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It all looks good on paper. But then, nuclear power always does. The industry has been plagued by delays and cost overruns for decades. Existing sodium-cooled reactors, most of which are experimental, have a spotty record. A plant in Japan suffered a serious fire in 1995 and was shut down for over a decade. The Superphénix reactor in France, built in 1974, proved extremely unreliable, and was offline for years at a time. It closed for good in 1998. (Other reactors, such as the Fast Flux Test Facility in Washington state, have better records.)
从纸上看一切都很好。但话说回来，核能总是如此。数十年来，该行业一直受到工期延误和成本超支的困扰。现有的钠冷却反应堆大部分都是实验性的，其记录参差不齐。日本的一家工厂在1995年遭受了严重的火灾，并被关闭了十多年。法国的Superphénix反应堆建于1974年，事实证明它非常不可靠，一度中断了好几年。它于1998年永久关闭。(其他反应堆，比如华盛顿州的Fast Flux Test Facility，有更好的记录。)
The Union of Concerned Scientists, an American not-for-profit organisation, argues in a report published in March that sodium's advantages as a coolant are counterbalanced by drawbacks. One is that a reactor which ran too hot might see its power output rise as a consequence. Unlike water, the loss of which shuts a reactor down for lack of moderation, sodium slightly damps the chain-reaction. If bubbles of sodium vapour formed in the coolant, that damping effect would diminish, risking a dangerous feedback loop of rising temperatures and growing power output.
美国非营利组织“忧思科学家联盟”在3月份发表的一份报告中指出，钠作为冷却剂的优点被其缺点抵消了。一个是，反应堆运行过热可能会导致其功率输出上升。与水不同的是，钠会轻微地抑制链式反应，而水的流失会导致反应堆因缺乏节制而关闭。如果在冷却剂中形成钠蒸汽的气泡，这种阻尼效应将会减弱，冒着温度上升和功率输出增加的危险反馈回路的风险。
The physics of such judgments are tricky. Few countries have as much nuclear experience as France, which generates around 70% of its electricity that way. Yet in 2015 French regulators said they could not determine whether sodium-cooled reactors are significantly safer than modern LWRS. TerraPower, moreover, insists that its Natrium plant is designed in a way that makes runaway reactions impossible.
这种判断的物理原理是复杂的。很少有国家拥有像法国这样丰富的核电经验，法国大约70%的电力都是通过这种方式产生的。然而在2015年，法国监管机构表示，他们不能确定钠冷反应堆是否显著显然比现代LWRS更安全。此外，泰拉能源公司坚称，其钠厂的设计方式使失控反应不可能发生。
America's government, for its part, thinks the technology has merit. It is chipping in $80m to help TerraPower build the demonstration plant, which the firm says should be ready by 2028. In the meantime, says Mr Levesque, TerraPower has been fielding inquiries from electricity firms interested in its technology. Whether Mr Gates's bet on a nuclear-power revival will pay off remains to be seen.
美国政府则认为这项技术有其优点。该公司出资8000万美元帮助泰拉能源建立示范工厂，该公司称该工厂将在2028年完工。与此同时，莱维斯克先生说，泰拉能源公司一直致力于处理对其技术感兴趣的电力公司的咨询。盖茨先生对核电复兴的押注是否会带来回报还有待观察。
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