Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant-英语听力

[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English, [00:02.59]this is the Technology Report. [00:06.13]Workers at the damaged Fukushima [00:09.21]Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan [00:11.70]will soon begin one of the most [00:14.15]important periods of the clean-up efforts. [00:17.88]They will be removing the fuel rods [00:21.22]from one of the worst-hit reactors. [00:23.71]More than 1500 fuel rods [00:27.69]sit in a damaged storage pool 30 meters [00:31.73]above ground inside the reactor 4 building. [00:36.55]TEPCO, the Tokyo Electric Power company [00:40.89]owns the nuclear power station. [00:44.03]Critics say TEPCO should not be trusted [00:48.11]to carry out the operation. [00:50.40]However, TEPCO General Manager Masayuki Ono says [00:56.38]the operation has been carefully planned. [00:59.91]He explains that because the reactor 4 building [01:08.12]was destroyed by a hydrogen explosion, [01:11.61]TEPCO had to rebuild the structure. [01:15.45]This happened during the first year, [01:18.59]the new building he says is stronger than the old one. [01:23.46]The hydrogen explosion left pieces of wreckage [01:28.24]all over the inside of the pool. [01:30.94]TEPCO's first job is to remove this debris. [01:35.52]Then, workers will remove the fuel rods one by one, [01:40.99]they will use a crane suspended above the building. [01:44.98]The fuel rods must not touch each other or break. [01:50.92]Nuclear experts warn that any accidents [01:54.56]could cause an explosion many times worse [01:58.30]than the one in March 2011. [02:01.88]Mitsuhei Murata is Japan's former ambassador to Switzerland [02:07.75]and an anti-nuclear activist. [02:11.14]He notes the problems over the past 30 months [02:15.45]- including radioactive water leaks [02:18.58]- have raised questions about TEPCO's ability [02:22.26]to carry out this operation. [02:24.65]"The Unit 4 contains 10 times more Cesium-137 than Chernobyl. [02:34.26]So in case the worst occurs, [02:37.20]a total withdrawal [from the site] will be imposed, [02:40.74]which means this can be considered as the beginning of [02:45.27]the ultimate catastrophe of the world and the planet." [02:50.02]Japan has called on foreign expert to assist in the operation. [02:54.80]Hironori Nakanishi is the Director-General for Energy Policy [03:00.03]at the government's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. [03:05.51]"The sole responsibility in managing [03:09.74]the situation safely is still on TEPCO corporation. [03:14.92]But still we are in the same boat [03:17.21]and we have to support their activity. [03:19.46]So in order to achieve that goal [03:21.84]we asked the specialists all over the world, [03:25.13]from United States, the UK, France, Russia and Ukraine." [03:31.01]Inspectors from Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority [03:34.89]have approved TEPCO's planned operation [03:38.38]to remove the fuel from Reactor 4. [03:41.72]The process is expected to begin in November [03:46.25]and to take up to 18 months to complete. [03:50.68]And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.