China is at the centre of mankind’s on-off flirtation with nuclear power. After Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, Beijing joined the rest of the world in recoiling in horror, suspending approvals for new nuclear projects. That caution was justified: within months, a high-speed rail crash blamed on design flaws and poor management revealed that China’s ability to run high-profile projects was no better than anyone else’s. Now, though, the world’s biggest nuclear development programme is being rebooted.
在人類與核電之間分分合合的情緣中,中國正處于中心位置。2011年日本發生福島(Fukushima)核災難之后,中國曾與世界其它國家一道,作出震驚的反應,暫停審批新的核電項目。這種審慎是有道理的:就在幾個月后,中國發生了鐵路動車組追尾碰撞事故,這起事故被歸咎于設計缺陷和管理不善,它說明中國運行大項目的能力比其它國家好不了多少。不過,現在看來全球規模最大的核電發展計劃正得到重啟。