经济学人下载:妙招告急-日本能源问题

Energy in Japan
日本能源问题

Bright ideas needed
妙招告急

Japan’s power monopolies raise costs and stifle innovation
日本能源垄断企业——拽高成本，扼杀创新

Sep 17th 2011 | TOKYO | from the print edition   

THE corridors were dark, the air uncomfortably hot. The lights at the headquarters of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were largely switched off; the air-conditioners were turned down. Even the chief executive, Toshio Nishizawa, had removed his tie for an interview on September 5th. In normal times, that would be a glaring breach of Japanese corporate etiquette, but these are not normal times.

走廊伸手不见十指，空气燥热难忍。东京电力总部，几乎没几盏灯亮着，空调冷气也已调小。9月5日接受采访时，东电首席执行官Toshio Nishizawa甚至都未系领带。这要放在平时，显然就是公然违背日本公司礼仪。但如今绝非“平时”。

Since the earthquake and tsunami of March 11th, most nuclear reactors in Japan have been shut down for maintenance and not restarted: 43 out of 54 remain idle. There has been a national drive for setsuden (conserving energy). TEPCO must be seen to share the pain.

3月11日地震海啸袭来，日本大部分核反应堆都因维护原因关停，尚未重启使用，54座反应堆中有43座仍然闲置。日本全国上下曾掀起“能源节约”热潮，东电必须做出样子，有所分担。

The company is staggeringly unpopular. One of its nuclear plants at Fukushima was damaged on March 11th. In the crucial hours after the tsunami, TEPCO failed to add water to cool the reactor cores. It was unable to restore steady back-up power until days later and inexplicably delayed venting a build-up of pressure that eventually led to hydrogen explosions.

如今，东电极不受待见。3月11日的灾难中，东电在福岛的一座核电站被毁。海啸退去关键的几个小时内，东电未能向反应堆核心注水降温。而且直到灾难爆发数天之后，东电才恢复稳定的备用电源。再者，东电迟迟未释放反应堆内激增的巨大压力，最终导致了氢爆炸，真叫人无法理解。

As if that were not bad enough, TEPCO withheld information from everyone, including the then prime minister, Naoto Kan, who stormed into its headquarters yelling: “What the hell is going on?” A meltdown began several hours after the tsunami struck, but wasn’t officially disclosed until nine weeks later. “We have lost trust,” admits Mr Nishizawa. Regaining it will take “a long, long time”, he adds.

东电貌似觉得这还不够惨，竟而还对外封锁消息，连时任首相菅直人都被蒙在鼓里，菅直人冲进东电总部吼道：“到底怎么回事？”海啸来袭数小时之后，反应堆炉心就已融毁，但直到9个礼拜后东电才正式披露消息。Toshio Nishizawa也承认东电已失去公众信任，并表示重获信任，绝不是一朝一夕的事情。