Three reasons why we should stop using nuclear energy.
不再使用核能的三个理由。
One: nuclear weapons proliferation.
一：核武器扩散。
Nuclear technology made a violent entrance onto the world stage. Just one year after the world's first-ever nuclear test explosion in 1944, two large cities were destroyed by just two single bombs. After that, reactor technology slowly evolved as a means of generating electricity. But it's always been intimately connected with nuclear weapons technology. It's nearly impossible to develop nuclear weapons without access to reactor technology. In fact, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty serves the purpose of spreading nuclear reactor technology without spreading nuclear weapons with limited success. In forty years, five countries have developed their own weapons with the help of reactor technology. The fact of the matter is that it can be very hard to distinguish a covert nuclear weapons program from the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In the nineteen seventies, the big nuclear powers were happily selling peaceful technology to smaller countries which then developed weapons of their own. The road to deadly nuclear weapons is always paved with peaceful reactors.
核科技以一种残暴的方式登上世界舞台：1944年世界上第一次核弹实验之后仅仅一年，两个大型城市被仅仅两颗核弹毁灭。之后，反应堆科技作为一种发电科技发展缓慢。但是它仍被人们与核武器科技紧密联系。没有反应堆科技，想要发明核武器几乎是不可能的。事实上，核武器不扩散条约的目的就是在不传播核武器的前提下传播核反应堆科技，然而成效不显著。40年中，有5个国家在反应堆科技的帮助下研发出了核武器问题在于，一般我们很难区分隐蔽的核武器研究和核能的和平研究。上世纪七十年代，核大国们非常乐意向小国出售核科技，但他们后来发展出了自己的核武器。致命的核武器与和平的反应堆总是相伴相随。
Two: nuclear waste and pollution spent.
二：核废料与核污染。
Nuclear fuel is not only radioactive but also contains extremely poisonous chemical elements like plutonium. It loses its harmfulness only slowly over several tens of thousands of years and there is also a process called reprocessing which means the extraction of plutonium from spent nuclear fuel. It can be used for two purposes: to build nuclear weapons or to use it as new fuel, but hardly any of it is used as fuel because we don't have the right kind of reactors for that. A milligram will kill you a few kilograms make an atomic bomb and even an inconspicuous country like Germany literally has tons of the stuff just lying around because reprocessing sounded like a good idea decades ago. And where will all the waste go? After dumping it into the ocean was forbidden, we've tried to bury it, but we can't find a place where it will definitely stay secure for tens of thousands of years. Over 30 countries operate nearly 400 reactors managing several hundred thousands of tons of nuclear waste and only one is currently serious about opening a permanent civilian waste storage: tiny Finland.
使用完的核燃料不但具有辐射性，还具有毒性很强的化学元素，例如钚。自然条件下，它需要成千上万年才能逐渐失去毒性。同时另外一个过程，叫做再利用，意思是从核废料中提取钚。它有两个用途：制造核武器或作为新燃料。但它几乎不会被用作燃料，因为我们目前没有相应的反应堆。一毫克钚足以致死；几公斤就可以制造核武器；甚至一些低调的国家，例如德国，地下就埋藏着几吨这种物质，因为再利用在几十年前听起来很诱人。这些废料会被如何处理呢？海洋倾倒被禁止后，人们曾尝试填埋——但后来发现很难找到绝对安全的地方可以保留千万年。全球共有30多个国家的近400个反应堆，产生成百上千吨核废料，然而只有一个国家建立了永久废料处理站：芬兰。
Three: accidents and disasters.
三：事故与灾难。
Over sixty years of nuclear power usage, there have been seven major accidents in reactors or facilities dealing with nuclear waste. Three of those were mostly contained but four of them released significant amounts of radioactivity into the environment. In 1957, 1987 and 2011. Large areas of land in Russia Ukraine and Japan were rendered unfit for human habitation for decades to come. The number of deaths is highly disputed but probably lies in the thousands. These disasters happened with nuclear reactors of very different types in very different countries and several decades apart. Looking at the numbers, we may as well ask ourselves: are 10 percent of the world's energy supply worth a devastating disaster every 30 years? Would thirty percent be worth another Fukushima or Chernobyl somewhere on earth every 10 years? What area would have to be contaminated so we say no more? Where is the line?
在使用核能60年的历史中，有许多次严重事故，不论是反应堆还是废料处理设施。其中三次基本得到控制，但仍有四次在环境中释放了大量辐射。自1957、1987、2011年起，俄罗斯、乌克兰和日本的大片土地在未来几十年中将不适宜人类居住。死亡人数仍有争议，但大约是几千人。造成这些灾难的反应堆包括多种类型，在不同的国家，发生时间相差几十年。看着这些数字，我们不禁扪心自问，“世界10%的电力供应真的值得30年一次的灾难吗？那难道30%，就值得我们每10年承受下一个福岛或切尔诺贝利吗？等到什么地方被污染了我们才会停手呢？界限在哪里？”
So, should we use nuclear energy? The risks may outweigh the benefits and maybe we should stop looking into this direction and drop this technology for good.
所以，我们应该使用核能吗？弊远大于利，或许我们应当停止这方面的研究，不再发展核科技。
