ВУЗ:
Составители:
Рубрика:
known to be lacking in a restricted diet, or to act as a therapeutic measure in medical treatment. Specifically,
caution must be exercised with fat-soluble substances, such as vitamins A and D, because, taken in gigantic
doses, they may present a serious health hazard over a period of time.
Text 4 Read, translate and retell.
Because geologists have long indicated that fossil fuels will not last indefinitely, the U.S. government finally
acknowledged that sooner or later other energy sources would be needed and, as a result, turned its attention
to nuclear power. It was anticipated that nuclear power plants could supply electricity in such large amounts
and so inexpensively that they would be integrated into an economy in which electricity would take over vir-
tually all fuel-generating functions at nominal costs. Thus, the government subsidized the promotion of com-
mercial nuclear power plants and authorized their construction by utility companies. In the 1960s and early
1970s, the public accepted the notion of electricity being generated by nuclear reactors, and the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission proceeded with plans for numerous nuclear power plants in or near residential areas.
By 1975, 54 plants were fully operational, supplying 11 percent of the nation's electricity, and another 167
plants were at various stages of planning and construction. Officials estimated that by 1990 hundreds of
plants would be on line, and by the turn of the century as many as 1,000 plants would be in working order.
Since 1975, this outlook and this estimation have changed drastically, and many utilities have canceled exist-
ing orders. In some cases, construction was terminated even after billions of dollars had already been in-
vested. After being completed and licensed at a cost of almost $6 billion, the Shoreham Power Plant on Long
Island was turned over to the state of New York to be dismantled without ever having generated electric
power. The reason was that residents and state authorities deemed that there was no possibility of evacuating
residents from the area should an accident occur.
Just 68 of those plants under way in 197 5 have been completed, and another 3 are still under construction.
Therefore, it appears that in the mid 1990s 124 nuclear power plants in the nation will be in operation, gener-
ating about 18 percent of the nation's electricity, a figure that will undoubtedly decline as relatively outdated
plants are shut down.
Страницы
- « первая
- ‹ предыдущая
- …
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- …
- следующая ›
- последняя »