小型核電站的安全規(guī)定可能不那么嚴格

小型核電站的安全規(guī)定可能不那么嚴格

For more than a half century, nuclear power has been focused on one kind of plant: a huge, complicated, expensive facility, with armed guards, located away from cities and next to a river.

半個多世紀以來，核能一直集中在一種核電站上:一種巨大、復(fù)雜、昂貴的設(shè)施，有武裝警衛(wèi)，遠離城市，靠近河流。

Now, a new generation of nuclear engineers focused on climate change is designing plants that are smaller and cheaper, and could be located closer to where people live. Companies say the plants are also safer, but to help their business models succeed they need changes to regulations that were designed for the larger existing plants.

現(xiàn)在，專注于氣候變化的新一代核工程師正在設(shè)計更小、更便宜、更靠近人們居住地的核電站。企業(yè)表示，這些工廠也更安全，但為了幫助它們的商業(yè)模式獲得成功，它們需要修改為現(xiàn)有大型工廠設(shè)計的法規(guī)。

One of the start-ups getting attention is Oklo, whose proposed nuclear power plant looks more like a stylish ski chalet than an industrial facility.

Oklo是受到關(guān)注的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)之一，它提議建造的核電站看起來更像一個時尚的滑雪小屋，而不是工業(yè)設(shè)施。

"We're not using water. We're not large. We're not using the same type of fuel. We're able to recycle waste and used fuel," says Caroline Cochran, Oklo chief operating officer and co-founder.

“我們不用水。我們不是很大。我們使用的燃料不同。我們能夠回收廢物和使用過的燃料，”卡羅琳·科克倫說，她是Oklo的首席運營官和聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人。

Cochran says her company's plants are more like the small research reactors found on college campuses. Each would generate enough electricity to power hundreds of homes. Initially the plan is to use them in remote areas such as rural Alaska, where they could replace more-polluting diesel generators.

科克倫說，她公司的核電站更像在大學(xué)校園里發(fā)現(xiàn)的小型研究反應(yīng)堆。每一個都能產(chǎn)生足夠數(shù)百個家庭使用的電力。最初的計劃是在阿拉斯加等偏遠地區(qū)使用它們，在那里它們可以取代污染更嚴重的柴油發(fā)電機。

NuScale Power has designed a larger nuclear power plant that is still very different from existing generators. Instead of one big reactor, each NuScale facility would have up to 12 smaller reactors that sit underground in a huge pool of water that absorbs heat.

NuScale電力公司設(shè)計了一個更大的核電站，與現(xiàn)有的發(fā)電機有很大的不同。NuScale的每個設(shè)施將有多達12個較小的反應(yīng)堆，而不是一個大的反應(yīng)堆，這些反應(yīng)堆位于地下一個巨大的水池中，吸收熱量。

Taking safety claims "with a big grain of salt"

對安全聲明“半信半疑”

The NRC is considering whether to shrink emergency planning and evacuation zones around these newer reactors — from a 10-mile radius to, in some cases, the boundary of the plant site.

美國核管理委員會正在考慮是否縮小這些新反應(yīng)堆周圍的應(yīng)急計劃和疏散區(qū)域——在某些情況下，從10英里半徑縮小到核電站的邊界。

Nuclear energy critics say that would be a mistake.

核能批評人士說，這將是一個錯誤。

"When you're talking about a reactor that's never been built or operated, you have to take with a big grain of salt the claims that it's actually safer or more secure," says Edwin Lyman at Union of Concerned Scientists.

憂患科學(xué)家聯(lián)盟的埃德溫·萊曼說：“當你談?wù)撘粋€從未建造或運行過的反應(yīng)堆時，你不得不對它實際上更安全的說法持懷疑態(tài)度。”

He says the industry also wants to use weaker reactor containment shells, and in some cases they don't want to have to keep an operator at the site.

他說，工業(yè)界還希望使用更弱的反應(yīng)堆安全殼，在某些情況下，他們不想讓一名操作人員留在現(xiàn)場。

Lyman thinks companies should build plants under current rules first. "You have to work out the kinks of these new plants," he says. "And then over time you might be able to adjust your requirements accordingly. But you don't do that at the get-go."

萊曼認為公司應(yīng)該首先在現(xiàn)有規(guī)則下建造工廠。他說:“你必須解決這些新工廠的各種問題。”這樣，隨著時間的推移，你就可以相應(yīng)地調(diào)整自己的要求了。但你不能一開始就這么做。”

A National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official recently echoed some of Lyman's concerns in comments sent to the NRC. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy.

美國國家核安全管理局(NNSA)的一名官員最近在發(fā)給NRC的評論中回應(yīng)了萊曼的一些擔憂。國家核安全管理局是美國能源部內(nèi)的一個半自治機構(gòu)。

"As technology evolves, the regulations should evolve to match the new state of technology," says Marcus Nichol, senior director of new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

核能研究所負責(zé)新反應(yīng)堆的高級主管馬庫斯•尼科爾表示:“隨著技術(shù)的發(fā)展，相關(guān)法規(guī)也應(yīng)與時俱進，以適應(yīng)新的技術(shù)狀態(tài)。”

Nichol says there's a lot of knowledge about how these new reactor designs work, and years of testing behind the components.

尼科爾說，關(guān)于這些新反應(yīng)堆如何設(shè)計工作，以及組件背后多年的測試，有很多知識。

"We recognize that if we were to do anything that's not safe, that is the end of our industry as we know it," he says.

他說:“我們認識到，如果我們做了任何不安全的事情，我們的行業(yè)就會結(jié)束。”