比尔·盖茨的新梦想把核废料变燃料

2014-10-23 15:26:42来源：可可英语

　　Today's nuclear reactors run on concentrations of 3 to 5 percent uranium 235, an enriched fuelthat leaves behind a pure, mostly natural waste, uranium 238. (A uranium bomb runs on morethan 90 percent uranium 235.) In today's reactors, some uranium 238 is converted toplutonium that is used as a small, supplemental fuel, but most of the plutonium is left behind aswaste.

　　目前的核反应堆使用3%至5%的铀235，这种燃料浓缩过程会产生一种纯的、基本上天然的废料，即铀238(铀弹使用90%以上的铀235)。在目前的反应堆里，一些铀238被转化成钚，作为一种用量较小的辅助燃料来使用，但绝大多数的钚都会剩下来，成为废料。

　　In contrast, the TerraPower reactor makes more plutonium from the uranium 238 for use asfuel, and so would run almost entirely on uranium 238. It would need only a small amount ofuranium 235, which would function like lighter fluid getting a charcoal barbecue started.

　　相比之下，TerraPower的反应堆可以把更多的铀238转换成钚，将其作为燃料使用，因此，这种反应堆使用的几乎全是铀238，只需要少量的铀235，其作用就像在烧烤时用少量打火机油引燃木炭一样。

　　The result, TerraPower's supporters hope, is that countries would not need to enrich uraniumin the quantities they do now, undercutting arguments that they have to have vast stores onhand for a civilian program. TerraPower's concept would also blunt the logic behind a secondroute to a bomb: recovering plutonium from spent reactor fuel, which is how most nuclearweapons are built. Since so much uranium 238 is available, there would be no reason to usethat plutonium, TerraPower says.

　　TerraPower的支持者们希望，这样一来，各国就不再需要像现在这样浓缩那么多铀，为支持民用计划而存储大量浓缩铀的借口也难以再成立。TerraPower的概念还会击破另一个制造核弹的托辞：绝大多数核武器是通过从使用过的反应堆燃料中提取钚制造出来的。TerraPower说，既然有这么多的铀238可以使用，就没有理由再使用那些钚了。

　　Countries that do not have nuclear weapons will still need lots of electricity, said John Gilleland,chief executive of TerraPower, and "we would like to see them build something that allows usto sleep at night."

　　没有核武的国家也是需要大量电力的，TerraPower的首席执行官约翰·吉尔兰德(John Gilleland)说，“我们希望他们造出来的东西不要让我们晚上睡不好觉。”

　　But no one disputes that this is a very long-term bet. Even optimists say it would take until atleast 2030 to commercialize the technology. What the competition would look like then —wind, solar, natural gas or some other technology — is not clear. If the idea can becommercialized, it is not even clear that TerraPower could do it first.

　　但谁都知道这是一种极其长远的投入。甚至连持乐观态度的人都说，这项技术商业化最早也得到2030年。到那个时候，技术竞争(风能、太阳能、天然气或其他一些技术)会是什么样子尚不清楚。如果这个概念真的可以商业化，TerraPower能否成为首家商业化它的公司甚至都很难说。

　　The engineers working for Mr. Gates acknowledge the enormous challenges but say they areconvinced that he, and they, are chasing the solution not only to energy and weaponsproliferation but also to climate change and poverty.

　　盖茨手下的工程师们承认这个挑战十分艰巨，但他们表示，他们坚信自己和盖茨正在追寻的这个解决方案，针对的不仅是能源和核武扩散问题，也包括气候变化和贫困问题。

　　"If you could pick just one thing to lower the price of — to reduce poverty — by far you wouldpick energy," Mr. Gates said as he introduced the reactor idea in a speech in 2010. "Energy andclimate are extremely important to these people, in fact, more important to them than anyoneelse on the planet," he added, referring to killer floods, droughts and crop failures driven bycarbon dioxide given off in energy production. He illustrated his talk with a photo ofschoolchildren doing their homework under street lamps.

　　“如果你只能选择一样东西去降低价格——减少贫困——目前看来应该选能源，”盖茨在2010年的一次发言中介绍了他的反应堆想法，当时他说，“对于这些人来说，能源和气候非常重要，实际上，这对他们比对地球上的其他人都更加重要。”他指的是，能源生产中释放的二氧化碳助长了灾难性的洪水、干旱和农作物歉收的发生。在发言中，盖茨展示了一张学童们在路灯下写作业的图片。

　　In Bellevue, TerraPower is a spinoff of Intellectual Ventures, a company co-founded by Mr.Myhrvold that focuses on inventing new products and techniques, among them improved seedsfor subsistence farmers and methods for keeping vaccines cold for weeks in places where thereis no electricity. But its critics call it a patent troll because it buys large portfolios of technologypatents and uses them, they say, to sue software designers, smartphone makers and others.

　　位于贝尔维尤的TerraPower是从高智发明(Intellectual Ventures)剥离出来的一家公司。梅尔沃德是高智发明的联合创始人，这家公司专注于新产品和新技术的发明，比如面向自给农民(subsistence farmer)的经过改良的种子，让疫苗在没有电的地方保持冷藏状态的方法等。但它被批评人士称为“专利蟑螂”，因为该公司购买了大量技术专利，并且用它们来起诉其他从事软件设计、智能手机制造等等业务的公司。

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