关注社会:福岛核电站难以控制放射性水源外泄

To stem the advance of radioactive water to the sea, the operator of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has tried plugs, walls, pumps and chemicals that harden the ground into a solid barrier.

为了阻止放射性水源流向海洋，发生事故的福岛第一核电站(Fukushima Daiichi)的运营商尝试了一系列措施，包括堵漏、修 、抽水和投放化学制剂，以加固地面，使之成为坚固的屏障。

But as Tokyo Electric Power Co. +3.26% prepares this week to start work on a new set of measures that would ring off and cap the area where the most highly contaminated water has been found, some experts and regulators are saying that the battle to completely contain radioactivity to the site of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents may be a losing one.

东京电力(Tokyo Electric Power Co.)本周准备开始实施一系列新措施来隔离一个区域，这个区域的水被发现受放射性污染最严重。但与此同时，一些专家和监管部门则说，旨在完全将放射物控制在事故发生地的努力可能会失败。这次事故是全球最严重的核事故之一。

In the most recent example of Tepco's Sisyphean struggle, the company said late last week that rising levels of contaminated groundwater may have already overtopped a sunken barrier that the utility started only a month ago, and wasn't even expecting to complete until late this week.

最近就有一个事例显示东京电力没完没了的努力只是徒劳的。上周晚些时候该公司说，受放射性污染的地下水位不断上升，可能已经越过了一个在建水下屏障，这个屏障是一个月前才开始修建的，预计到本周晚些时候才会完工。

Tepco's water-control measures, such as pumping out contaminated water and putting it in storage, are 'merely a temporary solution,' said Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, at a news conference last week. Eventually, 'it will be necessary to discharge water' that's still contaminated into the sea, he said.

日本原子能规制委员会(Nuclear Regulation Authority)主席田中俊一(Shunichi Tanaka)上周在一个新闻发布会上说，东京电力采取了一系列控制放射性水的措施，比如抽出放射性水，并将其倒入储存箱中，但这些只是暂时性措施，最终有必要将依然含有放射性物质的水排放到海洋中。

'We're taking a number of measures' to counter the recent worries of contaminated-water overflow, Tepco said in an emailed statement Monday. 'We'll continue to strengthen our monitoring of the impact on sea and marine life in the waters near the plant, and work on estimating the outflow of [contaminated water] following our measures.'

东京电力周一在一份电子邮件声明中说，我们正在采取一系列措施，应对近期对于放射性水溢出的担忧，我们将继续加强对福岛第一核电站附近海水和海洋生物所受影响的监控，并将着手评估采取措施后放射性水的溢出情况。

Controlling contaminated water has been a struggle at Fukushima Daiichi ever since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the power at the plant and sent its three active reactors spiraling out of control. Some 400 metric tons of water a day is still being used to cool the melted fuel cores─though much of that water is now recycled. More troubling is another 400 tons a day of groundwater that flows down from hills and mountains into the compound, and toward the sea.

自2011年3月份的大地震和海啸令福岛第一核电站电力中断并导致其三个核反应堆失控以来，在该核电站控制放射性水的工作一直较为艰难。每天仍需使用400吨左右的水来冷却熔化的堆芯燃料，但现在这些水大部分可循环使用了。更大的问题在于每天还有400吨的地下水流下山坡，流入核电站，进而流向海洋。

For the past two years, Tepco has been trying to keep the contamination contained by pumping accumulated water out of the highly radioactive reactor buildings, and storing it in tanks on the plant grounds. But the company's efforts went into overdrive a few months ago, when it found that groundwater sampled near the crippled reactors was showing spiking levels of radioactive elements. It was unclear why. What's more, Tepco said that the water was likely leaking into the sea.

过去两年，东京电力一直尝试通过将高放射性反应堆建筑中的水抽出并储存在核电站地面上的水箱中来控制污染。但几个月前，当发现受损反应堆附近地下水样品的放射性物质水平飙升后，该公司加大了控制力度。出现这种情况的原因不详，更重要的是东京电力说，这些放射性水可能正在渗入海洋。

The continuing problems at the reactor site, including the company's lack of transparency over the radioactive leaks, have drawn criticism from Japanese regulators. On Friday, a newly created task force at Japan's nuclear regulator held its first meeting aimed at increasing the government's role in the flawed cleanup process. The panel is also pushing Tepco to improve its communication and credibility at a time of strong public opposition to nuclear power.

反应堆场区持续存在的各种问题受到了日本监管部门的批评，包括该公司对放射性物质泄漏问题的信息披露缺乏透明性。上周五，日本核监管部门新成立的一个特别工作组首次召开会议，旨在增强政府在清理过程中的作用。目前的清理工作存在种种不足。在公众强烈反对核电之际，该工作组还将推进东京电力公司增强沟通和信誉。

As an emergency measure, Tepco last month started to inject the ground near the coast with chemicals that hardened it into an underground barrier. But since then, groundwater levels in the area have risen faster, as they hit the barrier. Recently, Tepco has found that the groundwater has risen to around a meter below the surface─already above the level of the underground barrier, which starts 1.8 meters down.

作为一项应急措施，东京电力公司上个月开始向海滨附近地区的地下注入化学物，使土壤变硬成为一道地下屏障。但那之后，随着该地区的地下水位触及地下屏障，水位以更快的速度上升。最近，东京电力公司发现，地下水已经升至地面以下约一米的地方，这个高度已经在地下屏障之上了，地下屏障始于地面以下1.8米的地方。

Now, Tepco is planning to pump out some of the water that's built up behind the barrier, and store it as well. It's preparing to extend the underground hardened-earth barrier in a ring around the most heavily contaminated section of coastline, in hopes of heading groundwater off before it can flood in. Tepco is also proposing to cap that ringed section with gravel and asphalt, so nothing gets out. The operator is hoping to get an initial ring of hardened ground done by October.

目前，东京电力公司正在计划将地下屏障后面的部分积水抽出，并也储存起来。该公司正准备将地下硬化土壤屏障扩展为环形，将污染最严重的海滨地区围起来，希望借此避免地下水的涌入。此外，东京电力公司还提议用碎石和沥青将这个环形区域盖起来，以避免任何物质泄漏出来。该运营商希望在10月前使硬化土壤屏障初步成环。

The company has some other more experimental ideas on the table as well. One involves surrounding the contaminated reactor buildings with a shield of frozen soil.

该公司还提出了其他一些试验性的想法。其中一个想法是用一层冻土将受污染的反应堆建筑物围起来。

But there's a risk to changing the flow of groundwater in the ways that Tepco is considering, said Tatsuya Shinkawa, nuclear accident response director of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, at a news conference last month. The water could pool dangerously underground, softening the earth and potentially toppling the reactor buildings, he said. Tepco should also try things like using robots to fix cracks in the reactor buildings where the water is likely seeping through.

但日本经济产业省(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)核事故响应负责人Tatsuya Shinkawa上个月在新闻发布会上说，用东京电力公司正在考虑的方式改变地下水流动情况，这样做可能有风险。他说，地下水可能在地下危险地积聚起来，导致土壤变软，可能造成反应堆建筑物倒塌。东京电力公司还应该尝试其他做法，比如使用机器人修复反应堆建筑物上的裂缝，水可能从这些裂缝渗漏出来。

Freezing soil has its own problems, said Kunio Watanabe, a geology professor at Saitama University. The technology, which is used in civil engineering to dig tunnels, may be able to cut down the amount of groundwater entering the contaminated site, but it is expensive. 'You'll need hundreds of millions of yen to build a system,' Mr. Watanabe said. 'You'll also need a large amount of electricity to maintain the ice walls.''

日本琦玉大学(Saitama University)地质学教授渡边邦夫(Kunio Watanabe)说，将土壤冻起来也有问题。这项技术常用于土木工程中的隧道挖掘，这样做或许能够减少进入受污染场区的地下水量，但成本很高。渡边邦夫说，需要数亿日圆修建一个系统，还需要大量电力维持冰墙不化。

Mr. Tanaka, the nuclear regulatory chairman, has said that Tepco should admit it'll never be able to handle all the inflow of water, and start arranging for the release of contaminated water into the ocean, as long as it's under allowable limits for radioactivity. But local fishery cooperatives, which since June of last year have been catching octopus and other sea life that consistently test low for radiation, are still holding on to the hope that they can eventually get back to business as usual.

日本原子能规制委员会主席田中俊一说，东京电力公司应该承认它永远无法解决全部的水流入问题，应该开始安排将受污染的水排放到海里，只要这些水的放射水平在允许范围内。但当地渔业合作社仍抱着希望，他们希望最终捕鱼作业能够恢复正常。自去年6月以来，当地渔业合作社捕捉到的章鱼和其他海产品体内不断检测出少量放射性物质。

'We are in trouble,' said Kazunori Endo, an official of the Soma Futaba Fishery Cooperative, about the latest leaks of contaminated water into the bay. 'What if consumers start rejecting our fish?'

渔业合作社Soma Futaba Fishery Cooperative的管理人员Kazunori Endo在谈到受污染的水泄漏进海湾的最新事件时说，我们遇到了麻烦。如果消费者开始不买我们的鱼，该怎么办？