福岛核电站现大地震后最严重泄漏事故

Japan is scrambling to contain the worst spill of contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant since its meltdown more than two years ago, drawing fresh scrutiny to what experts say remains its shortsighted handling of the site.

日本目前正忙于遏制两年多前福岛第一核电站(Fukushima Daiichi)瘫痪以来其受损设施出现的最严重的污水泄漏问题，此举引发外界再次关注对该核电站的处置情况。专家说，对核电站的处置十分短视。

On Wednesday, Japan's nuclear watchdog declared that the plant had suffered a 'serious incident'--level '3' on an international scale--after operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. () said some 300 metric tons, or 79,000 gallons, of highly radioactive water had leaked from a hastily built storage tank and warned that roughly 300 more of the potentially leaky tanks existed. It was the first declaration of a nuclear incident in Japan since regulators classed the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant a level '7'--the highest--in 2011.

日本核监管机构周三公布，福岛第一核电站遭遇了严重事故――处于国际核事件三级水平。该核电站运营商东京电力(Tokyo Electric Power Co.)此前说，仓促建成的一个储水罐泄漏了大约300吨高放射性水，并警告称还有大概300个有潜在泄漏风险的储水罐。这是监管机构2011年将福岛第一核电站的熔毁事故定为七级（最高级）以来，首次宣布日本国内出现一例核事故。

'This is what we have been fearing,' said Shunichi Tanaka, chair of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, answering questions about the leak at a news conference. 'We cannot waste even a minute' to take action.

日本原子能规制委员会(Nuclear Regulation Authority)主席田中俊一(Shunichi Tanaka)在新闻发布会上回答有关泄漏问题的提问时说，这是我们一直担心的，我们一分钟也不能耽搁，须立即采取行动。

Behind the leak is a more serious problem: During the past few months it has become clear that Tepco has lost control over the flow of water at the plant and the problem is escalating, nuclear experts say.

核专家说，隐于泄漏背后的一个更严重问题是，东京电力失去了对福岛第一核电站水流的控制，整个事态有所升级，这一点在过去几个月里变得显而易见。

Every day, the utility has to find a place to store around 400 tons of contaminated water that it pumps out of the radioactive reactor buildings, and Wednesday it warned that it is fast running out of space. Storage tanks set up on the fly during plant emergencies have started springing leaks, and Tepco can't replace them with sturdier ones fast enough. Groundwater-contamination levels are spiking at the seaward side of the plant, and water is flowing into the ocean past a series of walls, plugs and barriers that have been flung up to impede its passage.

每天东京电力都要找地方存储从放射性反应堆厂房中抽出的大约400吨污水。该公司周三警告说，存储污水的地方很快就要用完了。这些储水罐是在核电站出现紧急情况下匆忙建成的，现在开始出现裂缝，而东京电力又无法以足够快的速度更换更结实的储水罐。福岛第一核电站靠海一侧的地下水污染水平现在骤增，这些水经过仓促建好以阻止其外泄的重重 壁、塞子和障碍物流向大海。

That lack of control is a big liability, said Kathryn Higley, a specialist in the spread of radiation and head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics at Oregon State University, who spent a week in Fukushima earlier this year.

研究辐射传播的专家、美国俄勒冈州立大学(Oregon State University)核工程与辐射保健物理系(Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics)主任希格利(Kathryn Higley)说，缺乏控制力是一大责任。今年早些时候，她在福岛待了一周时间。

'You have to find ways to control water coming through the site,' Ms. Higley said. 'With any sort of accident, you want to control the timing of what's released and when it gets released.'

希格利说，必须想办法控制流经该核电站的水；无论是哪种事故，都要控制好时机，确定要释放什么以及何时释放。

So far, the levels of radioactivity that have escaped to the outside remain relatively low, but some experts warn they may not stay that way--particularly as equipment ages and the heavy-duty work of dismantling the damaged buildings and removing the melted fuel rods proceeds. The radioactivity of the water in the most recent leak was so high that workers couldn't get close enough to search for the cause until the remaining fluid in the tank was removed.

到目前为止，泄漏到福岛第一核电站以外的污水放射性水平仍偏低。但有些专家警告称，放射性水平可能不会一成不变，特别是考虑到设备老化和拆除受损建筑及移除熔化燃料棒等繁重工作的开始。这次泄漏事故中水的放射性很高，在储水罐里残存液体被移除之前，工作人员无法近前查找原因。

Tepco said it doesn't think that water has flowed into the sea but can't say for sure. Some of the flooded reactor basements are similarly too hot to approach, and it still isn't clear where the melted fuel cores are, or in what state.

东京电力说，该公司认为辐射水尚未泄露入海，但不能确定。部分淹水的反应堆地下室温度太高无法接近，而且仍不清楚熔毁的堆芯位于何处，或处于何种状态。

'In the future there might be even more heavily contaminated water coming through,' said Atsunao Marui, head of the groundwater research group at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and a member of a blue-ribbon panel set up in May to figure out ways of managing the radioactive water. 'It's important to think of the worst-case scenario.'

日本产业技术综合研究所(National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)地下水研究小组的负责人丸井敦尚(Atsunao Marui)说，未来可能有受到更严重污染的污水，重要的是考虑最糟糕的情况。丸井敦尚是今年5月设立的一个高级专家小组的成员，该小组旨在想出办法控制辐射水。

Mr. Marui and others say the biggest reason for the scramble now is that Tepco--and the government bodies that oversee it--weren't planning far enough ahead and waited too long to respond to problems they should have seen coming long ago.

丸井敦尚说，目前混乱情况最大的原因是，东京电力以及监查该公司的政府机构没有进行足够的提前规划，而且等了太长时间才响应他们本应在很久以前就想到的问题。

Fukushima Daiichi was built some 40 years ago on the site of a river that was diverted in order to situate the plant, Mr. Marui said. It should have been clear that lots of groundwater would be rushing through the site, he said, and that any walls or barriers built on the seaward side would soon be overwhelmed--something that, indeed, has happened in recent weeks.

丸井敦尚说，福岛第一核电站修建于大约40年前，其所在地原本为河流，为了建站而将河流改道。他说，相关方面应当清楚，会有大量地下水通过这个地方，而且临海一面修建的任何围 或屏障都会很快被淹没，事实上这种情况最近几周已经发生。

'They're only responding after the fact--they're not thinking ahead,' said Hajimu Yamana, a professor of nuclear engineering at Kyoto University who earlier this month was named chair of a new institute charged with helping develop measures to tackle the longer-term work of dismantling the plant. 'As an expert, I was watching it with frustration.'

京都大学(Kyoto University)核子工程教授山名元(Hajimu Yamana)说，他们只是事后响应，而不去防患于未然。山名元本月早些时候被任命为一个新研究所的负责人，其任务是帮助设计相关措施，处理拆解该电站的长期工作。他说，作为专家，我对所看到的情况十分失望。

Tepco said it is changing its ways, while the government and nuclear regulator have set up three separate committees of experts charged with helping fix Fukushima Daiichi's water problems. Those fixes have included everything from a plan to drain highly radioactive water from a set of trenches near the sea to a massive wall of ice that would surround the damaged reactors and keep water out. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month promised money and resources to help.

东京电力说其正改变方法，同时政府和核监管机构建立了三个各自独立的专家委员会，负责帮助解决福岛第一核电站的积水问题。相关解决方案林林总总，包括从靠近海边的一系列壕沟中排出具有高度放射性的水，以及用一面巨大的冰 围住受损反应堆并防水。日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)本月早些时候承诺给予资金和资源方面的帮助。

But even with the extra firepower, Tepco and its helpers are playing catch-up, and critics say response remains confused, shortsighted and slow.

但即使获得了额外的增援，东京电力及其帮助者仍在进行事后弥补的工作，而批评人士说，相关响应仍然混乱、短视且缓慢。

'We have not remained idle, but we admit that we have been reactive,' Zengo Aizawa, Tepco executive vice president for nuclear public relations, said Wednesday at a news conference, during which the company was grilled about the leak. 'We are very, very sorry for causing concern.'

东京电力负责核电业务公关的执行副总裁相泽善吾(Zengo Aizawa)周三在新闻发布会上说，我们没有闲着，但我们承认一直陷于被动，我们对导致担忧感到非常非常抱歉。东京电力在发布会上就有关泄露事件遭到猛烈质问。

Tatsuya Shinkawa, director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear Accident Response Office said METI, which oversees Tepco, should have been faster at figuring out how quickly the situation at Fukushima Daiichi was changing in recent months.

日本经济产业省(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)的核事故响应办公室负责人新川辰也(Tatsuya Shinkawa)说，经济产业省本应更快弄清福岛第一核电站的形势最近几个月发生变化的速度。经济产业省对东京电力负有监管职责。