福島事故後 日本給核反應堆重開綠燈

TOKYO — For the first time since the Fukushima disaster three years ago, Japan’s new nuclear regulatory agency declared Wednesday that an atomic power plant was safe to operate, in a widely watched move that brings Japan a step closer to restarting its idled nuclear industry.

東京——自三年前的福島災難以來，日本新的核監管機構第一次於週三宣佈一個原子能發電廠可以安全運轉，這個廣受關注的舉動，把日本向重啓其閒置的核能工業帶近了一步。

The two reactors at the Sendai power plant on the southern island of Kyushu are the first to be certified as safe enough to restart by the Nuclear Regulation Authority since the agency was created two years ago to restore public confidence in nuclear oversight. All of Japan’s 48 operable commercial nuclear reactors were shut down after the March 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station created serious public doubts about the safety of atomic power in earthquake-prone Japan.

位於九州島南部的川內核電廠的兩座反應堆，被原子能管制委員會(Nuclear Regulation Authority)首批認證爲足夠安全、可以重啓，該委員會成立於兩年前，旨在恢復公衆對核監督的信心。2011年3月福島第一核電站3座反應堆核心熔燬，引起公衆對地震多發的日本的核能安全問題的嚴重疑慮，之後，日本的48座可運行的商業核反應堆全部關閉。

Even with the approval, it will still likely be months before either of the reactors can be turned back on. In addition to further safety checks, the plant’s operator, Kyushu Electric Power Company, must also obtain the consent of local governments around the plant. The final decision on whether to restart the plant will be made by the prime minister, probably in December, according to local news media reports.

即使得到了批准，這兩座反應堆中的任何一個重新開啓仍可能需要好幾個月的時間。核電廠的操作方九州電力公司，除了要做進一步的安全檢查外，還必須獲得發電廠附近地方政府的同意。據當地新聞媒體報道，是否重啓核電廠的最終決定將由首相作出，可能是在12月。

The approval follows intense political pressure on the new agency by the government of the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, a pro-big business leader who wants to restore atomic energy as part of his strategy to revive the nation’s long anemic economy. He also wants to turn the plants back on in order to end Japan’s ballooning trade deficits, which many here blame on the rising cost of imported fuel to make up for the loss of nuclear-generated electricity.

安倍晉三首相的政府給新機構批准反應堆運轉施加了巨大的政治壓力，安倍晉三是一位親大企業的領導人，他想把恢復原子能工業作爲自己振興國內長期疲軟經濟的戰略之一。他也想通過重啓核電廠來結束日本不斷增長的貿易赤字，日本有許多人認爲，貿易赤字增長是由於爲了彌補失去的核能發電，進口燃料的費用在增加。

However, opinion polls have shown that the public remains skeptical about both the safety of the plants and the ability to ensure that safety by Mr. Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party, which has long had close ties to the politically powerful nuclear industry. Those doubts were aired last month, during a monthlong public comment period after the agency released a draft report in July that expressed approval of the Sendai plant’s safety measures.

不過，民意調查顯示，老百姓對核電廠的安全、以及由安倍晉三的自民黨執政的政府確保這種安全的能力仍持懷疑態度，自民黨長期以來與政治上很強大的核工業有着密切的關係。上個月，這些疑慮在爲期一個月的公衆評議期間得到充分表達，公衆評議期是在覈監管機構7月份發佈了一份表示批准川內核電廠安全措施的報告草案之後。

The agency said it received 17,800 comments, more than it expected. Many were highly skeptical about the safety of the Sendai plant, which is located in a volcanically active area. Still, the agency on Wednesday ended up adopting its July findings without major modifications.

該機構表示，共收到了17,800條評論，超過其預期。許多人對位於火山活躍區的川內核電廠的安全表示高度懷疑。儘管如此，該機構在週三仍最終採用了其7月的報告，並沒有做重大修改。

In a news release, the agency said it had made the decision after reviewing 18,600 pages of supporting documents filed by Kyushu Electric, as well as the results of its own inspections of the plant. It said the design and construction of the reactors and other facilities, and also the contingency plans for dealing with emergencies, met new safety standards that the agency adopted in July of last year.

該機構在新聞發佈中表示，它在審查了九州電力提交的18,600頁的支持文件以及自己檢查覈電廠的結果後，作出了上述決定。該機構說，反應堆及其他設備的設計和建造，以及應對突發事件的應急預案，都符合該機構去年7月實施的新的安全標準。

“I think the huge number of public comments, more than anything, reflects the enormous sensitivity toward the restart question, and the safety of nuclear power,” Kenzo Oshima, a commissioner at the agency, told reporters. “I also see it as reflecting a strong desire after the Fukushima accident to learn from that experience and raise the level of safety.”

原子能管制委員會委員大島賢三(Kenzo Oshima)對記者說，“我認爲數量龐大的公衆意見，比任何其他東西更多地反映了對重啓問題、以及對核電安全的極大敏感性。我也認爲，這也反映了福島事故發生後的一種強烈慾望：從事故中汲取教訓，提高安全水平。”

Agency officials have sought to reassure the public by calling their new safety standards the most stringent in the world, saying they fully incorporate the lessons of the Fukushima disaster, which was caused when an earthquake and tsunami knocked out vital cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

該機構的官員稱其新的安全標準是世界上最嚴格的，並說他們把福島災難的教訓完全吸收進來了，以此來尋求讓民衆放心，福島災難的原因是地震後引發的海嘯，沖毀了福島第一核電站至關重要的冷卻系統。

Opponents of the restart faulted the agency for ignoring the concerns raised in the public comments. They said the agency, which had started amid high hopes for more independent oversight of the nuclear industry, was looking more and more like a rubber stamp for the current administration.

反對重啓的人指責該機構無視公衆意見所表達的擔憂。他們說，該機構越來越像當前政府的橡皮圖章，而這個機構是在人們對核能工業得到更獨立的監督的厚望下成立的。

“There was clearly huge pressure on the regulatory agency from the Abe government,” said Akira Kimura, a professor of peace studies at Kagoshima University who has been involved in efforts to block the restart of the Sendai plant. “This government is just ramming through its agenda, with complete disregard for the public will.”

鹿兒島大學(Kagoshima University)和平學教授木村朗(Akira Kimura)參加了阻止川內核電廠重啓的工作，他說，“很明顯，安倍政府給監管機構施加了巨大壓力。 這個政府只是在迫使他人接受其議程，完全無視公衆的意願。”