Japan’s quake-crippled atomic power station will take years to fully stabilise but officials hope to prevent any further deterioration of the plant and stem the leakage of radioactive material into surrounding areas within a matter of weeks.

日本受地震破坏的核电站将需要数年时间才能完全稳定，但官员们希望在几周内防止该电站形势进一步恶化，并遏制放射性物质向周围泄漏。

Workers are battling to contain radiation from the power station amid signs it may be continuously leaking into the sea. The huge earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan’s north-eastern coast on March 11 knocked out the plant’s cooling systems.

工人们正在奋力遏制福岛核电站的辐射泄漏，有迹象表明放射性物质可能仍在向大海泄漏。3月11日袭击日本东北部沿海的巨大地震与海啸破坏了核电站的冷却系统。

Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary and the minister responsible for co-ordinating efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis, told the Financial Times that new setbacks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant were possible. However, the government hoped within weeks to be able to stem the leakage of radiation and prevent the situation at the plant worsening.

负责协调各方行动解决此次核危机的日本内阁官房长官枝野幸男(Yukio Edano)向英国《金融时报》表示，福岛第一核电站(Fukushima Daiichi)遭受新的挫折是有可能的。但是，政府希望能够在几周内遏制辐射泄漏，并防止核电站状况进一步恶化。

“If we can stop those developments, and remove people’s fears, then that may also be viewed as a sort of stability,” Mr Edano said in an interview.

“如果我们能够制止事态发展，并消除人们的恐惧，或许也能被视为某种稳定，”枝野幸男在接受采访时表示。

Asked how long it would take to end the crisis, Mr Edano said that achieving “full stability” of the plant and its dangerously over-heated spent fuel rods was generally recognised to be a multi-year task.

在被问及需要多长时间才能结束这场危机时，枝野幸男表示，实现核电站和温度过高存在危险的乏燃料棒的“彻底稳定”，被普遍认为是一项需要数年时间才能完成的任务。

Tokyo Electric Power, the utility at the centre of the worst nuclear accident in 25 years, could face claims of as much as Y11,000bn ($133bn) if the crisis lasts two years, acccording to estimates by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Moody’s, the ratings agency, has twice downgraded the operator’s long-term issuer rating in two weeks.

据美国银行-美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)估计，如果危机持续两年，深陷25年来最糟糕核事故的东京电力公司(Tokyo Electric Power)可能面临高达11万亿日元（合1330亿美元）的索赔。信用评级机构穆迪(Moody's)两周内已经两度下调东电的长期发行人评级。

The crisis has fuelled public fears about the safety of atomic energy in countries around the world, throwing into doubt an expected renaissance in the global nuclear power industry and forcing backers of the technology to promise even greater efforts to make the technology disaster-proof. During a brief visit to Tokyo on Wednesday, Nicolas Sarkozy, French president, agreed with Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan to work together to develop new international nuclear safety standards.

这场危机已经引发世界各国民众对于核电的安全性产生忧虑，让预期中的全球核电业复兴陷入不确定，并迫使核电技术的支持者承诺以更大的努力使该技术具备抗灾害能力。法国总统尼古拉•萨科奇(Nicolas Sarkozy)周三对东京进行短暂访问期间，与日本首相菅直人(Naoto Kan)达成协议，同意合作致力于发展新的世界核安全标准。