Английский язык. Практикум по чтению научно-технических текстов

10 % of all cars sold from then on must be zero-emission vehicles. Norway must take the initiative for implementing these standards in the EU.

1.All diesel from 2003 should have a 5 % blend of biodiesel. The tax-free exemption for sale of pure biodiesel must also apply for mixed biodiesel.

2.Twenty per cent of all new ocean vessels (fishing boats, ferries and ships) sold in Norway must be emission-free from 2005. Likewise, all existing vessels must be re-built to reduce their emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOx by at least 40 % by 2010. At least 10 % of all international vessels with ports of call in Norway must be zero-emission ships from 2007. Starting in 2010, the standards would increase to 20 % and also require that all ships with port calls in Norway have emissions of NOx, CO2 and SO2, that are 40 % lower than today's average for that particular ship specification, calculated as emissions in metric ton/km. Norway must take the initiative to encourage the EU to implement the same standards. These standards would help create a demand for freight on these types of ships, and environmental restrictions would be placed on one of the most polluting industries in the world.

3.At least 50 % of all new trucks must be zero-emission from 2007, and all new trucks by 2010. Norway should take the initiative to implement these regulations in the EU.

4.Twenty per cent of all new aircraft from year 2007 must have the technology to reduce NOx by 70 % and CO2 by 100 %; this should be increased to 50 % of all new aircraft from 2010.

5.Other options: exemptions from investment taxes, import taxes, road taxes, and highway tolls for hydrogen vehicles should be comparable to those for electric cars. All resources and funds, which are dedicated to nuclear power research today, should be redirected to research and development within hydrogen and solar power research.

Ex. 11. Read text 11 and find out the opinion of Greenpeace of construction of FNPPs.

Text 11

Floating Nuclear Power Plants Easy Prey for Terrorists

Russia’s branch of the environmental organization Greenpeace has formally warned authorities that increased terrorist threats will make the floating nuclear power plants (FNPPs), which the Russian Agency for Atomic Energy (Rosatom) is currently planning for Southeast Asian customers, sitting ducks for possible terror attacks.

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The notion of building floating nuclear power plants and selling them to countries like Indonesia, Thailand and China have been a pet project of Rosatom for many years. The Ministry for Atomic Energy, Rosatom’s successor, has long viewed floating nuclear power plants as a solution to bringing energy to far-flung regions along Russia’s arctic coast and to other regions around the world. Environmentalists and many security experts have denounced the idea as sure ecological hazard and a target for terrorist organizations.

The Russian branch of Greenpeace addressed the Federal Security Service (FSB – the sucessor organisation to the KGB) with a request to ban the building FNPPs as their poor security makes them a “prime choice” for potential terrorist attacks. The Greenpeace report – released just hours before the tragic terrorist blasts in London on July 7th – was prepared for world leaders currently meeting at the Gleneagles, Scotland summit of the G8. The summit is making strides toward combating greenhouse gases, but is also viewing the expansion nuclear power as one possible solution to reduce their emissions. Environmental groups like Bellona and Greenpeace are firmly opposed to the notion of substituting current energy sources with expanded nuclear power, especially when so many nonpolluting renewable sources have not been sufficiently explored and because nuclear power represents incalculable risk to the environment and international security.

At present Rosatom is implementing the FNPP construction of project on a lease-to-own basis – provided the plants are never transferred to a new owner – to countries in Southeast Asia.

The FNPPs are designed to have a 70-megawatt capacity and are based on the reactor type used in Soviet icebreakers. Licenses for the reactors were issued by the Russian nuclear safety service – FSETAN, the successor of Gozatomnadzor – in December 2004.

Thailand and Indonesia have demonstrated a keen interest in FNPPs. Negotiations about financing the project – a $150 m loan from China – are currently underway in Beijing. In October 2003, Rosatom signed a Protocol of Cooperation with South Korea for the potential purchase of an FNPP as well.

Enriched weapon-grade uranium (containing 40 per cent uranium-235) is the fuel used for FNPPs According to engineering standards, some 960 kilograms of uranium will be stored at each floating plant.

Exploitation of FNPPs in Southeast Asian countries without intensified security measures – the project does not provide for the armed escort of Russian navy for the whole term of their exploitation – creates a serious threat of terrorism and piracy on the high seas.

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Under a 1992 agreement, Russia as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, is banned from selling nuclear technology to states that do not submit to international controls of the International Atomic Energy Agency. According to the Greenpeace, there are three likely terrorist scenarios that could be perpetrated again FNPPs:

1)destruction of the containment of an FNPP and using nuclear materials from the plant as a “dirty bomb” for contaminating a locality possessing an FNPP;

2)robbery of an FNPP in order to withdraw weapons uranium. The further route of the radioactive materials is hardly possible to trace. The uranium could then be transformed into a nuclear warhead, both in Russia or in any other country of the world that has sufficient technology to do so;

3)robbery of an FNPP to obtain radioactive materials for producing a “dirty bomb”.

In Russia, Rosatom plans to build experimental demonstrational FNPPs before selling them abroad and moor them at the Sevmash docks near Severodvinsk in the Archangelsk Region in Russia’s northwest and at a nuclear submarine base at Vilyuchinsk in the Kamchatka region in Russia’s Far East.

A November 2000 order by former Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov required the creation of all the documents needed for producing FNPPS and obtaining all necessary licenses. Now, the design works are completed, the licenses received, and the estimated cost of the project is about $175 m. However, according to Russian environmentalists, the actual sum will be higher.

However, Rosatom’s policy conflicts the position of the country’s leaders on combating terrorism. These actions of the nuclear lobby threaten the future of the country. Greenpeace calls to reject the project on construction of FNPPs and to focus on development of renewable energy sources and energy saving as it is better to invest in solar and wind energy rather than produce time bombs.

Ex. 12. Translate text 12 in writing using a dictionary.

Text 12

The Energy and Environment Challenge

Approximately 80 % of the world's energy consumption is based on three sources of fossil fuel: coal, oil, and natural gas. This has resulted in a number of environmental problems, including local air pollution, dis-

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charges to the soil and water, acid rain, and the risk of climate changes. To hinder irreversible changes in the climate, the United Nations panel on climate (the IPCC, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has estimated that global CO2 emissions will have to be reduced 50–60 % over the next 100 years. This means that developed countries will have to reduce their emissions drastically to allow developing countries a certain increase. Such dramatic reductions will require a total overhaul of the world's energy systems.

Over the course of the last 100 years, the world's consumption of energy based on fossil fuels has increased by a factor of 20. The last 40 years in particular have seen the greatest increases. There are three key factors that play a role in determining how to best utilize the qualities of the different fossil fuels: 1) physical properties; 2) energy content; 3) environmental consequences.

The physical properties of the different energy sources have always been an important factor in mankind's ability to make use of the energy. Coal comes in the form of a solid, oil in liquid form, and natural gas in the form of a gas. Coal has historically been the easiest of the three to utilize, followed by oil, and finally natural gas.

The energy content of the different energy sources has significance for their future growth potential on a global scale. It is the amount of the hydrogen that determines the energy content. The greater the concentration of hydrogen, the greater the energy content. Coal has the lowest concentration of hydrogen, while natural gas has the highest.

The environmental impact of utilizing these energy sources depends, in turn, on the individual qualities of the different energy sources. The higher the carbon content, the more CO2 that is produced from combustion. The content of particles and heavier components is also greater in a solid, such as coal, than in a gas.

If we continue to burn fossil fuel at our present rate, we could experience a quadrupling of world CO2 emissions over the course of the next 125 years as a consequence of population growth and increased energy demands. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), emissions generated by world energy consumption will increase by 70 % until 2020. Natural gas continues to increase its percentage of the world's energy supply, oil continues to drop even though the oil consumption has increased, while coal remains unchanged.

To a large extent, the challenge posed by meeting both energy and environment needs can be met in three ways: cleaner fossil fuel, renewable energy, energy efficiency.

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To avoid irreparable damage to the environment as a consequence of burning fossil fuels, energy production must become cleaner and the use of energy more effective.

In a world where energy needs are constantly increasing, it will be difficult in the short term to replace all the forms that use of fossil fuels take. However, in a transition period, every energy need can be covered virtually pollution free-at a modest cost-by converting fossil energy into electricity and hydrogen.

To avoid dramatic climate changes, some of the energy must be used to remove the CO2 generated by combustion or conversion. It is possible to deposit the amount of CO2 equivalent to the emissions from all the power plants in Western Europe for 525 years into aquifers and the offshore oilfields of the North Sea.

A future-oriented industry could be established for the production of large amounts of clean energy, which would constitute an unavoidable challenge to the other major fossil fuel industry – the coal industry.

The amount of solar energy that reaches the earth in the course of one year is equivalent to about 15000 times the entire world's annual energy consumption. Renewable energy is now experiencing a drop in production costs corresponding to the mid 1950s when oil took over as the leading energy carrier. By eliminating the current system of subsidies and creating a tax system for traditional energy sources that would cover the social costs associated with energy consumption, renewable energy could be competitive even in today's market.

New sources of renewable energy are a local resource and represent renewable energy systems of the future. The poorer developing countries cannot be expected to bear these kinds of costs.

All production and use of energy have an impact on the natural environment. The energy consumption of today's generations should not exceed that which is necessary to ensure a satisfactory quality of life for coming generations; hence, the available energy must be used more effectively. Over half of the current climate problems would cease to exist if energy were used in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. Although many years of effort aimed at improving labor productivity have yielded positive results, there has been no corresponding development in energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency entails not only consuming as little energy as technically possible, but also using the quality of energy in the most appropriate way. Fossil energy need not necessarily be wasteful; it can also be used very efficiently. In essence, therefore, an environmentally efficient use of energy implies the use of clean energy of the right quality, and as effectively as technically possible.

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ВАРДАШКИНА Елена Васильевна ПЕРМИНОВА Светлана Ивановна

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

Практикум

Редактор Г.С. Петренко

Компьютерная верстка М.А. Шамариной

Национальный исследовательский технологический университет «МИСиС», 119049, Москва, Ленинский пр-т, 4

Издательский Дом МИСиС, 119049, Москва, Ленинский пр-т, 4

Тел. (495) 638-45-22

Отпечатано в типографии Издательского Дома МИСиС 119049, Москва, Ленинский пр-т, 4

Тел. (499) 236-76-17, тел./факс (499) 236-76-35

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