Month by month, year by year, the huge storage tanks surrounding the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant grow in number.
日复一日，年复一年，废弃的福岛第一核电站周围全是巨型的核污水储罐，且储罐数量仍在增加。
It is estimated they contain more than 750 thousand metric tons of water contaminated with tritium.
据估计，里面的含氚污水超过75万吨。
Local media reported last month that plant owner TEPCO planned to release the water into the Pacific Ocean,
上个月当地媒体报道，福岛第一核电站的运营商东京电力公司（TEPCO）计划将污水排入太平洋，
prompting an outcry from environmental groups and local fishermen, TEPCO says it has yet to make a decision.
此举引发了环保组织和当地渔民的抗议，东京电力公司表示尚未作出决定。
One option is to release the tritium-contaminated water into the ocean.
一个选择是将含氚污水排入大洋。
However, there are other options such as vaporizing it, but we have not decided yet which option to take to dispose of the water.
但也有其他选择，如采用蒸发处理的方式，但目前我们还没有决定采用哪种方式来处理。
Since there may be an influence on the environment,
此举可能对环境产生影响，
and because there have been harmful rumors about what effects it may have on people and the environment,
又因为这种做法存在一些可能对人和环境产生什么影响的谣言，
we are still consulting with various stakeholders before finally deciding on the solution.
我们仍在同各方的利益相关者商议，之后才会敲定解决方案。
TEPCO points out that all nuclear power plants around the world release tritium into the environment.
东京电力公司指出，世界范围内的核电站都将氚排入外部环境中。
It is considered one of the less dangerous radioactive isotopes,
氚被认为是危险性相对较低的放射性同位素之一，
says marine radiochemist Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.
海洋放射化学科学家肯·布塞勒这样说道，他来自马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔海洋研究所。
He spoke to VOA via Skype, there is natural sources up in cosmic rays interacting in the atmosphere.
他通过“Skype”向美国之音说道，天然氚主要来源于宇宙射线与大气层的相互作用。
And the biggest source by far was the weapons' testing back in the 1960s, so you're talking about adding to what's already there.
而氚的释放量达到空前水平，则要追溯到20世纪60年代所进行的核武器试验。所以我们正在谈论的是增加已经存在的东西。
If it's all released on one day, that's a very different scenario for the oceans
一天之内将含氚污水全部排尽，

than if it's released sequentially over the course of several years.
相较于花费几年时间排放污水，那么大洋的状况肯定大不相同。
A purification system known as ALPS is designed to remove other more harmful isotopes from the contaminated water.
被称为“多核素去除设备”（ALPS）的净化系统旨在从污染的水中除去其他更有害的同位素。
Buesseler says more oversight is needed.
布塞勒认为需要进一步加强监督。
Independently, I want to see for each tank, what are the levels not only of the tritium, which dominates by far the radioactivity,
就我个人来说，我关注的不只是废水储罐中的含氚量，因为含氚量决定着放射性的大小，
but all those minor elements, cesium, strontium, that are still there to some degree.
但还有其它微量元素如铯和锶，在某种程度上这些元素仍然存在。
Longer-term, authorities face the task of trying to remove the nuclear fuel.
长期来看，当局面临着取出核燃料的任务。
Robots have recorded footage of what appear to be melted fuel rods inside one of their reactors.
机器人用镜头记录下了一个反应堆内部疑似燃料棒熔化的场景。
Around the fall of this year, we are hoping to reveal a big plan on our future policy,
今年秋天，我们希望公布我们未来政策的大计划，
and the method which we will use to remove this fuel.
以及我们将用来取出核燃料的方法。
The Japanese government estimates the total cleanup cost, including compensation, decommissioning and decontamination,
日本政府估计，福岛核电站的清理费用包括赔偿金、除役费用和清除污染的经费，
will reach 190 billion dollars in a process likely to take at least 40 years.
总额高达1900亿美元，而核电站完全报废则需至少40年的时间。
Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Tokyo.
VOA新闻，亨利·里奇维尔在东京为您播报。