历史与人物nautil.us
切尔诺贝利的“象脚”仍致命
Chernobyl’s Hot Mess, “the Elephant’s Foot,” Is Still Lethal (2013)
2014 — 2019，它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页（≥ 50 分）的那次投稿，空心点是没冲上去的投稿，点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇文章介绍切尔诺贝利核电站4号反应堆事故后形成的放射性熔融物“象脚”，描述其成因、致命辐射水平以及可能污染地下水的风险。文章写于2013年，评论者指出其中部分内容已过时，且对核能的描述有失偏颇。
为什么经久不衰：切尔诺贝利“象脚”是核事故后果的标志性实物，多次登上首页说明公众对核安全的持续关注，但结合评论阅读能同时了解事实与对核能的理性争论。
HN 评论精选
事故源于一场高风险实验而非例行操作，管理层的轻率态度才是关键问题。
我认为这篇文章整体写得不错，但有一点需要澄清。把那次事故称为“例行测试”严重歪曲了他们当时在做的事。这不是日常安全检查，而是一场彻头彻尾的实验——用一座满载燃料的商业RBMK反应堆做实验。更严重的是，负责方也把这场实验当成“例行事务”对待：他们没有对夜班人员进行充分培训，也没有推迟实验，这恰恰说明管理者抱着“这没什么大不了”的心态。
cjslep查看英文原文
I think this article is very well-written overall. However, there are still a point that could use clarification. > During a routine test on April 26, 1986, reactor Number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant experienced a power surge that triggered an emergency shutdown. It did not work. Calling the incident a routine test greatly mischaracterizes what they were doing. This wasn't some sort of daily safety checklist test nor a safety margin test, this was a full-blown experiment. Yes, like a science lab experiment, but with a fully fueled commercial RBMK reactor. This is important because the author falsely makes routine nuclear powerplant operation seem unsafe. To properly characterize the experiment on fair grounds it is nice to mention that the experiment they wanted to test is started by carrying out a simulated emergency shutdown. This is huge. You don't call an emergency shutdown of a gigantic plutonium-making-machine "routine" (Note: RBMKs have a thermal power output on the high side). However, the bigger problem was that the authorities running this experiment treated it exactly the same way the author did. If the authorities did care, they would have properly trained the night shift personnel with the experiment (or delayed the experiment altogether). The fact that the experiment continued with the night shift that was poorly trained for the experiment operations points to a "this is routine and should not be a big deal" vibe of whoever was in charge. I dislike how nowadays others (such as the the author) looking into the reactor accident keep espousing this giant red flag.
文章的反核倾向加剧公众恐慌，而弃核反而导致更脏的煤电替代。
虽然文章有一些有趣的细节，但我根本不赞同它反核的说教。正是这类文章不断滋长公众对核能的偏执。核能可以用现有技术满足今天的电力需求而不排放二氧化碳；福岛事故后，德国等国屈从于非理性的公众恐惧开始弃核，用煤这种更危险的能源替代——这是正在运行的零碳电力被非理性恐惧摧毁，换成可能最脏的能源。
beloch查看英文原文
While the article does contain some interesting details, I fundamentally disapprove of it's anti-nuclear moralizing. It's the constant trickle of articles like this that maintain public paranoia about nuclear power. This matters, because nuclear power allows us to meet today's power demands with today's technology without releasing CO2 into the environment. Alternative power sources are still some ways from meeting humanities power needs on their own, but every megawatt of nuclear power produced keeps carbon in the ground and gives us extra time. Yes, many will point out that several alternative power generation sources could be scaled up to meet all of humanity's demands right now. However, it's not being done because it's economically and technically challenging and would take decades. Meanwhile, fully operational nuclear power plants are being shut down. After the Fukushima incident, Germany and several other countries caved into irrational public fears and have begun to phase out nuclear power, replacing it with much more immediately dangerous power sources such as coal. (It should be noted that there are relatively few reactors in Germany that are likely to be hit by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami.) That's carbon emission free power that's online right now, being destroyed out of irrational fear and replaced with what is possibly our dirtiest source of power. This is what is going on in the world, but the author has published yet another fear-mongering article anyways. It's downright despicable.
象脚证明了熔毁堆芯会自我稀释而停止反应，“熔穿地球”的担忧并不成立。
这篇文章有不少问题，最明显的一处是声称象脚若触及地下水会引发爆炸或污染水源。事实上，象脚恰恰证明了“中国综合症”（熔毁堆芯会熔穿地壳直达地心）是错误的：堆芯熔化后会与周围物质混合稀释，直到低于临界质量而停止反应。西方反应堆下方都有硼硅酸盐砂层作为最后防线，熔穿时会形成玻璃状固体，阻断中子、终止反应，不会污染地下水。
ChuckMcM查看英文原文
I guess it is how you look at it. Much of this article has issues but one of the most glaring is this one: "Born of human error, continually generating copious heat, the Elephant’s Foot is still melting into the base of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. If it hits ground water, it could trigger another catastrophic explosion or leach radioactive material into the water nearby residents drink." One of the things this 'foot' proved was that the supposition that a meltdown would have a core melt through the ground and down into the center of the earth, aka the "China Syndrome" was false. The reason was of course that once the core became molten it begins to mix with the materials around it, that causes it to become diluted until it drops below criticality and then it ceases to be a threat. All western reactors (and all of those in Japan) have a pool of borosilicate sand underneath the reactor as just such a final safeguard. Should the core melt through to that, it turns the sand to borosilicate glass which kills neutrons and stops the reaction. Leaving behind a solid, cooling glass chunk. Not contaminating any groundwater and generally not going any further afield. It remains to be seen if any of Fukishima's core material made it as far as the sand underneath those reactors. The 'foot' at Chernobyl isn't going anywhere, and in a couple of decades will be safe enough to chop up and dispose of more permanently. Unlike radioactive dust in the plant which was getting carried out of the containment building. I expect that within my kids lifetime people to be living once again in the surrounding area.
文章已过时，切尔诺贝利的新安全掩体工程此后已经完工。
自这篇文章2013年发表以来，切尔诺贝利“新安全掩体”（New Safe Confinement）已经建成。
CaliforniaKarl查看英文原文
(2013) Since this article was published, the “New Safe Confinement” has been completed: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement
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