日本核事故災區或幾十年內無法居住
Areas surrounding Japan's crippledFukushima nuclear plant could remain uninhabitable for decades due to high radiation, the government warned on Saturday as it struggles to clean up after the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
日本政府上週六警告稱，被廢棄的福島核電站周圍地區由於高輻射，可能幾十年內都無法居住。福島核事故是切爾諾貝利核事故來最嚴重的一起，日本政府一直盡力清除放射性物質。
Japan faces the dauntingtask of decontaminatinglarge areas of land around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, which is still leaking low levels of radiation nearly six months after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear meltdown.
清除福島核電站周圍廣大地區核污染的任務非常艱鉅。此次核事故由地震及海嘯引起，雖然距今已有半年之久，但該地區依然有低量核輻射。
In a meeting with local officials on Saturday, the government estimated it could take more than 20 years before residents could safely return to areas with current radiation readingsof 200 millisievertsper year, and a decade for areas at 100 millisieverts per year.
日本政府在上週六與當地官員會談時估算，在目前年輻射量200毫希沃特的地區，居民要在20多年後，纔可以安全回家。年輻射量100毫希沃特的地區則需10年。
The estimates, which merely confirm what many experts have been saying for months, are based on the natural decline of radiation over time and do not account for the impact of decontamination steps such as removing affected soil.
該推算根據的是核輻射的自然衰減，沒有計入人工再清除，比如挖走受污染土壤等因素。諸多專家幾個月以來一直持有這種觀點。
An vast area is still uninhabitable around the Chernobyl plant 25 years after that disaster.
切爾諾貝利核事故已過去25年，但周圍的廣大地區依然無法居住。
The Japanese government unveiled guidelines last week with the aim of halving radiation in problem areas in two years, but for spots with very high readings it could take much longer to reach safe levels.
日本政府上週公佈了指導方針，目標是在兩年內使問題地區的核輻射量減半，但在一些高輻射地區，需要更久才能降到安全線。
Japan has banned people from entering within 20 km (12 miles) of the Fukushima plant, located 240 km northeast of Tokyo. Around 80,000 people have been evacuated since the March 11 quake and tsunami and many are living in shelters or temporary homes.
日本禁止人們進入福島核電站周圍20公里（12英里）內的地區。這裏位於東京東北240公里。自3月11日日本強震以來，已有大約8萬人撤離，很多人還住在避難所或臨時住所裏。
The government's announcement follows the release of data last week showing radiation readings in 35 spots in the evacuation zone above the 20 millisieverts per year level deemed safe by the government. The highest reading was 508 millisieverts in the town of Okuma, about 3 km from the nuclear plant.
在公佈這一消息之前，日本政府上週發佈數據顯示，撤離區內35個地點的輻射量超過每年20毫希沃特，而這一數值被政府認爲是安全線。最高輻射量出現在大隈的某鎮，達到508毫希沃特，該地距核電廠3公里。
Kan, who resigned on Friday as leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan amid intense criticism of his handling of the nuclear crisis, also told Sato that the government planned to build a temporary storage facility in Fukushima for radioactive waste.
菅直人還告訴佐藤，政府計劃在福島建造一個臨時的核廢料儲存設施。菅直人因核危機後表現不佳而備受批評，於上週五辭去了執政的民主黨黨首的職務。
The accident at the Fukushima plant is likely to have released about 15 percent of the radiation released at Chernobyl in 1986, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has estimated.
日本原子力安全保安院估計，福島核事故的核輻射量已經達到1986年切爾諾貝利事故的15%。
But that is still more than seven times the amount of radiation produced by Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, and experts have estimated Japan's decontamination efforts could cost as much as 10 trillion yen ($130 billion).
但這已經是1979年美國三裏島核事故輻射量的7倍多。專家估計日本人工清除核污染的措施將花費10萬億日元（1300億美元）。
