Decaying faster

Decaying faster
 迅速衰减

 

 Last year's reprieve for the nuclear-power industry was too good to last
 去年对核电力工业的缓刑判刑无法持续

 

 SIX months ago Germany's four biggest power companies thought they had a deal: the lives of their 17 nuclear plants would be extended for an average of 12 years. In return they would pay a nuclear-fuel tax totalling euro14 billion ($20 billion) over six years and contribute euro200m-300m annually to a renewable-energy fund. But after Japan's disaster last month the German government told them to shut their seven oldest plants. They will probably never reopen, and the lives of the others are likely to be shortened. A government commission on the nuclear plants will report its findings at the end of May.

 

 六个月前，德国的四家最大的电力公司认为，他们有协议：他们的17家核电厂的使用寿命将会平均延期12年。作为回报，他们六年将支付超过140亿欧元折合200亿美元的核燃料税，每年捐出两千万到三千万欧元的可持续能源基金。但在上月日本的灾难后，德国政府关闭的七最古老的核电站。他们可能永远不会重新开放，其他核电站的使用寿命也可能会缩短。一个核电站政府委员会将在五月底宣布调查结果。

 

 On April 1st RWE, which runs five nuclear plants, challenged the shutdown in a court in Hesse, a state which is home to two of them. E.ON, which operates six plants, says it may still challenge the nuclear-fuel tax; but it tacitly supports the shutdown. So do Vattenfall of Sweden, which operates two, and EnBW, which runs four.

 

 4月1日，有五个核电厂运行的RWE在在黑森州质疑核电站的关闭，而该州是公司两个核电站的所在地。 E. ON公司经营六家核电长，该厂表示，可能仍将挑战核燃油税，但公司默默地支持关闭核电站。瑞典Vattenfall公司也是如此，该公司有两个核电站，EnBW也赞同，该公司有四个核电站。

 

 It is not clear that the nuclear operators are losing much from the standstill. As summer approaches they have enough capacity in conventional and renewable power or can buy from abroad: recently, imports have uncharacteristically outstripped exports. Yet electricity-futures prices on EEX, the Leipzig energy exchange, have risen by about 10% since mid-March and industrial power consumers are spooked by the uncertainty, wondering whether to hedge now or wait.

 

 目前尚不明了的是，核运营商在僵持的过程中正在失去越来越多的东西。随着夏季的来临，他们有足够能力生产常规和可再生能源，也可以从国外购买能源：最近，一反常态地进口超过出口。然而，在EEX和莱比锡能量交换场地电力期货价格自三月中旬已经上涨了约10％，工业电源消费者受不确定性的惊吓，不知道是应该买入对冲工具，还是进一步观其走势。

 

 The medium-term outlook for the power companies is bleaker. RWE and E.ON have joint plans to build up to four nuclear-power plants in Britain, but the taste for new nuclear may desert even the British. All four big German operators are working hard to replace their nuclear capacity (about a quarter of their combined total) with renewable power or gas-fired plants. But the real challenge for Germany is to create an efficient grid to deliver power from future wind-farms in the north and solar arrays in the south to the industrial heartland around the Rhine and the south-west. About 4,500km (2,800 miles) of new high-voltage lines are needed, which would cost around euro11 billion to build. The obstacles are bureaucracy and nimbyism. So far, only 80km have been built.

 

 电力公司的中期前景更加暗淡。 RWE和E. ON公司已经推出联合计划，在英国建立四个核电站，但是对新的核的喜爱已经消退，甚至英国也是如此。德国所有的四家核电运营商正在努力，用可再生能源以及气电发电厂来替换他们的核发电能力（这是合计发电总数的四分之一）。但是德国真正的挑战是在北部建立风电传送在南部建立太阳能发电传送的有效电网，电网将电力输送到莱茵河和西南部的工业腹地。需要约4500公里的新型高压线路（2,800英里），建设要花费大约11亿欧元。障碍是官僚主义和居民排斥。到目前为止，已建成仅有80公里。