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War zones are dangerous places. Where better, then, for a nuclear reactor?
戰區是危險的地方。對核反應堆來說，卻是個好地方。
On March 9th America's government awarded a trio of firms $39.7m
3月9日，美國政府給三家公司撥款3970萬美元，
to design "microreactors" that can supply a few megawatts of power to remote military bases,
用于設計“微型反應堆”，為偏遠的軍事基地提供幾兆瓦的電力，
and be moved quickly by road, rail, sea and air.
并可通過公路、鐵路、海路和空路快速移動。
The idea of small reactors is as old as nuclear power itself. In July 1951,
小型反應堆的想法和核能一樣古老。1951年7月，
five months before a reactor in Idaho became the first in the world to produce usable electricity through fission,
愛達荷州的一個反應堆成為世界上第一個通過裂變產生可用電力的反應堆的5個月前，
America began building USS Nautilus, a nuclear-powered submarine.
美國開始建立鸚鵡螺號核動力潛艇。
In the 1960s and 1970s small reactors powered bases in Alaska and Greenland,
上世紀60和70年代，小型反應堆為阿拉斯加和格陵蘭島的基地、
a radar facility in Wyoming, a research station in Antarctica and—from a cargo ship— the Panama Canal Zone.
懷俄明州的一個雷達設施、南極洲的一所研究站以及巴拿馬運河區提供動力。
America still uses nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft-carriers.
美國仍在使用核動力潛艇和航空母艦。
But land-based mini-reactors proved unreliable and expensive and have fallen out of favour.
但事實證明陸基迷你反應堆并不可靠、造價昂貴，已經失寵。
Interest has been revived by recent wars, in which American forces proved extraordinarily hungry for energy.
最近的戰爭重新激起了人們的興趣，在這些戰爭中，美國軍隊被證明極度渴求能源。
Early in the Iraq war, fuel made up over a third of the tonnage transported to the region.
早在伊拉克戰爭中，運往該地區的燃料占總噸位的三分之一以上。
Between 2001 and 2010, over half of American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan occurred during land-transport missions,
在2001年和2010年間，在伊拉克和阿富汗超過一半的美軍傷亡是在地面運輸任務中發生的，
many involving fuel deliveries to remote outposts.
其中很多都是向邊遠哨所運送燃料。
Portable reactors could substitute for unreliable power grids or the generators that often take their place.
便攜式反應堆可以替代不可靠的電網或取代它們的發電機。
America's armed forces use about 30 terawatt-hours of electricity per year— about the same as Ireland—
美國武裝部隊每年大約消耗30太瓦時的電力——與愛爾蘭差不多——
and more than 35m litres of fuel per day. In 2016 a report by the Defence Science Board, a committee of experts,
以及每天超過3500萬升的燃料。2016年，美國國防部科學委員會的一份報告
concluded that demand would surge as new power-hungry weapons, like lasers and rail-guns, come to maturity.
總結到隨著新型高功率武器，如激光和軌道炮的成熟，需求將會激增。
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