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■ International
Japan’s radioactive crisis
日本幅射危機
Water leaks may become new nuclear disaster at Fukushima
漏水問題可能成為新的福島核災 |
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Japan's nuclear watchdog said a leak of highly radioactive water
at the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant could be the
beginning of a new disaster — a series of leaks of contaminated
water from storage tanks. |
日本核能監督機構表示，福島核電廠高輻射水外洩可能是一場新災難的開始，也就是一系列受污染的水從儲水槽洩漏的事件。 |
| The plant's operator has built hundreds of
steel tanks to store massive amounts of radioactive water coming
from three melted reactors, as well as underground water running
into reactor and turbine basements. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
said about 300 tons of contaminated water leaked from one of the
tanks, possibly through a seam. |
核電廠的運營商建造了數百個鋼槽，來存放大量來自三個熔毀反應爐的輻射水，並阻隔地下水流入反應爐和渦輪底座。東京電力公司表示，約有三百噸受污染的水從多個儲存
槽之一洩漏，水可能是通過一條縫洩漏出去。 |
| The leak is the fifth, and the worst, since
last year involving tanks of the same design at the wrecked
plant, raising concerns that contaminated water could begin
leaking from storage tanks one after another. "That's what we
fear the most. We should assume that what has happened once
could happen again, and prepare for more," Nuclear Regulation
Authority Chairman Shunichi Tanaka said. |
這次洩水事件是自去年以來，第五次該毀損核電廠相同設計儲水槽發生意外，而這是最嚴重的一次。這起事件引發對污染水源可能開始在儲存罐槽間滲漏的疑慮。日本原子力規制委員會主席田中俊一表示：「這正是我們最擔心的。我們應該假定，事件一旦發生了一次就可能再次發生，並因應此假設作更多準備。」 |
| The watchdog has raised the rating of the
seriousness of the leak to level 3, a "serious incident," from
level 1, "an anomaly," on an International Nuclear and
Radiological event scale from 0 to 7. Watchdog officials also
revealed that plant workers apparently overlooked several signs
of leaks, suggesting that their twice-daily patrols were largely
just a walk. |
該委員會提議，把洩漏嚴重性的國際核子及放射事件評級（包括零到七級）提高到三級，代表事件從一級的「異常」提升到「嚴重事件」。委員會官員亦透露，核電廠人
員似乎忽略了幾項洩漏的跡象，顯示他們每天兩次的巡邏在基本上只是散步而已。 |
| TEPCO said the leaked water is believed to
have mostly seeped into the ground after escaping from the
barrier around the tank. It initially said the leak did not pose
an immediate threat to the sea because of its distance — about
500 meters — from the coastline. But TEPCO has since reversed
that view and acknowledged a possible leak to the sea after
detecting high radioactivity inside a gutter extending to the
ocean. The company also said the tank may have been leaking
slowly for weeks through a possible flaw in its bottom. That
could create extensive soil contamination. |
東京電力公司表示，大部分的漏水咸信是在流出儲水槽的圍後，接著滲入地下。東京電力公司起初表示，因為洩漏地點距離海岸線大約五百公尺，
因此對海洋並未立即構成威脅。可是，東京電力公司已經扭轉了這樣的說法，並在通往海洋的排水溝被偵測高輻射污染後，坦承漏水可能已流入海洋。該公司還指出，
游魚儲水槽底部的瑕疵，儲水槽可能已經漏水好幾週了，而這可能造成了嚴重的土壤污染。 |
| Figuring out what to do with the radioactive
water is among the most pressing issues affecting the cleanup
process at Fukushima, which is expected to take decades. The
leaked water's radiation level was about 100 millisieverts per
hour — the maximum cumulative exposure allowed for plant workers
over five years. Contaminated water that TEPCO has been unable
to contain continues to enter the Pacific Ocean at a rate of
hundreds of tons per day. Much of that is groundwater that has
mixed with untreated radioactive water at the plant. |
想辦法處理輻射水，是影響福島清理工作的迫切的問題之一，而這樣做預期要花上數十年的時間。已滲漏污水的輻射程度為每小時一百毫希，相當於核電廠員工五年內可承受的暴露上限。東京電力公司一直無法遏制受污染的水
，正以每天數百噸的速度繼續流入太平洋。其中很大一部分是與核電廠未經處理的輻射水與地下水的混合。 |
