1956年，坎布里亚郡的科尔德霍尔成为世界上第一座商业规模的核电站。世界上最优秀的一些科学家和工程师齐聚一堂，帮助建立并交付了一个将令世界艳羡的产业——就诞生在英国本土。随后，我们逐渐停下了脚步。
In 1956, Calder Hall in Cumbria became the world’s first commercial-scale nuclear power station. Some of the world’s best scientists, and engineers came together to help build and deliver an industry that would become the envy of the world – right here in the UK. Then, gradually, we stopped.
七十年后，英国正在着手实施另一项以核电为核心的大型基础设施计划。然而问题是，如果我们当初一直坚持建设，今天的国家会是什么样子？
Seventy years on, the UK is embarking on another major infrastructure programme with nuclear power at its heart. The question is, however, what would the country look like today had we kept building?
看看海峡对岸就知道了。1974年3月6日是一个可以说永远改变法国能源历史的日子。当天，时任法国总理皮埃尔·梅斯梅尔宣布了一项在全法建设核电站的计划。而且他们进行了规模化建设。如今，法国大约百分之七十的电力来自核能。而在英国，核能发电仅占百分之十二左右。
You only have to look across the Channel. March 6, 1974 is a date that arguably changed French energy history forever. That day, the country’s prime minister, Pierre Messmer, announced a programme to build nuclear power stations across France. And they built at scale. Today, approximately 70 per cent of France’s electricity comes from nuclear energy. In the UK, nuclear generates only around 12 per cent.
但英国曾占得先机。如果我们当时继续建设，今天我们就会看到更便宜、更安全的电力，减少对动荡的国际天然气市场的依赖，并能为数万人提供高技能的基础设施工作岗位。
But the UK had a head start. Had we kept building, today we would see much cheaper, more secure electricity, less dependency on volatile international gas markets, and tens of thousands more people employed in highly skilled infrastructure jobs.
相反，我们却任由英国开创的产业变成了一个我们不得不重建的产业。1980年，我的职业生涯始于迪尔杰内斯核电站，当时是一名电气工艺学徒。我在这个行业工作了几十年，见证了它所能带来的成效。我也见证了当项目沦为孤立的、一次性工程时所带来的后果。
Instead, we allowed an industry that the UK pioneered to become one we have had to rebuild. I began my career at Dungeness nuclear power station as a craft electrical apprentice in 1980. I have spent decades working in this industry and have seen what it can deliver. I have also seen the consequences when projects become isolated, one-off undertakings.
当你停止建设时，经验丰富的工人就会流失，供应链会消失，专业知识也会丧失。当你最终重新开始时，你就要为重建其中的大部分内容付出代价。这是运营一个产业的昂贵方式。对于保障一个国家的能源未来和维护其能源安全来说，这更是一种糟糕透顶的方式。这就是为什么我们需要不断建设。
When you stop building, experienced workers leave, supply chains disappear, and expertise is lost. When you eventually start again, you pay to rebuild much of it. That is an expensive way to run an industry. It is an even worse way to secure a country’s energy future and protect its energy security. That’s why we need to keep building.
下一代核电站必须被当作一个规划、一个机队来对待，而不是一系列不连贯的项目。
The next generation of nuclear power stations must be treated as a programme, a fleet, not a series of disconnected projects.
赛兹韦尔C核电站具有优势。我们采用了为欣克利角C核电站开发的的设计，并利用在那里获得的经验来更高效地建设。但这并不意味着我们正以完全相同的方式对其进行建设。
Sizewell C has an advantage. We have taken the design developed for Hinkley Point C and using the experience gained there to build more efficiently. But that doesn’t mean we are building it exactly the same way.
设计已经确定。这意味着我们可以专注于改进建设方式——开展更多创新。这意味着要更多地利用场外制造，将工厂的大部分结构在远离施工现场的地方组装好，然后运送到现场准备安装。我们还在更好地利用数字技术来规划施工，确保组件在需要时运抵现场，而不是等待安装。但创新不能被过多的监管所扼杀。
The design is already established. That means we can focus on improving how we build – on more innovation. That means making greater use of off-site manufacturing, with large sections of the plant being assembled away from construction and brought in ready for installation. We are also making better use of digital technologies to plan construction and ensure components arrive on site when they are needed, as opposed to waiting to be installed. But innovation can’t be stifled by too much regulation.
我们必须正视那些导致大型基础设施不必要地难以交付的监管和规划流程。由政府委托审查如何改进核能监管的芬格尔顿评估报告发现，这一系统已经变得过于复杂。其建议提供了一个机会，可以消除重复、改进决策并加快项目推进。
It is important to confront the regulatory and planning processes that have made major infrastructure unnecessarily difficult to deliver. The Fingleton review, commissioned by the Government to examine how nuclear regulation could be improved, identified a system that had become too complex. Its recommendations offer an opportunity to remove duplication, improve decision-making, and get projects moving more quickly.
对于英国的核能行业而言，这是一个明确的时刻。这是一个千载难逢的机遇，能够在保持英国世界级安全、安保和环境标准的同时，让核能交付变得更简单、更相称、更可预测。
This is a definite moment for the UK’s nuclear sector. A once-in-a-generation opportunity to strike a better balance between preserving the UK’s world-class safety, security and environmental standards while making nuclear delivery simpler, more proportionate and more predictable.
我们有一个简单的公式。保持设计一致，吸取过去的经验教训，并提高建设能力。下一个项目应该能够走得更远。
We have a simple formula. Keep the design consistent, learn from what has happened before, and get better at building it. The next project should be able to go even further.
这里还存在着更大的奖项。赛兹韦尔C核电站预计将创造数万个就业岗位并提供1500个学徒岗位。我们百分之七十的建设价值预计将归属英国企业。除了为失学、失业或未接受培训的年轻人提供一条通往技能熟练、薪酬优厚的工作的途径外，这也是工程师、焊工、电工和制造商的一个机遇。但供应商需要有投资的信心，而这种信心只能来自于明了这个项目之后还会有另一个项目。
And there is a bigger prize at stake here too. Sizewell C is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and deliver 1500 apprenticeships. Seventy per cent of our construction value is expected to go to UK businesses. This is an opportunity for engineers, welders, electricians, and manufacturers, in addition to giving young people who are not in education, employment or training a route into skilled, well-paid work. But suppliers need confidence to invest in people, and that confidence will only come from knowing there will be another project after this one.
发展核电的理由远不止发电本身——它关乎在无风时保持灯火通明、保护家庭和企业免受国际能源冲击的影响，以及创造能够代代维持社区繁荣的技能熟练、薪酬优厚的工作岗位。
The case for nuclear is about far more than electricity generation – it’s about keeping the lights on when the wind isn’t blowing, protecting households and businesses from international energy shocks, and creating skilled, well-paid jobs that can sustain communities for generations.
今天一个十岁的孩子，在退休很久之后，可能依然在接受来自赛兹韦尔C核电站的电力。这让我想起了一句古老的希腊谚语：“当老人们种下他们永远无法乘凉的树荫时，一个社会就变得伟大了。”核电恰恰需要这种思维。
A ten-year-old child today could still be receiving electricity from Sizewell C long after they have retired. Which brings me to an old Greek proverb: “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”Nuclear power requires precisely that kind of thinking.
今天做出决策的人可能永远看不到他们所批准的基础设施的全部益处。但他们的子孙后代会看到。七十年前，英国向世界展示了核能所能取得的成就。现在，让我们在我们开创的事业上继续前进。奈杰尔·坎恩是赛兹韦尔C核电站的首席执行官
The people making the decisions today may never see the full benefits of the infrastructure they approve. But their children and grandchildren will. Seventy years ago, the UK showed the world what nuclear power could achieve. Now, let’s build on what we’ve started. Nigel Cann is chief executive of Sizewell C