Experts Call for Local and Regional Control of Sites for Radioactive Waste

The withdrawal of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a potential nuclear waste repository¹ has reopened the debate over how and where to dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste. In an article in the July 10 issue of Science, University of Michigan² geologist Rodney Ewing and Princeton University³ nuclear physicist Frank von Hippel argue that, although federal agencies should set standards and issue licenses for the approval of nuclear facilities, local communities and states should have the final approval on the siting of these facilities. The authors propose the development of multiple sites that would service the regions where nuclear reactors are located.

“The main goal…, should be to provide the United States with multiple alternatives and substantial public involvement in an open siting and design process that requires acceptance by host communities and states,”the authors write.

Ewing and von Hippel also analyze the reasons why Yucca Mountain, selected by Congress⁴ in 1987 as the only site to be investigated for long-term nuclear waste disposal, finally was shelved⁵ after more than three decades of often controversial debate. The reasons include the site’s geological problems, management problems, important changes in the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard, unreliable funding and the failure to involve local communities in the decision-making process.

Going forward, efforts should be directed at locating storage facilities in the nation’s northeastern, southeastern, midwestern and western regions, and states within a given region should be responsible for developing solutions that suit their particular circumstances. Transportation of nuclear waste over long distances, which was a concern with the Yucca Mountain site, would be less of a problem because temporary storage or geological disposal sites could be located closer to reactors.

“This regional approach would be similar to the current approach in Europe, where spent nuclear fuel⁶ and high-level nuclear waste⁷ from about 150 reactors and reprocessing plants is to be moved to a number of geological repositories in a variety of rock types⁸,”said Rodney Ewing, who has written extensively about the impact of nuclear waste management on the environment and who has analyzed safety assessment criteria for the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

 

词汇:

radioactive adj.放射性的   

geologist n.地质学家

shelve v.搁置      

reactor n.反应堆，反应器

repository n.储藏地，储藏室   

geological adj. 地质的

controversial adj. 有争议的     

 

注释:    

1. The withdrawal of Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a potential nuclear waste repository: Nevada’s Yucca Mountain:美国境内的内华达州尤卡山。 nuclear waste repository:核废物处理库。美国能源部部长朱棣文 2009年 3月 5日表示，拟在内华达州尤卡山建设的核废物昀终处理库将不再是美国储存高放废物的一个选项。

2. University of Michigan:美国密歇根大学，建于 1817年。

3. Princeton University:美国普林斯顿大学，建于 1746年。

4. Congress:美国国会，美国昀高立法机关，由参议院 (Senate)和众议院(House of Representatives)组成。

5.…was shelved: ……被束之高阁。 6. spent nuclear fuel:也叫做 used nuclear fuel，一般译为“乏核燃料”。

7. high-level nuclear waste:高（强度）放（射性）核废物。

8. geological repositories in a variety of rock types:各种不同岩层中的地质处置库。 geological repositories指的是地表以下 300~1500米的稳定的地质体中建造的用于昀终处置高放废物和乏核燃料的工程设施。处置库是一个多重屏障系统，工程屏障由废物体、废物罐、外包装和缓冲回填材料组成，而天然屏障则是能有效阻滞放射性核素迁移的地质体，包括花岗岩、粘土岩、凝灰岩和岩盐等。许多专家认为地质处置是安全的，技术上是可行的，对环境是无害的。

What is NOT true about the 1987 decision by Congress concerning siting of nuclear waste disposal?

A:Yucca Mountain was selected as the only site for a nuclear waste repository. B:The selection of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal caused much controversy. C:The decision by Congress was put aside due to a number of problems. D:

The decision by Congress was accepted by local communities.

本课程提到，（）年，__同志说过：“社会主义国家有个最大的优越性，就是干一件事情，一下决心，一作出决议，就立即执行。”A.1985B.1986C.1987D.1988

A:1985 B:1986 C:1987 D:1988

1987年9月5日《档案法》颁布并于（）1月1日正式施行。

A:1988年 B:1987年 C:1986年 D:1989年

根据政府记录，格陵兰的1987年的自杀率(每1000人中自杀的人数)比1960年高出17倍，因为格陵兰从1960年的狩猎捕鱼的社会发展成1987年的工业社会，所以自杀率的激增一定是由这一社会变化引起的。
下面哪个，如果正确，对上述结论提出了最严重的质疑( )

A:从狩猎捕鱼的社会转变成工业社会造成犯罪率的激增 B:即使在狩猎捕鱼的社会，也有一部分社会成员选择自杀 C:1987年，格陵兰居民的寿命比1960年没有发生社会变化以前人的寿命短 D:1987年，格陵兰发生的自杀事件都上报给相应的政府部门，而在1960年大多数自杀事件没有上报

1984～1987年中人口增长最多的一年是（）。

A:1984年 B:1985年 C:1986年 D:1987年

1984～1987年中人口增长最少的一年是（）

A:1984年 B:1985年 C:1986年 D:1987年

Text 4
Historians may well look back on the 1980s in the United States as a time of rising affluence side by side with rising poverty. The growth in affluence is attributable to an increase in professional and technical jobs, along with more two career couples whose combined incomes provide a" comfortable living". Yet simultaneously, the nation’ s poverty rate rose between 1973 and 1983 from 11.1 percent of the population to 15.2, or by well over a third. Although the poverty rate declined somewhat after 1983, it was still held at 13.5 percent in 1987, comprising a population of 32:5 million Americans.
The definition of poverty is a matter of debate. In 1795, a group of English magistrates decided that a minimum in come should be "the cost of a gallon loaf of bread, multiplied by three, plus an allowance for each dependent". Today the Census Bureau defines the threshold of poverty in the United States as the minimum amount of money that families need to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet, assuming they use one third of their income for food. Using this definition, roughly half the American population was poor in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s. By 1950, the proportion of the poor had fallen to 30 percent and by 1964, to 20 percent. With the adoption of the Johnson administration ’ s antipoverty programs, the poverty rate dropped to 12 percent in 1969. But since then, it has stopped falling. Liberals contend that the poverty line is too low because it fails to take into account changes in the standard of living.
Conservatives say that it is too high because the poor receive other forms of public assistance, including food stamps, public housing subsidies, and health care.

In which of the following years did the poor people constitute the largest proportion of the American population（）

A:1973. B:1987. C:1969. D:1983.

Text 4
Historians may well look back on the 1980s in the United States as a time of rising affluence side by side with rising poverty. The growth in affluence is attributable to an increase in professional and technical jobs, along with more two career couples whose combined incomes provide a" comfortable living". Yet simultaneously, the nation’ s poverty rate rose between 1973 and 1983 from 11.1 percent of the population to 15.2, or by well over a third. Although the poverty rate declined somewhat after 1983, it was still held at 13.5 percent in 1987, comprising a population of 32:5 million Americans.
The definition of poverty is a matter of debate. In 1795, a group of English magistrates decided that a minimum in come should be "the cost of a gallon loaf of bread, multiplied by three, plus an allowance for each dependent". Today the Census Bureau defines the threshold of poverty in the United States as the minimum amount of money that families need to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet, assuming they use one third of their income for food. Using this definition, roughly half the American population was poor in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s. By 1950, the proportion of the poor had fallen to 30 percent and by 1964, to 20 percent. With the adoption of the Johnson administration ’ s antipoverty programs, the poverty rate dropped to 12 percent in 1969. But since then, it has stopped falling. Liberals contend that the poverty line is too low because it fails to take into account changes in the standard of living.
Conservatives say that it is too high because the poor receive other forms of public assistance, including food stamps, public housing subsidies, and health care.

In which of the following years did the poor people constitute the largest proportion of the American population（）

A:1973. B:1987. C:1969. D:1983.