Practice

Exercise 8.4

Choose the right meaning of the Participle:

1. One of the most striking aspects of the new system being installed in the eastern part of the country is its simplicity.(установленной, устанавливаемой, устанавливающей).

2. The more progressive companies would like to purchase equipment designed to satisfy their requirements. (создаваемого, создающего, созданного).

3. The simplicity of the system also contributes to the reduction of labor, increasing productivity on a per man-hour system. ( повышая, повысив, повышающий).

4. The newly developed cogeneration equipment allowed to generate more heat and electricity. (вновь разработанный, вновь разрабатывающий).

5. The oil being extracted in this area has high net energy. ( добытая, добываемая, добывающая)

Exercise 8.5

Form Participles I and II of the verbs in brackets. Translate the sentences.

1. Conventional natural gas (to store) in the underground source, is (to extract) and (to transport) by pipelines.

2. (To identify) supplies of coal should last at least 225 years, (to depend) on the rate of usage.

3. In 2000 the United States imported about 57% of oil it used mostly because of (to decline) domestic oil reserves and (to increase) oil use.

4. Oil is (to heat) and (to distill) in gigantic columns to separate it into components with different (to boil) points.

5. Heat (to contain) in underground rocks and fluids is an important source of energy, (to supply) people with steam and hot water.

6. The world’s largest (to operate) geothermal system, (to call) The Geysers, extracts energy from a dry steam reservoir north of San Francisco.

7. The area contains 26 power plants (to use) geothermal energy and (to produce) enough power for millions of people.

Exercise 8.6

Translate the sentences with the Perfect Participles.

1. Having extracted crude oil, the firm transported it to a refinery by pipeline, truck or oil tanker, depending on the area where the deposits were found.

2. Having been contaminated by the radioactive dust released by the nuclear accident in Chernobyl, some 160,000 square kilometers will remain polluted for decades.

3. Having dismantled thousands of nuclear warheads, the U.S and Russia decreased the chances of nuclear war.

4. About $1 trillion, having been invested in the U.S. nuclear program, were wasted without any commercial sense, according to Forbes business magazine.

5. Having reduced the harmful environmental impacts of acidification, the Swedish government sets new objectives.

Exercise 8.7

Read two texts about nuclear accidents and take notes filling in the table. Then speak about the accidents.

Place of accident	Date	Cause	Casualties	Consequences

Text 1. Three Mile Island

The nuclear power station accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, USA on 28 March 1979 was the first acknowledged large-scale nuclear disaster.

The accident began with the failing of water-cooling system. After this, things began to go wrong. The four operators on duty had to make split-second decisions based on inadequate information. A crucial warning light was covered by a paper tag. Another apparently failed to operate. They were faced with events that were outside their normal training or experience. Within three hours, radiation from the damaged fuel was “shining” – beaming through the 8-inch steel walls of the reactor vessel and the 4-foot-thick walls of the containment building.

After the alarm was sounded, increasing numbers of nuclear experts were rushed to Three Mile Island. The scientists’ helplessness in the face of the threatened catastrophe became apparent to the governmental and media representatives who were following the situation closely.

The people living around the plant were badly affected by the disaster. More than twenty anti-nuclear groups sprang up, and vigorously opposed the reopening of the other nuclear unit at the plant. It eventually did reopen, however, in October 1985. During its first month of operation, the plant suffered two leaks of radioactive gas.

The death rate among elderly Americans surged in the three years after the incident. Evidence from official US health statistics showed an additional 50.000 to 130.000 deaths, mainly in surrounding states. It was alleged that there might have been a connection between low-level radiation release and suppression of immune system.

Text 2. Chernobyl

The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Ukraine on 26 April 1986 has been described as the worst-ever disaster in the world. A sequence of operational errors resulted in an explosion that blew the roof off reactor № 4, hurling radioactive debris into the air, and starting an enormous fire. Radioactive clouds trailed from the stricken plant, polluting more than 20 countries up to 2.000 km away. It is difficult to project the number of deaths from the accident, as estimates vary from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of people: what can be said with certainty is that Chernobyl-related deaths will continue to occur for the next 50 years. In September 1986, the USSR calculated the cost of disaster to the Soviet economy at $2 billion; by 1988, the projected cost had increased to $14 billion. The eventual total cost over the years may be as high as $200 billion.

The Chernobyl plant was one of the best in the country, with efficient operational staff. It contained safety features not found in certain Western installations, including substantial steel and concrete containment walls round the reactor; modern control equipment, including sensors and measuring equipment made in Western Germany.

According to the detailed analysis presented by the USSR to the International Atomic Energy Authority in August 1986, human error was largely responsible for the Chernobyl accident.

There were immediate casualties. It two days about 300 patients were sent to Moscow hospitals. Doctors had to divide the patients into three groups: those who were going to die, those who might live with treatment, and those who did not need immediate care. The middle group received priority attention, but surgeons needed to operate cautiously, as the affected people had absorbed so much radiation that internal organs, blood and urine had become radioactive. Within 10 days 130.000 people were evacuated.

At the plant itself the first task was to stop the fire spreading to the other units. This was achieved by the extraordinary heroism on the part of the firefighters, working in the areas they knew to be radioactive. Many died as a result. More will perish from long-term effects of radiation exposure. Only on the 10^th day, the radioactive release was stopped.

Scientists predict that during the next 50 years there would be up to 60.000 extra cancer-related deaths, 1.000 birth defects and 5.000 cases of genetic abnormality as a result of the Chernobyl accident, with about 40% of the deaths occurring in Russia and some countries of the former USSR. Other contaminated European countries will also suffer.

Specialists agree that another Chernobyl-type disaster is inevitable while present technology is operated by humans. Every reactor design has advantages and disadvantages compared to the others. The lesson of Chernobyl is that all nuclear reactors contain within themselves the capacity for enormous environmental disaster.

Exercise 8.8

Render the following text in English.

Атомные реакторы и установки

Источниками радиоактивных отходов являются ядерные реакторы, заводы по переработке ядерных материалов, атомные электростанции (АЭС).

Опыт эксплуатации атомных электростанций показал их жизнеспособность, экономичность и экологическую чистоту. Однако и мирный атом таит в себе огромную опасность. Об этом свидетельствуют последствия аварий на ядерных реакторах.

В мире уже зафиксировано более 150 аварий на АЭС с утечкой радиоактивности. Некоторые из этих аварий – в США, Германии, Англии, Японии и в СССР – носили весьма серьезный характер, привели к тяжелым последствиям, нанесли экономический и психологический ущерб. Авария на Чернобыльской АЭС показала, что необходимо широкое международное сотрудничество, совместные усилия для обеспечения ядерной безопасности.