小型核电站的安全规定可能不那么严格

小型核电站的安全规定可能不那么严格

For more than a half century, nuclear power has been focused on one kind of plant: a huge, complicated, expensive facility, with armed guards, located away from cities and next to a river.

半个多世纪以来，核能一直集中在一种核电站上:一种巨大、复杂、昂贵的设施，有武装警卫，远离城市，靠近河流。

Now, a new generation of nuclear engineers focused on climate change is designing plants that are smaller and cheaper, and could be located closer to where people live. Companies say the plants are also safer, but to help their business models succeed they need changes to regulations that were designed for the larger existing plants.

现在，专注于气候变化的新一代核工程师正在设计更小、更便宜、更靠近人们居住地的核电站。企业表示，这些工厂也更安全，但为了帮助它们的商业模式获得成功，它们需要修改为现有大型工厂设计的法规。

One of the start-ups getting attention is Oklo, whose proposed nuclear power plant looks more like a stylish ski chalet than an industrial facility.

Oklo是受到关注的初创企业之一，它提议建造的核电站看起来更像一个时尚的滑雪小屋，而不是工业设施。

"We're not using water. We're not large. We're not using the same type of fuel. We're able to recycle waste and used fuel," says Caroline Cochran, Oklo chief operating officer and co-founder.

“我们不用水。我们不是很大。我们使用的燃料不同。我们能够回收废物和使用过的燃料，”卡罗琳·科克伦说，她是Oklo的首席运营官和联合创始人。

Cochran says her company's plants are more like the small research reactors found on college campuses. Each would generate enough electricity to power hundreds of homes. Initially the plan is to use them in remote areas such as rural Alaska, where they could replace more-polluting diesel generators.

科克伦说，她公司的核电站更像在大学校园里发现的小型研究反应堆。每一个都能产生足够数百个家庭使用的电力。最初的计划是在阿拉斯加等偏远地区使用它们，在那里它们可以取代污染更严重的柴油发电机。

NuScale Power has designed a larger nuclear power plant that is still very different from existing generators. Instead of one big reactor, each NuScale facility would have up to 12 smaller reactors that sit underground in a huge pool of water that absorbs heat.

NuScale电力公司设计了一个更大的核电站，与现有的发电机有很大的不同。NuScale的每个设施将有多达12个较小的反应堆，而不是一个大的反应堆，这些反应堆位于地下一个巨大的水池中，吸收热量。

Taking safety claims "with a big grain of salt"

对安全声明“半信半疑”

The NRC is considering whether to shrink emergency planning and evacuation zones around these newer reactors — from a 10-mile radius to, in some cases, the boundary of the plant site.

美国核管理委员会正在考虑是否缩小这些新反应堆周围的应急计划和疏散区域——在某些情况下，从10英里半径缩小到核电站的边界。

Nuclear energy critics say that would be a mistake.

核能批评人士说，这将是一个错误。

"When you're talking about a reactor that's never been built or operated, you have to take with a big grain of salt the claims that it's actually safer or more secure," says Edwin Lyman at Union of Concerned Scientists.

忧患科学家联盟的埃德温·莱曼说：“当你谈论一个从未建造或运行过的反应堆时，你不得不对它实际上更安全的说法持怀疑态度。”

He says the industry also wants to use weaker reactor containment shells, and in some cases they don't want to have to keep an operator at the site.

他说，工业界还希望使用更弱的反应堆安全壳，在某些情况下，他们不想让一名操作人员留在现场。

Lyman thinks companies should build plants under current rules first. "You have to work out the kinks of these new plants," he says. "And then over time you might be able to adjust your requirements accordingly. But you don't do that at the get-go."

莱曼认为公司应该首先在现有规则下建造工厂。他说:“你必须解决这些新工厂的各种问题。”这样，随着时间的推移，你就可以相应地调整自己的要求了。但你不能一开始就这么做。”

A National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) official recently echoed some of Lyman's concerns in comments sent to the NRC. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy.

美国国家核安全管理局(NNSA)的一名官员最近在发给NRC的评论中回应了莱曼的一些担忧。国家核安全管理局是美国能源部内的一个半自治机构。

"As technology evolves, the regulations should evolve to match the new state of technology," says Marcus Nichol, senior director of new reactors at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

核能研究所负责新反应堆的高级主管马库斯•尼科尔表示:“随着技术的发展，相关法规也应与时俱进，以适应新的技术状态。”

Nichol says there's a lot of knowledge about how these new reactor designs work, and years of testing behind the components.

尼科尔说，关于这些新反应堆如何设计工作，以及组件背后多年的测试，有很多知识。

"We recognize that if we were to do anything that's not safe, that is the end of our industry as we know it," he says.

他说:“我们认识到，如果我们做了任何不安全的事情，我们的行业就会结束。”