JAKARTA, Indonesia - Asia, the world's most seismically charged region, is undergoing a nuclear renaissance as it struggles to harness enough power for its huge populations and booming economies.
印尼 雅加达——亚洲，世界上最容易地震的地区，正在经历核电复苏，因其庞大的人口及繁荣的经济，使其有足够的力量加以治理。
But Asian countries frantically building coastal facilities have made little use of new science to determine whether these areas are safe. At least 32 plants in operation or under construction in Asia are at risk of one day being hit by a tsunami, nuclear experts and geologists warn.
但是那些疯狂的在沿海建设设施的亚洲国家，很少使用新的科技以确定那些地区是否是安全的。亚洲至少32个运营或在建的电厂面临着某天被海啸袭击的风险。核专家及地质专家称。
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The crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power plant is seen in Fukushima Prefecture in this undated handout photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) April 14, 2011. [Photo/Agencies] 2011/4/14东京电力公司发布了这张未注明日期的照片，是福山县被摧毁的福山第一核电厂。 |
甚至当国家已经对灾难进行了恰当的评估，在许多情况下他们没有与联合国原子能机构分享发现，致使专家陷入沮丧及茫然中。
"It's pretty astonishing to a lot of us that so little priority is placed on the work we do," said Kerry Sieh of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, who has studied and written about the Manila Trench, where pressure has been building for millions of years.
新加坡地球观测站的S说，让我们非常惊讶的是，放在我们面前很少的工作可以优先去做。
He is among those who say it is only a matter of time before it snaps.
他也是那些称其在爆发前只是时间问题的一员。
In assessing the tsunami risks to nuclear power stations, scientists focus on their proximity to subduction faults, volcanoes and areas frequently hit by underwater landslides, all of which can trigger seismic waves. Because giant tsunamis recur, they also look at historic and scientific records, going back up to 4,000 years if possible.
在评估海啸对核电站的风险，科学家们把注意力集中在俯冲断裂，火山，及水下滑坡的地区， 这些都将引发地震波。因为巨大的海啸的再现，他们也回顾历史及科学记录，可以追溯到4000年前。
The greatest threat comes from the subduction faults crisscrossing the globe, some far from the minds of policymakers, nuclear industry officials and the public because it has been so long since they exploded.
遍布世界的断层俯冲导致的最大的威胁，这些距离政策的制定者，核工业官员，及公众的大脑非常遥远，因其爆发已经很信以前了。
In places where tectonic plates that form these faults are "coupled," or stuck together, the stresses are the biggest, especially if centuries have passed without a major energy-releasing earthquake.
那些地方的构造板块的形成那些断层是成对的，或在一起的。这个压力是最大的，特别是如果经过几个世纪，却没没发生主要的能量释放——地震。
When the strain eventually forces one plate to pop up or dive under the other, the resulting temblor can spawn mammoth waves like the one that struck off Japan's northeast coast on March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis that has carried on for more than a month.
当这种压力最后迫使一块陆地出现，或使一块进入另一块的下面。其结果是可能带来巨大的海浪，像3/11时袭击日本东北海岸的那次，引发了此次的核危机而情况已经持续超过一个月。
While there is some "coupling" at the Manila Trench, there is debate about just how much. Scientists say more research needs to be done to determine if pressure is building and along which segments.
当一些“联合”存在在马尼拉海沟，有关于程度的大小还有争论。科学家们说，需要更多的调查以确定在那些断片的压力是否正在建立和积累。
Science has come a long way since the first nuclear plant was built in the 1950s.
自20世纪50年代，首个核电厂的建设，科技已经取得了长足的进步。
By carbon dating the ash, pollen or other organic material attached to tsunami sand deposits swept inland with the giant walls of water, geologists can determine to the decade, and sometimes even the year, when the wave hit and how big it was when it roared ashore.
通过碳测定随海啸的巨浪卷袭岛屿遗留下来的灰烬，花粉或其它有机材质的年代，地质学家可以确定十年，有时甚至是今年某时，什么时候波浪来袭，当其卷上海岸时有多大。
That's important because some tsunamis only strike once a millennium.
这很重要，因为一些海啸一千年仅会袭击一次。
"This is the smoking gun, the calling card of the tsunami, and when you find it, especially far inland, you know that this is an area that has been hit with a large tsunami in the past," said Bruce Jaffe, an oceanographer and tsunami expert at the US Geological Survey.
美国地质调查局海洋学家兼海啸专家J说，这是确切的证据——海啸，当你发现其时，特别是内陆，你知道这个地区在过去曾经被大的海啸袭击过。
Such research is considered essential in deciding where to locate nuclear power stations because most are built along seashores, rivers and lakes to supply the massive amounts of water needed to keep their reactors from overheating. Even plants perched on hills or cliffs may be in danger because the pipes used to carry up water used for cooling could be damaged in a powerful tsunami.
这些的调查是非常必要的在决定设立核电站的位置时。因为其大多建设在海边，河，湖以提供大量的水以保证其反应堆不会过热。甚至在山上或悬崖上建厂也可能有危险，因为用来冷却输水的管道可以在大的海啸中受损。
Japan, which sits atop three highly active tectonic plates with 54 reactors dotting its coastlines, has probably done the most when it comes to looking back in history.
日本，位于三个高活跃的构造板块上，在其海岸线上坐落着54个核反应堆，当其回顾其历史时，很可能是发生得最多的国家。
Even so, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the hobbled Fukushima plant, did not factor geologic evidence of the giant Jogan tsunami of 869 AD. into its preparedness. When the tsunami hit last month, it unleashed waves up to 42 feet (14 meters) high, swamping the backup generators needed for cooling.
即使如此，经营着福岛受创的电厂的东京电力公司，并没有把公元869年巨大的上愿海啸做为地质证据的考虑，而加以准备。当海啸上个月来袭时，其释放的海浪达到了14米高，损坏了冷却用的备用发电机。
The same region was also walloped twice before, once around 140 BC and again sometime between 600 BC and 900 BC, scientific studies revealed.
同一地区也曾两次发生，一次在大约公元前140年，另一次发生在公元前600-900年间，科学研究表明。
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