评论
打印
Most information on the movement of nuclear weapons in this country is classified for reasons of security.
出于安全因素考虑，本国的大多数核武器运输信息都得到了分类。
But some new details are becoming public that suggest that the transporting of nuclear weapons
但一些新的细节正在逐渐公开，这些细节表明，
for maintenance and production is much more frequent than is generally known.
为了维修和生产核武器而进行的运输，其频率比大家通常所了解的要高。
NPR's David Malthus reports that on any given day,
根据我台记者大卫·马尔萨斯发回的一贯报道内容，
it is likely that US nuclear weapons are being transported on the nation's highways, in the air, and at sea.
美国的核武器很有可能在高速公路、海路和空中运输着。
America's nuclear arsenal is constantly in flux.
美国的核武库一直都在变化之中。
Older warheads are retired and dismantled as new ones are built.
老一些的弹头都因为没法用而被拆卸了，新的弹头不断在建。
Some elements of nuclear bombs, like radioactive tritium becomes stale over time and must be refurbished.
一些核弹的元素，比如放射性氢，会随着时间的流逝而生锈，一定要翻新才能用。
There are changes in storage sites, quality control checks.
储藏场所和质量管理检验也都有变化。
This routine maintenance and production requires frequent movement of nuclear weapons and components.
例行维修和生产都需要频繁运输核武器及其组件。
It is accomplished through a large transportation network that includes specially designated cargo planes of the Air Force,
而运输这些东西需要庞大的运输网络，而这样的网络需要特殊指定的空军运输飞机、
freighters under the control of the Navy, and a fleet of highway tractor trailer rigs operated by the Department of Energy.
海军管辖的货船、能源部的公路拖拉机挂车车队。
DOE, which oversees the production, assembly, and testing of nuclear weapons,
能源部负责监管核武器的生产、装配和测试，
has forty-five custom-built trucks to transport the weapons to more than one hundred military installations in twenty-two states.
有45个定制卡车，专门将核武器运往22个州的100多个军事设施。
Headquarters for the transport operations is Albuquerque, New Mexico.
运输业务的总部在新墨西哥州的阿尔伯克基。
Department spokesman Ben McCarty says the truck fleet logs over four million miles and year hauling their special cargo.
能源部发言人本·麦卡蒂表示，卡车车队行驶400多万英里，运输着这种特殊货物。
They'll be carrying nuclear weapons, special nuclear materials,
他们将携带核武器、特殊核材料，
such as plutonium or highly enriched uranium and classified non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons.
比如钚、高浓缩铀、核武器非核部分的分类组件。
Once delivered to military storage facilities, the weapons often are then transported by air or ship to bases around the world.
一旦运送到了军事仓储设备，这些核武器通常都要再通过空运或者海运的方式被运往世界各地的基地。
The military, following standard practice, refuses to discuss its nuclear transportation operations.
有了标准做法之后，军方就不再改变核武器的运输经营方式了。
However, the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal research group based in Washington,
不过，总部位于华盛顿的某自由研究组织，
has used the Freedom of Insormation Act to obtain military documents on those operations.
即政策研究所是通过这些运作方式来获得军事材料的。
They were made available to NPR. Air Force Memoranda state that nuclear weapons are transported, "almost on a daily basis."
这些材料也有向我台记者展示。空军备忘录中写道，基本上每天都有运输核武器。
The military airlift command refers to these missions as "the bully beef express."
军方空运司令称这些运输认为是“运输牛肉罐头。”
The Air Force documents show that last year the bully beef Crews flew more than a thousand nuclear weapons flights.
空军文件写道，去年，负责运输核武器的工作人员总共执行了1000多次任务。
Recently, the Navy revealed, perhaps inadvertently, in public documents,
最近，海军公开表示，或许一些官方材料的信息已经无意间表明，
information that indicates some of its nuclear weapons are ferried across the Atlantic in commercial cargo ships operated by civilians.
一些核武器是通过非军事人员的商业货船运送的。
The ships reportedly carry a small contingent of Navy personnel for security and communications,
据报道，出于安全和通讯因素考虑，这样的船一般只会带着一小队海军士兵，
but it appears that the freighters rely heavily on their anonymity for security.
但这些货船基本上都隐去了海军士兵的姓名，这样做更安全。
William Arkin of the Institute for Policy Studies has done intensive research on the transportation of nuclear weapons.
政策研究所的威廉·阿金对核武器的运输进行了广泛的研究。
We live with the illusion that nuclear weapons are safely secured away,
我们总是有一种错觉，即核武器是经过安全存储的，
all in underground missile silos in South Dakota and Montana and Wyoming.
离我们很遥远。比如，它们一般会被存储在南达科塔、蒙大纳和怀俄明州的地下导弹仓内。
And instead, we see a system which requires constant care and feeding, repair, constant movement,
但事实并非如此。我们看到的存储系统是需要持续维护、补给、维修的，需要持续的移动。
which comes into contact with the soldiers and civilian technicians on a daily basis.
而且每天都要跟士兵和技术人员接触。
Arkin points out that each year, several thousand military and civilian personnel handling nuclear weapons
阿金指出，每一年，都有几千名军人和非军事人员处理核武器，
are permanently disqualified for such duty because of alcohol abuse, use of illegal drugs, and other personal problems.
但其实他们并不符合承担这项责任的要求，因为有人存在酗酒、使用非法药物等个人问题。
But defense officials say this is a sign of the military's diligence, not danger.
但国防部官员认为，这在军方的注意范围内，不属于危险问题。
Of the one hundred thousand nuclear weapons handlers, about thirty-three hundred lost their clearances last year.
去年，在10万名核武器的经手人员中，有3300人每年会失去自己的许可。
The most disqualified in any recent year has been five thousand.
近年来不合格数量最多是5000。
But human and mechanical failures have caused serious problems in the past.
但人为故障和机械故障以前曾引发过严重的问题。
The Defense Department says there have been thirty-two accidents involving nuclear weapons, the last one in 1980.
国防部表示，曾发生过32起与核武器有关的事故，上一次是在1980年。
At least ten caused leakage of radioactive materials. None has caused a nuclear explosion.
至少10次核武器事故引发了放射性物质的泄露。但目前尚没有任何一次核事故引发了爆炸。
Spokesman Ben McCarty of the Department of Energy says nuclear weapons trucks have been involved in eleven accidents over the years,
能源部发言人本·麦卡蒂表示，运送核武器的卡车过去这些年来发生过7起事故，
mainly from icy roads which caused the trucks to flip over.
这主要是因为道路冰雪过滑导致卡车翻车。
But he says there's never been any danger to the public.
但他也表示，这对公众并无威胁。
We have never had an accident that resulted in a release of radio-activity
发生的事故中，从未有任何一起导致核物质从卡车中泄露，
from one of these trucks or in any damage to the cargo in these trucks.
卡车上承载的货物也从未发生损坏。
Air Force documents show that pilots transporting nuclear weapons today
军方的多份文件表明，运输核武器的飞行员今天收到指令，
are told to avoid flying over heavily populated areas to the maximum extent possible.
要尽可能避免在人口密集的区域上空飞行。
General D. H. Cassidy of the Military Airlift Command praised the "bully beef express"
军事空运司令部的将军卡西迪赞扬了“牛肉罐头运输”的经营方式，
for its outstanding safety record in an internal memo last year.
因为这种方式在过去一念间内部备忘录中多次以安全性高而出现在记录中。
But he also warned the crews about complacency after Air Force personnel
但他也同时警示大家不要得意自满，
mentioned on a non-secure telephone the nature of the cargo on two nuclear weapons flights.
因为空军的某位工作人员在一次不安全的电话期间谈到2次核武器运输飞行的货物是什么。
Military Airlift Command Regulation No.55-141 tells the crews how to respond to a hijacking attempt.
而军事空运司令部第55-141条都要求工作人员在面对劫持事件时该如何应对了。
Never allow a hostile force to capture or control a nuclear weapon, it says,
其中写道，一定不要让敌方掌握并控制核武器，
even if it means risking the lives of any hostages that might have been taken.
即便是牺牲人质的生命也在所不惜。
The regulation instructs the crews on when to use CDS, the command disable system, which is attached to some nuclear weapons.
法规规定了何时使用指令禁用系统（CDS），这个系统是附加在一些核武器上的。
"CDS," the regulation says, "internally destroys the capability of a weapon to achieve a significant nuclear yield."
该法规规定，CDS可以摧毁武器产生巨大核当量的能力。
As a last resort, the regulation says, nuclear weapons much be destroyed even if it means loss of the aircraft.
规定指出，最后毫无办法的情况下，即便是炸毁整个飞机也要摧毁核武器。
The Department of Energy says it too takes great precautions against accidents or terrorist attacks.
能源部表示，对各种事故和恐怖主义袭击要多家防范。
Spokesman Ben McCarty says the trucks that haul nuclear weapons across the country have armor-plated cabs.
发言人本·麦卡蒂表示，将核武器在全国范围内托运的卡车都是装甲卡车。
The drivers are trained and equipped with a number of firearms, and the trucks are escorted by additional armed guards in cars.
卡车司机们都训练有素，并随身佩戴轻武器。卡车本身还得到了其他武装警卫的护送。
Ben McCarty, We know where all the trucks are at tll times, and we have both voice and data links to them.
本·麦卡蒂表示，卡车无论到哪里，我们都能知道，因为我们跟卡车之间有语音和数据相连。
And should anything happen to the shipment, the escort vehicles are able to communicate immediately
一旦海运发生任何问题，护卫车队可以与当地和州立执法人员
with local or state law enforcement people and the full force of the military establishment should it be required.
以及各军事机构即刻保持通讯，无论何时何地。
While the Department of Energy tries to keep these shipments secret, peace groups have penetrated that secrecy repeatedly.
虽然能源部尽可能地保证海运的秘密进行，一些和平组织还是多次将这种秘密信息传播出去。
One group, Nuke Watch, has followed the nuclear trucks thousands of miles over the last two years.
其中有一个名为Nuke Watch的组织在过去2年间曾尾随运送核武器的卡车数千英里。
Other anti-nuke activists line the roadsides and wave banners, alerting highway travellers that nuclear weapons are on the way.
还有一些反核活动家纷纷走上街头，挥舞着条幅，警示公路上的游客们核武器就要来了。
Sam Day, the founder of Nuke Watch says the trucks are not difficult to spot
萨姆·达伊是该组织的创办者，他表示，这些卡车很容易就能发现，
even though they are un market, with on warning of hazardous cargo.
因为上面总是标着“危险货物”的字样。
The trucks are eighteen wheel semi-trailers.
而且这种卡车无一例外都是18个轮子的半拖挂车。
They look a lot like the hundreds of thousands of other semis on the road. The trailers are metal colored.
看起来跟公路上的其他半拖挂车别无二致，是金属颜色的。
They have peculiar radio antenna above the cab, which is the main way that you recognize them as H-bomb trucks.
车身上带有独特的收音机天线，看到这个，就会以为是氢弹卡车。
When they spot you, do they take evasive action, try to lose you?
卡车司机看到你们之后，会试图避开吗？
They used to, yes. They used to speed up to eighty-five miles an hour, make hairpin turns and generally play cowboy with us.
以前会。以前，它们的时速一般会达到85英里/小时，会在一些地方突然回弯，跟我们玩儿躲猫猫的游戏。
Sam Day says now that the Energy Department knows who they are,
萨姆说，现在，能源部知道了他们的身份后，
the truck drivers no longer go out of their way to evade the Nuke Watch shadow.
这些卡车司机就不再躲躲藏藏，也不惧怕和平组织的目光了。
The Department's Ben McCarty says Nuke Watch is more of a nuisance than anything else.
能源部的本表示，该和平组织真是节外生枝。
The job of driving these rigs and protecting these rigs is in itself somewhat stressful.
开这种卡车还要保护车上货物的安全，这件工作本身的压力已经足够大了。
These guys have to really, you know, at all times be on the lookout for anything unusual
毫不夸张的说，这些卡车司机们要时刻警惕异常情况
or any suspicious vehicles coming up on them, or things like this. And it adds to their stress load.
和可疑车辆的出现，避免相撞等事故发生。这样的话，压力就更大了。
The peace groups say they are not out to harass the truck convoys.
这些和平组织说，他们的出现并不是为了惊扰卡车车队。
Their purpose is to emotionalize the arms control issue.
他们的目的是让人们重视军备控制这件事。
Says Nuke Watch Sam Day, We want to bring home to people the fact
该和平组织的萨姆表示，我们只是希望自己的同胞们能看清楚一个事实，
that nuclear weapons are rolling through the streets and towns of America regularly.
核武器经常会在美国的大街小巷上运送着。
I'm David Malthus in Washington.
大卫·马尔萨斯
