who live in this community, and I want them to live in a safe environment.”

“我有7个孙子孙女住在这个社区,我希望他们生活在一个安全的环境中。”

It is not yet clear if Mid Copeland, the area under consideration that includes Seascale, will have the right rock. The survey and consultation here - and in the other locations being considered - are in their early stages and scheduled to last at least a decade.

目前尚不清楚中科普兰地区是否有合适的岩石,该地区正在考虑包括锡斯凯尔。这里的调查和咨询——以及其他正在考虑的地方——都处于早期阶段,计划至少持续10年。

In the meantime, the conversation goes on and each community being considered for a geological disposal facility (GDF) now receives about £1m a year in investment while initial scientific tests are carried out.

与此同时,讨论仍在继续,每个正在考虑建设地质处置设施的社区现在每年获得约100万英镑的投资,同时进行初步的科学测试。

Mr Moore is part of a committee called a GDF partnership. It includes local residents, local government and representatives of Nuclear Waste Services, which is the government body behind this project.

摩尔先生是地质处置设施合作委员会的成员。它包括当地居民、当地政府和核废料服务机构(该项目背后的政府机构)的代表。

These partnerships aim to keep the process transparent and ensure local people are well-informed. They also decide how the money is spent.

这些伙伴关系旨在保持过程的透明度,并确保当地人民了解情况。他们还决定如何花钱。

If a GDF is built here, Mr Moore says, there will be billions of pounds invested in the area. “If we're going to host this on behalf of the UK, the community should benefit,” he says.

摩尔表示,如果地质处置设施在这里建成,该地区将获得数十亿英镑的投资。他说:“如果我们要代表英国放置这个设施,社区应该会受益。”

Also still on the shortlist are South Copeland, again on the Cumbrian coast, and a site on the east coast in Lincolnshire, where there have been a number of peaceful, but angry, protests.

同样在候选名单上的还有南科普兰,也是在坎布里亚海岸,以及林肯郡东海岸的一个地方,那里曾发生过一些和平但愤怒的抗议活动。

On Halloween 2021 in Theddlethorpe, one of the local villages, several residents used their gardens to put up garish anti-nuclear dump scarecrows, inspired by an idea from pressure group the Guardians of the East Coast, which is campaigning against the disposal facility.

在2021年的万圣节,在当地的一个村庄塞德尔索普,一些居民利用他们的花园放置了华丽的反核垃圾场稻草人,灵感来自东海岸守护者组织的一个想法,该组织正在反对处置设施。

Ken Smith, from nearby Mablethorpe, is a member of both the campaign group and the local GDF partnership.

肯·史密斯来自附近的梅布尔索普,他既是该活动组织的成员,也是当地地质处置设施伙伴关系的成员。
原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


He thinks the government’s approach to finding a nuclear waste disposal site "stinks".

他认为政府寻找核废料处理场的方法“很糟糕”。

Mr Smith is concerned that the voices of those most affected might not be heard and says it is unclear how local opinion will be measured at the end of the consultation.

史密斯担心,那些受影响最严重的人的声音可能不会被听到,他表示,目前还不清楚在咨询结束时,如何衡量当地的意见。
原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says a GDF will provide “safe and long-term disposal of the most hazardous radioactive waste”.

能源安全和净零部表示,地质处置设施将提供“最危险的放射性废物的安全和长期处置”。

Prof Corkhill is convinced that a GDF is the safest solution. “We extract uranium from the rocks in the ground, we get energy from them and [this disposal facility essentially means] they’re returned back to the ground again,” she says.

考克希尔教授相信,地质处置设施是最安全的解决方案。她说:“我们从地下的岩石中提取铀,从中获得能量,(这个处置设施本质上意味着)它们再次被送回地面。”

“That uranium has been present in those rocks for billions of years. It’s been pushed and pulled, squeezed and heated, exposed to water and air. But the uranium is still safely locked up.”

“铀已经在这些岩石中存在了数十亿年。它被推,被拉,被挤压,被加热,暴露在水和空气中。但是铀仍然被安全地锁起来了。”

In the UK, the search, studies and consultations continue. Only when those have been concluded and some kind of final assessment of community support, like a referendum, has taken place will construction of a GDF begin. The earliest that any waste could be put inside it is estimated to be during the 2050s.

在英国,搜索、研究和磋商仍在继续。只有当这些工作完成,并对社区支持进行某种最终评估(比如全民公决)时,地质处置设施的建设才会开始。据估计,最早可以将任何废物放入其中的时间是在本世纪50年代。

Until then, it will continue to be stored and managed at Sellafield.

在那之前,它将继续在塞拉菲尔德储存和管理。
原创翻译:龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“We've benefited from nuclear energy in this country for 70 years, but we are still a long way behind cleaning up the legacy that has been left behind,” says Prof Corkhill.

科克希尔教授表示:“70年来,我们一直受益于这个国家的核能,但在清理遗留下来的遗产方面,我们还有很长的路要走。

“When we move to thinking about a new generation of nuclear power, we need to think about the waste now.”

“当我们开始考虑新一代核电时,我们现在就需要考虑核废料。”

评论翻译
Affectionate_Comb_78
A reminder that this problem exists with fossil fuels as well, but the waste just goes into the air, poisoning the environment and every living person and creature.

提醒一下,这个问题也存在于化石燃料,但废物只是进入空气,毒害环境和每一个活着的人和生物。

Roper1537
Why can't we just drop it into unused oil wells in the North Sea then? Or what about all those closed pits around the country? There's big deep holes all over the place.

为什么我们不能直接把它扔到北海未使用的油井里呢?或者全国各地那些封闭的矿坑怎么样?到处都是又大又深的洞。

BanChri
Nuclear storage needs to be done away from people and in an area with no groundwater penetrating in, and no seismic/geological concerns. Re-using pits which towns were built around and that were poorly built with lots of leakage is dumb. We have the sites that are suitable and the tech to build them pretty easily, technically it is a solved problem, but "nuclear scary" so we leave it to rot in dirty until we get "nuclear sludge of unknown characteristics".

核储存需要远离人类,在一个没有地下水渗透,没有地震/地质问题的地区进行。再次利用那些建在城镇周围的坑,那些建得很差,有很多泄漏的坑是愚蠢的。我们有合适的地点,也有很容易建造它们的技术,从技术上讲,这是一个已经解决的问题,但是“核恐惧”嘛,所以我们让它在肮脏的里腐烂,直到我们得到“未知特征的核污泥”。

Mister_Sith
Nuclear waste is a political problem but an engineering/science one. We could have spent more money developing fast burner reactors which would have consumed waste products and killed two birds with one stone but we chose not to.
We could have continued MOX fuel fabrication which would have found a use for the 140 odd tonnes of separated plutonium we've generated over 70 years of reprocessing but have chosen to see it as waste instead.
There's still plenty R&D underway into separating nuclear fuel waste for radioisotopes for medical uses.
Honestly, it's just a political problem. And it's one that the UK has to own and deal with.

核废料是一个政治问题,但也是一个工程/科学问题。我们本可以花更多的钱开发快速燃烧反应堆,这样可以消耗废物,一举两得,但我们没有这样做。
我们本可以继续生产混合氧化物燃料,这将为我们70多年来产生的140多吨分离钚找到用途,但我们选择将其视为废料。
目前仍有大量的研发工作正在进行,以分离用于医疗用途的放射性同位素的核燃料废物。
老实说,这只是一个政治问题。这是一个英国必须拥有和处理的问题。

nickbob00
Well, since some people are concerned that this could be an issue in 100,000 years time, I guess the only thing to do is to keep dumping CO2 in the atmosphere, which is know is an increasingly large problem right now, and we have really no economical way to get it out.

好吧,既然有些人担心这可能会在10万年后成为一个问题,我想唯一要做的就是继续向大气中排放二氧化碳,这是一个越来越大的问题,我们现在真的没有经济的方法把它弄出来。

nickbob00
Compare the state of human technology now to 10, 100, 1000 and 10,000 years ago and imagine how quaint our concerns will seem in 100,000 years

将现在的人类技术水平与10年、100年、1000年和1万年前进行比较,想象一下10万年后我们的担忧会显得多么古怪

1nfinitus
Yeah the wait-time would be a huge factor here. In barely 1,000 years the leaps in technology now will be incomprehensible to us, yet alone one hundred, thousand years.

是的,等待时间是一个很大的因素。在不到1000年的时间里,我们都将无法理解现在技术的飞跃,更不用说10万年了。

Net_Cultural
Be no need once we develop fusion reactor

一旦我们研制出聚变反应堆,就不需要这些东西了

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