Small and safe is the vision, at least. Dozens of companies and labs in the U.S. and abroad are pursuing it. [qh]
至少,微小安全是我们的愿景
Kairos is well along, with a permit to build a full-fledged nuclear test reactor already moving toward federal approval, hopefully by the end of 2023. [qh]
卡伊洛斯电力公司进展顺利,建造一个成熟完备的核试验反应堆的许可已经在向联邦政府申请,希望能在2023年底之前获得批准
That test will depend on this one in Albuquerque, because molten-salt reactor cooling has not been tried in the United States since the 1960s, when a five-year experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, proved the idea viable.[qh]
能否获批将取决于阿尔伯克基的这次试验,因为自20世纪60年代以来,美国还没有尝试过熔盐反应堆冷却
In a few days, the test unit’s top will be installed, crowning the device with bristling pipes and sensors. [qh]
没过几天,测试装置的顶部就安装好了,顶部安装了竖立的管道与传感器
Nearby, welders ready those pipes and valves. [qh]
不远处,焊工们正在准备那些管道和阀门
Engineers stand on top of scaffolding slotting graphite reflectors into place.[qh]
工程师们站在脚手架的顶部,将石墨反射器插入指定位置
As I tour the facility, however, I soon realize that the crucial technology is not 16 feet tall but about 5 foot 6, balding, with jeans and thick, black-framed glasses. [qh]
然而,当我参观核电站时,我很快意识到,关键技术不是16英尺高的装置,而是约5英尺6英寸(约168厘米)高,秃顶,身着牛仔裤,戴着厚厚黑框眼镜的人
John Muratore runs this test operation and, as you would expect, is an experienced engineer; as you might not expect, he is a space engineer, not a nuclear one.[qh]
约翰·穆拉托负责这项测试的运作,正如你所料,他是一位经验丰富的工程师; 但你可能想不到,他是一位太空工程师,而不是一位核工程师
As a boy in the ’60s, he was the archetypal kid who built model planes and joined the rocketry club and never stopped daydreaming about human flight. [qh]
他是个典型的60年代的男孩,制作模型飞机,加入火箭俱乐部,从未停止过对人类飞行的幻想
He spent 24 years working for NASA, where he was a flight controller for the space-shuttle program under the legendary flight director Gene Kranz, of Apollo 13 movie fame. [qh]
他在美国国家航空航天局工作了24年,他在航天局是航天飞机项目的飞行管理员,在传奇飞行指挥员吉恩·克兰兹(他因《阿波罗13号》电影而成名)手下工作
Then he spent a decade working for SpaceX, Elon Musk’s world-beating private spaceflight company.[qh]
之后,他在埃隆·马斯克的世界级私人航天公司SpaceX工作了10年
Nuclear power wasn’t on his radar until recently, when Kairos’s executives called him for advice and wound up recruiting him. [qh]
直到最近,卡伊洛斯电力公司的高管们给他打电话征求建议,并最终将他招募到公司后,他才开始关注核能
“A lot of it was the same,” he told me.[qh]
“很多都是相同的,”他告诉我
“A launchpad and a nuclear reactor have a lot in common”—extreme temperatures, and many tons of concrete, and lots of pipes and valves and sensors and controls that must work together with extreme precision.[qh]
“发射台与核反应堆有很多共同之处”——极端高温、数吨混凝土、大量的管道、阀门、传感器与控制装置,它们都必须分毫不差地协同工作
There’s another, more significant similarity: “The industry is hobbled by costs and schedule overruns, as was the launch industry prior to SpaceX.” [qh]
还有一个更重要的相似之处: “这个行业受到成本超支与进度超时的困扰,就像SpaceX之前的火箭发射行业一样
Managing complex projects—and bringing new vigor to old ideas—is something Muratore’s 40 years in the space industry have taught him a lot about.[qh]
管理复杂的项目——为老想法注入新活力——是穆拉托在航天工业40年的经历教会他的诸多东西之一