高考英语 考前突破阅读理解能力 福岛核电站开始移除核燃.docVIP

福岛核电站开始移除核燃料棒 Workers at Japans stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor building. 日本福岛核电站的工作人员已经着手移除4号反应堆一座冷却池内的燃料棒。 ? The delicate operation is seen as a necessary step in stabilising the site. ? It will take more than two days to remove the first 22 fuel rods from the pond, plant operator Tepco says. ? Overall, more than 1,500 rods must be be removed in what correspondents describe as a risky and dangerous operation expected to take a year. ? Experts say hydrogen explosions after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 have made the current storage facility vulnerable to further tremors. ? The fuel rods are four-metre long tubes containing pellets（芯块，小球） of uranium fuel, and the fear is that some may have been damaged during the disaster. ? Important process ? When the tsunami struck, water knocked out cooling systems to three of Fukushimas reactors, which went into a state of partial meltdown.? ? Unit 4 was undergoing maintenance, so all of its fuel rods were being stored. But a build-up of hydrogen - attributed to a meltdown at one of the other reactors - triggered an explosion in Unit 4, damaging its structure.? ? The removal of the rods has been preceded by months of repair work and planning.? ? Once extracted using a crane, the fuel rods will be deposited into a more secure storage pool with a cooling system. ? Full-scale removal [from the accident-stricken unit] is a very important process in moving ahead with the plants decommissioning, Tepco (Tokyo Electric Power Company) spokesman Masayuki Ono was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying. ? Yoshihide Suga, Japans top government spokesman, said he hoped the operation would be done properly. ? We hope that this [process] will be conducted in a manner that will not disturb local residents, and that the removal will be done on schedule, properly and safely, he said. ? The Fukushima nuclear power plant has suffered a series of setbacks in recent