Have you ever been in an argument about nuclear power? We have, and we found it frustrating and confusing, so let’s try and get to grips with this topic.

你有沒有對核能問題進行過研究呢？我們有過蟆湖，而且我們發(fā)現這個話題又難又無聊所以就讓我們簡單了解一下這個話題厚棵。

It all started in the 1940s. After the shock and horror of the war and the use of the atomic bomb, nuclear energy promised to be a peaceful spin-off of the new technology, helping the world get back on its feet. Everyone’s imagination was running wild. Would electricity become free? Could nuclear power help settle the Antarctic? Would there be nuclear-powered cars, planes, or houses? It seemed that this was just a few years of hard work away. One thing was certain: the future was atomic.

這一切始于上世紀四十年代蓬豁。在戰(zhàn)爭和核彈帶來的震驚和恐懼過去之后哎榴，核能成為了一個美好的意外收獲琼蚯，它能幫助世界恢復過來。每個人的想象力都像脫韁的野馬谊惭。以后電會不要錢嗎汽馋？核能會不會讓定居南極成為可能侮东？會不會有核能驅動的汽車圈盔、飛機以及房屋？似乎在短短幾年的努力之后悄雅，這些都將成為可能毫無疑問的是驱敲，未來屬于核能。

Just a few years later, there was a sort of atomic age hangover; as it turned out, nuclear power was very complicated and very expensive. Turning physics into engineering was easy on paper, but hard in real life. Also, private companies thought that nuclear power was much too risky as an investment; most of them would much rather stick with gas, coal, and oil. But there were many people who didn’t just want to abandon the promise of the atomic age; an exciting new technology, the prospect of enormously cheap electricity, the prospect of being independent of oil and gas imports, and, in some cases, a secret desire to possess atomic weapons provided a strong motivation to keep going.

但短短幾年后宽闲，核能發(fā)展面臨了瓶頸人們發(fā)現众眨，核能實際上非常復雜且昂貴將理論轉化為現實，說起來容易做起來難同時容诬，私人企業(yè)普遍認為核能作為投資風險太大娩梨，他們大多更喜歡石油、天然氣和煤炭览徒。但是仍有很多人不愿意就這么放棄核能這項激動人心的新科技和美好未來大量廉價的電力狈定，不再依賴石頭天然氣進口，以及偷偷研究核武器的想法，都給核能研究提供了動力纽什。

Nuclear power’s finest hour finally came in the early 1970s, when war in the Middle East caused oil prices to skyrocket worldwide. Now, commercial interest and investment picked up at a dazzling pace. More than half of all the nuclear reactors in the world were built between 1970 and 1985.

核能的黃金時代終于在20世紀70年代到來措嵌，中東戰(zhàn)爭使得全球油價猛增。現如今芦缰，核能的商業(yè)利益和投資以令人驚訝的速度增長企巢。世界上一半的核反應堆建造于1970年和1985年之間。

But which type of reactor to build, given how many different types there were to choose from? A surprising underdog candidate won the day: the light water eactor. It wasn’t very innovative, and it wasn’t too popular with cientists, but it had some decisive advantages: it was there, it worked, and it wasn’t terribly expensive.

然而让蕾，在多種可能的反應堆中浪规，到底建造哪種成為了問題。一種看起來并不占優(yōu)勢的反應堆脫穎而出：輕水反應堆探孝。這種科技并非創(chuàng)新罗丰，也不是很受科學家歡迎。但是它具有決定性的優(yōu)勢：它已經存在再姑，可以運作萌抵，不是很貴那么。

So, what does a light water reactor do? Well, the basic principle is shockingly simple: it heats up water using an artificial chain reaction. Nuclear fission releases several million times more energy than any chemical reaction could. Really heavy elements on the brink of tability, like uranium-235, get bombarded with neutrons. The neutron is absorbed, but the result is unstable. Most of the time, it immediately splits into fast-moving lighter elements, some additional free neutrons, and energy in the form of radiation. The radiation heats the surrounding water, while the neutrons repeat the process with other atoms, releasing more neutrons and radiation in a closely controlled chain reaction. Very different from the fast, destructive runaway reaction in an atomic bomb. In our light water reactor, a moderator is needed to control the neutrons’ energy. Simple, ordinary water does the job, which is very practical, since water’s used to drive the turbines anyway.

輕水反應堆到底怎么工作呢元镀？事實上绍填，它的基本原理特別簡單：用人工連鎖反應加熱水核裂變釋放的能量是其他化學反應的數百萬倍。一些不穩(wěn)定重元素栖疑，例如鈾-235被中子轟擊之后會吸收這個中子讨永，但是會形成一種不穩(wěn)定粒子。大多數時候遇革，它會立即分裂成一些運動速度很快卿闹，質量較輕的元素、其他的中子萝快、以及輻射形式的能量锻霎。輻射會給周圍的水增溫，同時分裂出的中子繼續(xù)這個過程揪漩，轟擊其他原子旋恼，釋放更多的中子和輻射。這種反應的收到嚴格控制奄容，與原子彈快速冰更、不可控、具有毀滅性的反應不同昂勒，在輕水反應堆中蜀细，會有一個調節(jié)器來控制中子的能量。而這個調節(jié)器一般就由普通水來擔任戈盈，因為水可以直接用來驅動渦輪機奠衔。

The light water reactor became prevalent because it’s simple and cheap. However, it’s neither the safest, most efficient, nor technically elegant nuclear reactor. The renewed nuclear hype lasted barely a decade, though; in 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania barely escaped a catastrophe when its core melted. In 1986, the Chernobyl catastrophe directly threatened Central Europe with a radioactive cloud, and in 2011 the drawn-out Fukushima disaster sparked new discussions and concerns. While in the 1980s 218 new nuclear power reactors went live, their number and nuclear’s global share of electricity production has stagnated since the end of the ’80s.So what’s the situation today? Today, nuclear energy meets around 10% of the world’s energy demand. There are about 439 nuclear reactors in 31 countries. About 70 new reactors are under construction in 2015, most of them in countries which are growing quickly. All in all, 116 new reactors are planned worldwide. Most nuclear eactors were built more than 25 years ago with pretty old technology. More than 80% are various types of light water reactor.

因為簡單且廉價，輕水反應堆變得流行起來然而，這即非最安全有效的的涣觉，也不是技術上最好的核反應堆然而痴荐，可持續(xù)核能的美好愿景持續(xù)不過十年；1979年官册，美國賓夕法尼亞州的三里島核電站部分堆芯融毀生兆，幾乎造成災難性后果。1986年膝宁，切爾諾貝利核事故產生的輻射云直接影響了中歐鸦难。而2011年的福島核電站泄漏更是加深了人們的擔憂盡管20世紀80年代，共有218所核電站正式運作其數量即國際電力份額自80年代末就止步不前员淫。那么現在是什么情況呢合蔽？今天，核電占全球電力的10%在31個國家中介返，共439個核反應堆2015年拴事，約有70個新反應堆在建，它們大多在迅速發(fā)展的國家總之圣蝎，現在全世界計劃建造的反應堆有116個刃宵。大多數的核反應堆都有25年了，使用的技術也比較老其中超過80%使用的都是各種輕水反應堆徘公。

Today, many countries are faced with a choice: the expensive replacement of the aging reactors, ossibly with more efficient, but less tested models, or a move away from nuclear power towards newer or older echnology with different cost and environmental impacts.

今天牲证，許多國家都面臨一個選擇：用昂貴的新設備替代舊反應堆它們可能更加高效，但使用經驗不多关面；或者放棄核能坦袍，轉而使用其他價格各異，對環(huán)境影響也不同的新老技術等太。