Japan's Disaster Could Hurt Plans for Nuclear Energy Industr

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

The crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear energy center has raised questions about the future of the nuclear energy industry. Arjun Makhijani is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in the United States. He says the disaster in Japan is historic.

日本福岛第一核电站危机引发了人们对核能源产业未来的质疑。阿尔琼·梅基耶尼（Arjun Makhijani）美国能源与环境研究所负责人。他说这次日本的灾难是历史性的。

ARJUN MAKHIJANI: "We are witnessing a completely unprecedented 1 nuclear accident in that there have never been three reactors 2 in the same place at the same time that have had a severe accident."

梅基耶尼：“我们正在见证一次前所未有的核事故，从来没有发生过同一地点三座反应堆同时出现严重事故的情况。”

This week, the chairman of America's nuclear agency said there is little chance that harmful radiation from Japan could reach the United States. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko also said America has a strong program in place to deal with earthquake threats.

本周，美国原子能机构（America's nuclear agency）主席表示，日本有害放射性物质抵达美国的几率很小。美国核能管制委员会（Nuclear Reglatory Commission）主席格雷戈里·贾兹科（Gregory Jaczko）也表示，美国有完善预案应付地震威胁。

No new nuclear power centers have been built in the United States since nineteen seventy-nine. That was when America's worst nuclear accident happened at the Three Mile Island center in Pennsylvania. The accident began to turn public opinion against nuclear energy.

自1979年以来，美国没有再新建核电站。那年在宾夕法尼亚州三哩岛发生了美国历史上最严重的核事故。这起事故导致公众舆论转向反对核能。

To support more clean energy production, the Obama administration has been seeking billions of dollars in government loan guarantees to build new centers. Currently, about twenty percent of electricity in the United States comes from nuclear energy. But critics say nuclear power is too costly 3 and dangerous to be worth further expansion.

为了提供更多清洁能源，奥巴马政府一直在寻求数十亿美元政府担保贷款建造新的核电站。目前美国近20%的电力来自核能。但批评人士表示，核电过于昂贵和危险，不值得进一步开发。

German Chancellor 4 Angela Merkel said Germany would temporarily close seven nuclear power centers while energy policy is reconsidered. The European Union is planning to test all centers in its twenty-seven member nations.

德国总理默克尔表示，德国将在能源政策调整期间，暂时关闭七座核电站。欧盟也计划检测分布在27个会员国的所有核电站。

Developing nations are less willing to slow nuclear expansion. China said it will continue with plans to build about twenty-five new nuclear reactors. And India, under a cooperation agreement with the United States, plans to spend billions on new centers in the coming years.

发展中国家不太情愿放缓核开发进程。中国表示兴建25座新的核反应堆的计划将继续推进。而印度根据和美国的合作协议，未来数年将在核电站上投资数十亿。

Japan has made nuclear energy a national priority since the nineteen seventies. Unlike many major economies, Japan imports eighty percent of its energy. The Nuclear Energy Institute says twenty-nine percent of Japan's electricity came from nuclear sources in two thousand nine.The government planned to increase that to forty percent by twenty seventeen.

日本自上世纪70年代开始将核能作为国家首要能源。和其他主要经济体不同，日本80%的能源依靠进口。核能研究所称，2009年日本29%的电力来自核能。日本计划到2017年将这一比例提高到40%。

Nuclear reactors supply fourteen percent of global electricity. Nuclear energy is a clean resource, producing no carbon gases. But radioactive waste is a serious unresolved issue. So is the presence of nuclear power centers in earthquake areas like the one near Bushehr, Iran.

核反应堆提供了全球电力的14%。核能是一种清洁能源，不产生二氧化碳气体。但放射性核废料是一个尚未解决的严重问题。此外还有在地震带建造核电站的问题，例如伊朗的布什尔核电站。