经济学人下载:原子能--小型裂变(1)

War zones are dangerous places. Where better, then, for a nuclear reactor?
战区是危险的地方。对核反应堆来说，却是个好地方。

On March 9th America's government awarded a trio of firms $39.7m
3月9日，美国政府给三家公司拨款3970万美元，

to design "microreactors" that can supply a few megawatts of power to remote military bases,
用于设计“微型反应堆”，为偏远的军事基地提供几兆瓦的电力，

and be moved quickly by road, rail, sea and air.
并可通过公路、铁路、海路和空路快速移动。

The idea of small reactors is as old as nuclear power itself. In July 1951,
小型反应堆的想法和核能一样古老。1951年7月，

five months before a reactor in Idaho became the first in the world to produce usable electricity through fission,
爱达荷州的一个反应堆成为世界上第一个通过裂变产生可用电力的反应堆的5个月前，

America began building USS Nautilus, a nuclear-powered submarine.
美国开始建立鹦鹉螺号核动力潜艇。

In the 1960s and 1970s small reactors powered bases in Alaska and Greenland,
上世纪60和70年代，小型反应堆为阿拉斯加和格陵兰岛的基地、

a radar facility in Wyoming, a research station in Antarctica and—from a cargo ship— the Panama Canal Zone.
怀俄明州的一个雷达设施、南极洲的一所研究站以及巴拿马运河区提供动力。

America still uses nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft-carriers.
美国仍在使用核动力潜艇和航空母舰。

But land-based mini-reactors proved unreliable and expensive and have fallen out of favour.
但事实证明陆基迷你反应堆并不可靠、造价昂贵，已经失宠。

Interest has been revived by recent wars, in which American forces proved extraordinarily hungry for energy.
最近的战争重新激起了人们的兴趣，在这些战争中，美国军队被证明极度渴求能源。

Early in the Iraq war, fuel made up over a third of the tonnage transported to the region.
早在伊拉克战争中，运往该地区的燃料占总吨位的三分之一以上。

Between 2001 and 2010, over half of American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred during land-transport missions,
在2001年和2010年间，在伊拉克和阿富汗超过一半的美军伤亡是在地面运输任务中发生的，

many involving fuel deliveries to remote outposts.
其中很多都是向边远哨所运送燃料。

Portable reactors could substitute for unreliable power grids or the generators that often take their place.
便携式反应堆可以替代不可靠的电网或取代它们的发电机。

America's armed forces use about 30 terawatt-hours of electricity per year— about the same as Ireland—
美国武装部队每年大约消耗30太瓦时的电力——与爱尔兰差不多——

and more than 35m litres of fuel per day. In 2016 a report by the Defence Science Board, a committee of experts,
以及每天超过3500万升的燃料。2016年，美国国防部科学委员会的一份报告

concluded that demand would surge as new power-hungry weapons, like lasers and rail-guns, come to maturity.
总结到随着新型高功率武器，如激光和轨道炮的成熟，需求将会激增。