日本重啟核電面臨透明度質(zhì)疑
????盡管核能項(xiàng)目的危險(xiǎn)性顯而易見,位于環(huán)太平洋火山帶之上的日本在很久以前就開始了在這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展。 ????由于強(qiáng)烈地震引發(fā)福島核泄漏事故,日本關(guān)閉了國(guó)內(nèi)48座核電站,只有2座仍處于運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)狀態(tài)?,F(xiàn)在,迫于能源需求壓力,日本政府領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人表示,他們準(zhǔn)備再次踏上發(fā)展核能之路。理由?因?yàn)槿毡镜募夹g(shù)官僚們相信,日本掌握著世界上最先進(jìn)的抗震工程技術(shù)。 ????福島核事故發(fā)生前,多數(shù)日本人都有這樣的想法。但事故發(fā)生后,技術(shù)方面的把握和進(jìn)入科技黃金時(shí)代的承諾都被恐懼所取代。28歲的管道工根本忍以勞務(wù)分包形式在福島第一核電站工作。他說:“我覺得這要怪那些設(shè)計(jì)人員和工程師。他們知道有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)?,F(xiàn)在的情況和原來一樣?!?/p> ????根本忍的工作是維護(hù)福島核電站的冷卻管道,它們數(shù)量龐大而且極為重要。2011年,日本東北部發(fā)生地震后,福島第一核電站就安裝了這些管道,以便讓反應(yīng)堆一直處于冷卻狀態(tài)。雖然故障頻頻,但工作人員必須不斷向反應(yīng)堆堆芯泵水。盡管目前堆芯溫度較低,已經(jīng)沒有危險(xiǎn),但如果停止冷卻的時(shí)間超過40個(gè)小時(shí),堆芯就會(huì)暴露在外,它的溫度就會(huì)再次上升,重新變得不穩(wěn)定。 ????海嘯、地震、電力中斷,所有這些都可能讓情況再次變得令人恐懼。根本忍說:“電力公司沒有對(duì)我們以誠(chéng)相待,還讓我們置于危險(xiǎn)之中?!彼傅氖歉u核電站所代表的極為傲慢的態(tài)度。 ????日本政府承諾將對(duì)核電行業(yè)進(jìn)行改革,希望借此緩解選民的緊張情緒。新設(shè)立的原子能管制委員會(huì)(NRA)堅(jiān)持實(shí)施的新指導(dǎo)方針已于7月8日生效,該方針依法要求核電站經(jīng)營(yíng)方為“嚴(yán)重事故”做好準(zhǔn)備,以降低地震等重大災(zāi)害所帶來的危險(xiǎn)。 ????日本官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示,福島事故發(fā)生前,日本核電站的抗震情況良好,甚至在震級(jí)高達(dá)7.2級(jí)的神戶地震發(fā)生時(shí)也能安全停機(jī)。不過,神戶大學(xué)(Kobe University)地震學(xué)教授石橋克彥認(rèn)為,現(xiàn)有技術(shù)還無法防止核電站在最嚴(yán)重的地震災(zāi)害中發(fā)生事故。去年,石橋克彥在一個(gè)新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上說:“如果把設(shè)備加固到能承受那樣的沖擊力,設(shè)備本身就會(huì)無法投入運(yùn)行。” ????但私營(yíng)核電企業(yè)并沒有因此而停止嘗試。這些企業(yè)的工程師們一直在忙于對(duì)核電站進(jìn)行升級(jí),以達(dá)到NRA的要求——NRA把這些要求稱為世界上最嚴(yán)格的抗震和抗海嘯標(biāo)準(zhǔn),日本核電行業(yè)為此已經(jīng)付出了數(shù)十億美元的代價(jià)。 |
????Teetering along the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan has long cultivated a nuclear power program despite the obvious dangers. ????Now squeezed by energy needs, Japanese leaders say they are ready to embark again on the nuclear route after closing all but two of Japan's 50 nuclear reactors following the massive quake that sparked the Fukushima meltdowns. The reasoning? Japan's technocracy still believes it has the best quake-proofing engineering in the world. ????The majority of the population, until Fukushima, felt the same. Since then, technological certainty and the promise of a golden age of science have been shattered by fear. "I blame the planners and engineers; they knew the risks. It's the same now as then," says Shinobu Nemoto a 28-year-old plumber, subcontracted to work at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. ????Nemoto helps maintain the myriad of essential cooling pipes that have been cobbled together since the Tohoku quake of 2011 to keep the reactors cool. Breakdowns are?frequent, but workers must keep the water pumping over the nuclear cores. Any break of more than 40 hours could see the cores, now thought cooled sufficiently to cease being a menace, heat up and become volatile again. ????Tsunami, earthquakes, power outages all threaten to bring the situation back to panic stations. "The power companies are not honest with us and put us in danger," he says of the colossal hubris that Fukushima has come to represent. ????The government is attempting to assuage jittery voters with promises of a reformed nuclear industry. Japan's new nuclear power watchdog insists fresh guidelines, which go into effect July 8, will legally require operators of nuclear power plants to be prepared for "severe accidents" mitigating dangers from earthquakes and other terrors. ????Until Fukushima, Japan's reactors had responded well to quakes and shut down safely even after events as large as the 7.2 Kobe earthquake, official records show. However, seismologist professor Ishibashi Katsuhiko of Kobe University believes there hasn't been a technology yet invented that can prevent a disaster in the event of the biggest earthquakes. "To reinforce facilities to withstand such stresses would make them unfeasible," he said at a press conference last year. ????That hasn't stopped the private-sector nuclear power industry from trying. Engineers have been busy upgrading atomic plants to meet what Japan's new Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) is calling the world's toughest earthquake and tsunami standards at a cost to the industry of many billions of dollars. |