專家：核幅射或蔓延至日本以外的地區

An American nuclear expert says radiation from Japan could spread across the Pacific and reach the United States if a complete meltdown occurs at a Japanese nuclear facility damaged as a result of last week’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

美國一位核能專家說，如果在上星期地震以及事後的海嘯中遭到破壞的一個日本核設施徹底銷燬，來自日本的核輻射可能在跨越太平洋波及美國。

Nuclear expert Joseph Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund says Japan’s nuclear crisis is in a critical phase.

犁頭基金會的核能專家奇林喬內說，日本的核危機正處於緊急階段。

"One of the [Japanese] reactors has had half the core exposed already. This is the one they are now flooding with seawater in a desperate effort to prevent a complete meltdown."

奇林喬內說：“日本的一個反應堆的爐芯已經有一半暴露在外。他們正在不顧一切地用海水衝淹這個反應堆，以阻止它徹底熔燬。”

Cirincione spoke on the Fox News Sunday television program. He said the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s northeast coast is one of at least three nuclear facilities at risk.

奇林喬內在福克斯電視節目的“星期天新聞”上發表了講話。他說福島第一核電站設在日本的東北海岸線上，是至少三個處於險境的核設施之一。

Japan has evacuated civilians from areas surrounding the troubled plant, but Cirincione says radiation could spread far beyond Japan if efforts to contain the crisis fail.

日本已經疏散了處於險境的核電站周邊的平民百姓，但是奇林喬內說，如果侷限這次危機的努力失敗，核輻射可能蔓延到遠離日本的地區。

"The worst-case scenario is that the fuel rods fuse together - temperatures get so hot that [they] melt together into a radioactive molten mass that busts through the containment mechanisms. So they spew radioactivity into the ground, into the air, into the water. Some of that radioactivity could carry in the atmosphere to the west coast of the United States."

奇林喬內說：“最壞的可能性是燃料棒熔合在一起，極其高熱的溫度使得它們熔合成具放射性的熔塊，衝破攔截機制。於是它們向海陸空輻射放射物質。某些核輻射可能通過空氣傳播到美國西海岸。”

Japan’s ambassador in Washington, Ichiro Fujisaki, acknowledged potential dangers, but said no complete nuclear meltdown appears imminent.

日本駐華盛頓大使藤崎一郎承認有潛在危險，但是他說，目前看來核反應爐還不至於完全熔燬。

"It is true that part of [the] fuel rod may have been deformed or melting. But it is not a situation where [the] core reactor, the substantial part of [the] reactor, is melting down."

藤崎一郎說：“ 的確某些燃料棒可能已經變形或者熔化。但是情況還沒有發展到反應堆爐芯，即反應堆的實質部分正在熔化的地步。”

The ambassador spoke on NBC’s Meet the Press. Also appearing on the program was the head of the U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute, Marvin Furtel, who praised Japan’s response to the nuclear crisis. Furtel said a meltdown at a nuclear power plant does not always result in a massive release of radiation, as America’s own history shows.

這位大使在全國廣播公司的“面對媒體”節目上發表了談話。同在這個節目上露面的是美國核能研究所主管馬文.費泰爾，他讚揚了日本對這次核危機所作出的反應。費泰爾說，根據美國自身的歷史經驗， 一個核電站的熔燬並不一定會導致大量核幅射。

"At Three Mile Island [in Pennsylvania], which was the worst accident we ever had, about half of the core melted, so about 50 percent. It resulted in no [radiation] releases off-site that threatened anybody. So, you can have fuel melt, and if the rest of your safety systems, your containment, works and you manage to keep the reactor under control, the dangers for public health and safety are really minimal."

費泰爾說：“在我們有史以來最嚴重的核事故發生地：賓州的三哩島，核反應爐爐芯熔了差不多一半，也就是百分之五十。這次事故卻並沒有在周邊地區導致危及任何人的核幅射。所以要是可能發生燃料棒熔化的話，如果你的安全系統、你的攔截機制有效，而你成功地控制了這個反應堆，那麼對公衆健康和安全的影響的確是微乎其微的。”

Some U.S. legislators are suggesting heightened scrutiny of America’s nuclear energy program in the wake of Japan’s crisis. Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman says new nuclear facility construction should be placed on hold pending a full assessment of potential risks. But the Senate’s top Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, says it would be a mistake to make domestic energy decisions based on fears surrounding a tragedy in another nation.

美國國會一些議員在日本的危機發生後，建議更爲嚴格地檢查美國的核能項目。自稱爲獨立民主派的參議員利伯曼說，應當在全面評估潛在風險完成之前，暫緩進行新的核設施建設工程。但是參議院少數黨共和黨領導人麥康奈爾參議員說，根據另一個國家的悲劇而導致的恐慌來對本國的能源項目作出決定是錯誤的。