安省的核电站到底有多安全？

2020年1月19日（周日）清晨，安省的许多人都收到了手机警报。警报说安省皮克林核电站发生了“事故”。许多人认为这是又一起安珀警报（小孩可能被绑架的警报），因为在过去几个月中已有过几次这样的警报。许多人对这类警报不满和担忧。

In the early morning hours of Jan 19, 2020 (Sunday), many of us in Ontario received an alert that warned of an “incident” at the Pickering Nuclear Power Generating Station through our cell phones. Many thought it was another Amber alert as they were issued a few times over the last few months and drew plenty of controversy and concerns.

今天你也许关心的话题：

武汉肺炎疫情还有哪些未知问题？
为防止疫情扩大 武汉“封城” 湖北被指“瞒报”
每日新闻 1月23日 周四 世卫暂不宣布武汉肺炎为全球紧急事件 安省走廊医疗严重

想要阅读与本文有关的话题？请点击本文末的链接！



周日上午7:24的警报说：“安省皮克林核电站发生了一起事故。事故中没有出现异常的放射性释放，应急人员正在处理事故，核电站附近的人时无需采取任何保护措施。”该消息让许多人非常不安，尤其是那些住在皮克林核电站附近的居民。

This alert at 7:24am stated that: “An incident has been reported at the Pickering Nuclear Generation. There has been no abnormal release of radioactivity from the station and emergency staff are responding to the situation." Furthermore, “People near the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station do not need to take any protective actions at this time.” This message was very unsettling to many residents, especially those who are living close to the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant.

上午9:11，人们收到了撤销早晨7点多钟的警报。警报说：“ 皮克林核电站并没有发生核事故，”并确认早期警报是误报的，核电站对公众或环境没有危险。”

It was not until 9:11 am. That a second alert was sent to rescind the earlier one and noted that: “There is NO active nuclear situation taking place at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station,” and confirmed that the first alert was an error. “There is no danger to the public or environment” the follow up alert said.

当天晚些时候，安省副检察长琼斯发表声明，确认该错误是在省紧急救援中心进行的“例行培训”期间发生的。她说，安省已开始就此事件展开调查，看看误报是如何发生的，并将采取措施确保这样的事不会再次发生。

Later that day, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones issued a statement confirming that the error happened during a “routine training exercise” being conducted by the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre. She says the province has begun an investigation to determine how the error happened and will take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.



该事件突显了许多人对核能发电的担心。警报让人们联想起福岛，切尔诺贝利，三英里岛的核事故。问题是，未知或不确定性的恐惧是由缺乏知识造成的。在缺乏知识的情况下，人们会将苹果与桔子进行比较。而事实是，皮克林核电站的设计与上述三个核电站完全不同。

The incident highlighted the fact that many people fear nuclear energy. The alert immediately drew out the words related to previous Nuclear accidents – Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island”. Fear of the unknown or the uncertain is driven by a lack of knowledge. In this case, people are comparing apples to oranges – the Pickering Nuclear Plant design is totally different from the three Nuclear Stations mentioned above.

在职业生涯的前二十年中，我一直在核电站的设备和操作系统上工作。我熟悉加拿大核电站，以及使用加拿大氘铀铀（CANDU）在海外建造的核电站。这些核电站都是由加拿大原子能有限公司设计，并由该公司颁发运行许可。由于CANDU设计的固有特性，上述三个核电站的事故根本不可能在加拿大核电站身上发生。

I spent the first twenty years of my working career with Nuclear Power Plant equipment and operating systems. I know all about the Canadian Nuclear Plants and those built overseas using the Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) design licensed by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). The accidents in the three plants above simply cannot be duplicated in Canadian Nuclear Plants due to the inherent characteristics of the CANDU design.



CANDU反应堆的绝妙之处是使用重水作为调节剂。在任何热反应堆中，减速器必须有效地在不减少中子的数量下减慢中子的速度。在轻水反应堆中，缓冲剂和冷却剂之间没有区别，堆芯包含在一个大的厚壁压力容器中。 CANDU减速器基本上是无压，而且不热，并装在一个反应​​堆容器（加热炉）中。数百个装有燃料和冷却剂的相同压力管穿过该反应堆容器。

The essence of a CANDU reactor is its use of heavy water as the moderator. In any thermal reactor, the moderator must slow down neutrons efficiently while capturing as few as possible. In light-water reactors there is no distinction between moderator and coolant, and the core is contained within a large, thick-walled pressure vessel. The CANDU moderator is essentially unpressurized and cool, is contained in a reactor vessel (calandria) through which pass some hundreds of identical pressure tubes containing the fuel and coolant.

压力管设计可以让反应堆不停机添加核燃料，这是通过机械移动实现的。该机械连接到压力管的相对两端加核燃料。任何在操作过程中引起问题的燃料组件都可以追溯到特定的压力管，甚至可以追溯到其在该压力管中的位置。不停机加核燃料可以将有缺陷的组件移除，然后再向冷却液释放大量的放射性核废料。在其他设计中，除非关闭整个反应堆，否则无法完成此操作。

The pressure-tube design facilitates on-power fueling, achieved by mobile machines which connect to opposite ends of the pressure tube to be fueled. Any fuel assembly that causes a problem during operation can be traced to a particular pressure tube, and even to its position in that tube. On-power fueling allows the defective assembly to be removed before it can release significant radioactivity to the coolant. In the other designs, this cannot be done unless the entire reactor is shut down.



冷却剂和缓冲剂的分离意味着它们的化学物质可以独立优化。具体来说，你可以将中子“毒药”添加到减速剂中，以控制或关闭反应堆，而不会损害主冷却剂回路的腐蚀控制。处于较低温度的独立减速器构成了一个非常大的散热器，能够吸收任何事故中可能释放的热量。

The separation of coolant and moderator means that their chemistries can be independently optimized. Specifically, neutron “poisons” can be added to the moderator to control or shut down the reactor without jeopardizing the corrosion control of the primary coolant circuit. The separate moderator at relatively low temperatures constitutes a very large heat sink capable of absorbing any energy that might be released in any accidents.

此外，反应堆还有一个真空的钢筋混凝土建筑物。该建筑物连接到反应堆圆顶。圆顶由相同材料制成，厚度超过20英寸。真空建筑设计是CANDU反应器确保安全的独到设计。相对于任何反应堆穹顶中的压力，该建筑物均保持在真空状态。如果在任何反应堆穹顶中发生大量释放的放射性蒸汽，反应堆的阀门将打开以将高压蒸汽导向真空建筑物。建筑物包括一个喷雾系统，以降低受影响的反应堆圆顶和真空建筑物内的压力。从建筑物上部的洒水装置喷出冷水以冷却蒸汽。这将防止放射性物质释放到大气中。

Additionally, there is a reinforced concrete vacuum building connected to the reactor domes made of the same materials over 20 inches thick. The vacuum building design is a unique safety feature of CANDU reactors. This building is maintained at a vacuum relative to the pressure in any of the reactor domes. If a large release of radioactive steam occurs in any of the reactor domes, valves will open to direct the high pressure steam to the vacuum building which includes a spray system to reduce the pressure both within the affected reactor domes and the vacuum building. Cool water sprays from sprinkler type units in the upper parts of the building to condense the steam. This will prevent the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere.



渥太华的核监管机构-加拿大核安全委员会（CNSC）要求政府要向核电站10公里范围内的居民发放KI药丸，以防万一发生的放射性碘泄露。

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the federal nuclear regulator, requires that homes within 10 km of a nuclear power station be sent a supply of KI pills to be taken in the unlikely event that there is a release of radioactive iodine.

不过，自1月19日全省范围内的核“事故”虚假警报以来，在10公里放射区域之外的56,831名居民也订购了碘化钾（KI）药丸。 这些药有助于阻止甲状腺吸收放射性碘，防止其对人体，尤其是对儿童的伤害。 婴儿暴露于放射性碘后患甲状腺癌的风险最高，但人们应根据年龄给予正确的剂量。

Nevertheless, 56831 Ontarians outside of the 10 Km area have ordered potassium iodide (KI) pills since last Sunday’s province-wide nuclear “incident” false alarm. The pills help block the absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid gland, preventing injury, particularly in children. Infants are at the highest risk of developing thyroid cancer after exposure to radioactive iodine but should only be given the correct dosage for their age.

既然我们的燃煤发电厂都被关了以减少碳排放，安省将继续需要核电。 到目前为止，CANDU系统的安全记录非常出色。希望我们今后永远不会使用这一“警报”系统。

Nuclear power will stay with Ontario now that our Coal firing Power Generating plants are all removed to reduce the carbon gas emissions. The safety record of the CANDU system has been excellent so far. Let us hope that we do not have to ever use the “alert” system for any real incidents in future.