China says its nuclear industry has made a fresh technological breakthrough, which, even if it doesn't immediately solve the country's energy needs, underscores Beijing's determination to be a leading font of knowledge about the controversial power source.

　　Ina Fassbender/Reuters游客在卡尔卡尔游乐园（Wunderland Kalkar）乘坐一个高空旋转木马。这里原本是一个欧洲快中子增殖反应堆，但从未投入使用，并最终被改造成游乐场。

　　中国宣布其核工业技术取得了新的突破。这即使不会即刻满足中国的能源需求，也反映了北京在掌握这种争议性能源相关知识方面领先于人的决心。

　　The China Institute of Atomic Energy said Thursday that a small, experimental “fast breeder” reactor outside Beijing had been hooked to the grid to produce electricity. Essentially, the tiny 20 megawatt nuclear plant '863' is now helping satisfy China's vast power needs.

　　中国原子能科学研究所周四说，位于北京郊外的一座小型实验“快中子增殖反应堆”已经并网发电。这座功率为2万千瓦的小型核电站（863项目）本质上已经在参与满足中国巨大的能源需求了。

　　To supporters of nuclear power, fast-breeding is alluring. The idea is that it produces more plutonium than the plant needs to run, providing fissionable material usable elsewhere in the nation's nuclear program. For China, which is long on nuclear ambitions but short on uranium, it's an especially desirable technology.

　　对于核能支持者来说，快堆很有诱惑力。其想法是生产出超过电站运营所需的口元素，为中国核计划的其他项目提供可使用的裂变材料。中国发展一直对发展核能充满野心，但铀资源不足，所以这种技术是它特别想要掌握的。

　　Yet the process hasn't proved workable on a large scale elsewhere. Fast-breeder programs have been abandoned in a number of countries, including the U.S., and the plants that remain are small. To some critics, it is a nuclear version of the “perpetual motion machine,” a seemingly problem-solving theory that doesn't work well outside the laboratory.

　　但这一工艺尚未证明能够大规模地用在其他地方。包括美国在内的多个国家已经放弃快堆项目，而且快堆电厂的发电量仍然很少。对于一些反对者来说，它就是核能版的“永动机”，看起来好像能够解决问题，但一出实验室就不怎么管用了。

　　In a statement posted to its website (in Chinese) Thursday, China's atomic institute said the advantages of fast-breeder reactors are that they save uranium and reduce nuclear waste. “The establishment of sustainable development of nuclear energy is important,” the statement said, noting that a number of industry dignitaries were on hand for the announcement.

　　中国原子能科学研究所周四在官网发布声明说，快堆的优势在于节省铀资源，并减少核废物。声明说，“快堆技术的发展和推广，……对核能的可持续发展具有重要意义”，并提到有多位行业重要人士出席了宣布仪式。

　　China's nuclear engineers, of course, are operating in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster, a game-changing event that would seem likely to make the industry more risk averse. In days after Japan's March 11 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear crisis, Beijing defiantly pledged to continue with its huge nuclear rollout but quickly reversed course and said it would proceed cautiously.

　　众所周知，中国核能工程师这些活动是在福岛核灾难发生后进行的。福岛的灾难意义重大，有可能让整个行业变得更加谨慎。在日本3月11日地震、海啸和核危机之后不久，北京依旧承诺继续推进其巨大的核计划，但很快改变口风说，它将谨慎推进。

　　In fact, the grid hook-up to the experimental fast-breeder plant may underscore that caution, as Beijing spent a year testing the plant's operations before linking it to the grid.

　　事实上，实验快堆并网发电或许正是反映了这种谨慎，因为并网之前北京花了一年时间来测试这座电站的运营。

　　Among the practical challenges associated with fast-breeders: they are potentially riskier than more conventional light-water reactors, relying on cooling of the reactor core with a potentially dangerous loop of flammable sodium, rather than water. Plus, the fuel input is essentially weapons-grade uranium, which is difficult to handle compared with the chemically stable material that powers most nuclear plants, namely uranium dioxide.

　　快堆在实际操作中的挑战有：它们依靠可能会有危险的易燃钠循环、而不是水循环来冷却堆心，风险可能高于常规轻水反应堆。另外，其燃料实质上是武器级的铀元素，相比多数核电站所用、化学上比较稳定的二氧化铀更难处理。

　　The fast-breeder process also appears for China to be a degree more tricky to develop on a commercial scale than reprocessed fuel, another controversial technology the country says it is pursuing to address its uranium needs. Fast breeding is something new for China while the country's military has long-term experience with reprocessing.

　　对于中国来说，快堆工艺似乎也比燃料再加工更难实现商用化规模应用。燃料再加工是中国方面说它正在探索、用以解决其铀需求的另一项争议性技术。快堆对中国来说还比较新鲜，而中国军方对于燃料再加工已有很长时间的经验。

　　Mark Hibbs, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says he visited China's fast-breeder reactor in the weeks after the Fukushima disaster. He describes it as a tiny “research reactor,” and says he got the sense officials planned to proceed extremely cautiously in building an 800-megawatt plant as scientists once discussed.

　　卡内基国际和平基金会(Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)核能专家海布斯(Mark Hibbs)说，他在福岛核灾难发生数周之后就参观了中国的快堆。他说这是一台小型“研究型快堆”，并觉得中国官员打算在建设科学家们曾经讨论的80万千瓦电站时极其稳妥地推进。

　　Breakthroughs like fast breeder reactors might not result in commercially applicable programs any time soon, but in the age of Fukushima they may signal that China possesses world class nuclear power expertise. According to Mr. Hibbs, news of the efforts say, “Look, China is a high-technology nuclear country.”

　　像快推这样的突破并不一定很快带来商业化项目，但在福岛时代，这些突破或许说明中国拥有世界级的核能专长。据海布斯说，有关这些努力的新闻都表明，看，中国是一个高科技核国家。