VOA常速英语2014--Africa Looks to Nuclear Power to Light Up Continent 非洲希望大力发展核电

Africa Looks to Nuclear Power to Light Up Continent 非洲希望大力发展核电

JOHANNESBURG — At least three African nations are looking to add nuclear power to their grid 1. Kenya and Nigeria want to establish nuclear energy, and South Africa, the only sub-Saharan nation with nuclear facilities, is looking to expand its capabilities 2. Until now, African nations have relied on age-old forms of energy generation: Hydropower and coal among them. But those sources have taken a social and environmental toll 3, displacing communities. But does Africa have the means to turn on nuclear power?

This NASA space flight over a darkened continent illuminated 4 a fact that many Africans already know. The World Bank says fewer than 10 percent of African households have access to electricity. That, in turn, hampers 5 industry and development on the world's poorest continent.

美国航天局夜晚航行经过这片漆黑的大陆，这说明了许多非洲人已经知道的事实。世界银行称只有不到10%的非洲家庭用上电，这就阻碍了这个全世界最贫困大陆的工业和发展。

This dire 6 need for power has pushed many African nations to consider nuclear energy - increasingly popular in developing and developed nations such as the U.S., India and China.

对电力的迫切需求使得许多非洲国家考虑核能，核能在美国、印度和中国等发展中国家和发达国家越发受欢迎。

Kelvin Kemm, a South African nuclear physicist 7, said Africa needs to look beyond traditional sources, such as water and hydrocarbons 8.

Kelvin Kemm是南非核物理学家，他说非洲需要寻找水和碳氢化合物等传统能源之外的能源。

"Africa is very largely fueled with hydropower. And in Africa it's possible to have droughts that last a couple of years," he said. "Therefore it's very risky 9 to build an economy on hydropower. Many are not fortunate enough to have coal and gas, and therefore nuclear is an ideal solution for Africa.

“非洲在很大程度上依靠水电，非洲可能会出现持续几年的干旱。因此，依靠水电的经济是很危险的，许多国家没有煤和天然气，因此核能是非洲最佳的选择。”

South Africa is the only African nation to have successfully developed nuclear technology, and gave up its weapons program in the 1990s. Today, the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station produces about 5 percent of the nation's electricity.

南非是唯一成功开发出核技术的非洲国家，并在20世纪90年代放弃了武器项目。如今，库贝赫核电站为该国提供5%的电力。

President Jacob Zuma said he wants more nuclear power to decrease the nation's reliance on coal.

雅各布·祖玛总统称他希望生产更多核电，来减少本国对煤的依赖。

"We expect to conclude the procurement 10 of 9,600 megawatts of nuclear energy," he said.

“我们希望能生产9600兆瓦的核电。”

Kenya and Nigeria say they too are building their nuclear programs to meet rising electricity needs from their burgeoning 11 populations.

肯尼亚和尼日利亚称也在建造核项目，以满足人口增长对电力需要的增加。

According to Kemm, the power needs in Africa are so dire that ordinary power sources can't meet demand the way nuclear power can.

Kemm说非洲对电力的需求很迫切，一般的电力来源无法满足需要，而核电则可以。

"They need to double electricity consumption immediately, and then double it again, and again and again for their people," he said.

“需要将电力消费量迅速加倍，然后再继续加倍加倍再加倍。”

Critics of nuclear energy say it is not entirely 12 safe, citing nuclear disasters like Fukushima in Japan and Chernobyl in the former Soviet 13 Union.

核能的批评者称核能并不是很安全，并提到日本福岛和前苏联切尔诺贝利的核灾难。

But those critics' fears about Africa getting nuclear power may be drowned out by the almighty 14 market.

但这些批评者对获得核能的担忧可能被淹没在全能的市场上。

France-based Vincent Industrie sells complicated components 15 that are necessary to make a nuclear plant run. But sales manager Frederic Marrone, noted 16 that you don't need to be a nuclear physicist to see why many impoverished 17 African nations are slow to implement 18 nuclear technology.

总部在法国的文森特工业出售建造核电站所需的设备零件，但销售经理弗雷德里克·马罗内指出，就算你不是核物理学家，也能看得出为何很多贫困的非洲国家实施核技术的步伐那么慢。

The problem, he said, is cost.

他说问题在于成本。

"We speak about Billions," he explained. "How much, I don't know, depending on the size, but just for us, equipment, we provide only equipment. For this, we speak about five million euros of equipment to manufacture only one part.

“需要数十亿的成本，具体多少我不知道，这要看规模，但就我们来说，我们只提供设备。要建造一个核电站，需要价值500万欧元的设备。”

Experts say it will be years, even decades, before Africa finds a way to address its energy needs, with nuclear energy or otherwise.

专家称需要数年，甚至数十年非洲才能找到解决能源需求的办法，可能是核能，也可能是别的能源。

But everyone agrees that more power is needed to bring Africa into the light.

但大家都认同的一点是，需要更多的电力来照亮非洲。