法国电力EDF向中国台山核电站取经

When Chinese planners decided to build a nuclear power plant on a rain-lashed cove in the south of the country, they simply relocated more than 1,000 villagers to nearby towns.

当中国规划人员决定在华南一个常受大雨袭击的海湾建设核电站时，他们只需将逾1000名村民重新安置在附近的城镇。

Contrast that with EDF, a French utility, which is building a similar plant in southwest England. To minimise disruption to the neighbours, human and otherwise, it had to build a bypass road around the nearest town, relocate bat roosts and create man-made burrows for about 60 badgers.

相比之下，正在英格兰西南部建设类似核电站的法国电力集团(EDF)，为了把对邻近地区的人或其他生物的破坏降至最低，不得不围绕最近的城镇修建一条绕行道路，将蝙蝠的栖息地重新安置在其他地方，并为大约60只獾修建了人造洞穴。

Despite the differences, EDF is hoping to learn a lot from Taishan, where state-owned China General Nuclear is constructing two European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs). The main lesson: how to build a nuclear power station fast and on budget.

尽管有以上不同，EDF还是希望能够从台山核电站学到很多东西。在台山，中国国有的中国广核集团(China General Nuclear Power Group)将建造两座欧洲压水式反应堆(EPR)。EDF希望从该项目中学到的主要经验是：如何快速按预算建设核电站。

It is a lesson that is crucial for the future of the EPR. Each reactor is an enormous structure designed to withstand a direct hit by an aircraft, or the kind of flooding that devastated the Fukushima reactor during Japan’s 2011 tsunami. But building such safety margins into the design is expensive.

这一经验对于欧洲压水式反应堆的未来至关重要。每座反应堆都是一个巨大的建筑结构，其设计要能承受飞机的直接撞击，或者2011年日本海啸期间摧毁福岛反应堆的那种洪水袭击。然而，在设计方案中加入这样的安全裕度造价十分高昂。

The other two EPRs that are under construction – in Olkiluoto, Finland, and Flamanville in France – have been hit by severe delays and cost overruns. That’s allowed Taishan, which started third, to pull ahead, although it too has been delayed by about two years from its original end-2013 commissioning target by slower-than-expected construction, and a safety review of all reactors in China. The £16bn Hinkley Point C project in Somerset will meet about 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand. EDF has brought in CGN and rival nuclear operator China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) as minority partners, partly in the hope they can contribute financing for future nuclear bids in Britain and elsewhere.

目前，另外两座正在建造的欧洲压水式反应堆已遭遇严重的工期延误和超支，分别位于芬兰奥尔基洛托(Olkiluoto)和法国弗拉芒维尔(Flamanville)。这使得原本第三个开工的台山核电站跑在了前面。不过，比起2013年底投产的最初目标，台山核电站工期也延误了大约两年，原因一方面是建设进度比预期要慢，另一方面则是中国对所有反应堆开展的安全审核。萨默塞特(Somerset)欣克利角C核电站(Hinkley Point C)造价为160亿英镑，将满足英国约7%的电力需求。EDF将中国广核集团和它的对手、核能运营商中国核工业集团公司(CNNC)都争取为少数合伙人，部分原因是希望这两个集团能够为未来在英国和其他地方开展的核能竞标提供资金。

“It would be a fantastic opportunity if we could tap into their experience to make sure that our project is successful at Hinkley,” Nigel Cann, Hinkley Point C’s construction director, said this month when he toured the Taishan site.

欣克利角C核电站工程建设总监奈杰尔•卡恩(Nigel Cann)这个月考察台山施工现场时表示：“这可能是一次绝佳的机遇，我们或许能用他们的经验，确保我们在欣克利角的项目成功。”

Much is at stake. For EDF to win export markets for the EPR, developed along with French engineering company Areva and Siemens of Germany, it needs to lower costs and reduce construction hitches.

对EDF来说，此事事关重大。要想为该公司与法国工程公司阿海珐(Areva)和德国西门子(Siemens)一道开发的欧洲压水式反应堆技术打开出口市场，该公司必须降低成本，并减少工程建设过程中的磕磕绊绊。

Maximising efficiency is also very important for the UK’s nuclear ambitions. Hinkley Point is the first of 5 new nuclear power plants that the government envisages will come on line by the end of the 2020s.

效率最大化对英国的核电理想也非常重要。英国政府计划在2030年之前投入运行5座新的核电站，欣克利角核电站是其中的第一座。

That pales in comparison with China’s nuclear vision. The country currently has 20 reactors operating and about 35 slated for completion in the next six years.

这与中国的核电前景相比实在是相形见绌。中国目前运行的核反应堆有20个，而且计划在未来6年再完工35个左右。

Even before the start of construction, the new Hinkley Point reactor was controversial.

而新的欣克利角反应堆尚未启动建设，就已处于争议中。

To persuade EDF and its Chinese partners to build the plant, the British government signed a 35-year contract that guarantees a price of £92.50 per megawatt hour for Hinkley’s electricity – twice the current wholesale market rate. Some condemned it as a very large subsidy for nuclear.

为说服EDF及其中国合作伙伴建设这座核电站，英国政府签订了一份35年的合同，保证欣克利角核电站的每兆瓦时电价为92.5英镑，这个价格是当前批发电价的两倍。有些人指责说这是对核电的一笔极为庞大的补贴。

The contract is now undergoing a state aid investigation by the European Commission. In its initial assessment in January, Brussels said the UK was potentially wasting up to £17.6bn of taxpayer support on the plant.

该合约目前正接受欧盟委员会(European Commission)的国家补助调查。布鲁塞尔方面在1月的初步评估中表示，英国可能在支持这个核电站上浪费高达176亿英镑纳税人的钱。

The Commission will not reveal its decision until later this year. But EDF, which operates all but one of Britain’s existing nuclear power plants, is proceeding with its plans for Hinkley anyway, including regular fact-finding trips to Taishan.

欧盟委员会将在今年晚些时候公布结论。但EDF（英国现有核电站除一家外都为其所有）已在推进欣克利角计划，其中包括定期前往中国台山核电站进行实地考察。

In Somerset, the company has contracted with local vocational schools to train steelworkers. In China, two decades of frenzied building have produced a workforce experienced in handling steel and concrete.

这家公司已在萨默塞特与当地职业学校签订了培训炼钢工人的合约。中国在20年的疯狂建设中，培养出了一批钢铁和水泥作业的熟练劳动力。

Guo Ruiting, whose business card reads “Boffin Senior Engineer” started building power plants 30 years ago when EDF constructed CGN’s Daya Bay reactor. He noted with pride that his team poured the 9,200 cubic meters of concrete for the base of the Taishan reactor in one continuous shot.

早在30年前EDF建设中国广核集团的大亚湾反应堆时，名片上印着“专家级高级工程师”的郭瑞廷（音）就已开始参与建造核电站。他自豪地说他的团队在浇筑台山反应堆的地基时，一次性连续浇灌了9200立方米水泥。

“We thought we would be able to learn from Finland and France, because they started before us,” says Olivier Bard, deputy general manager at Taishan. “But now we are the ones who have to figure everything out for the first time.”

“我们之前以为可以借鉴芬兰和法国，因为他们起步得比我们早。”台山核电站副总经理奥利弗•巴德(Olivier Bard)说，“但现在我们才是必须在一切方面开辟新道路的人。”