煤又恢复了青春“煤又恢复了它的青春”——这是笔者今年秋天在西德参观能源设施时,西德的一位朋友所说的话,事实也的确如此。我们在西德第一个参观项目是尤里奇核能研究中心。但是研究中心的主人却特意安排我们参观了一个新辟的露天煤矿。这不是没有理由的,尤里奇研究中心的高温反应堆的用途之一就是煤的气化和液化,而核能和煤一旦结合,煤一旦气化或液化,它便顿时身价猛增。站在露天矿边特制的高台上,可以俯瞰整个矿场。长达2,000多米的一片空地,已经被巨型采掘机挖成小山拗一般。场上横着几架挖掘机,据说它一天的挖掘量可达20万立米。挖掘机自身重量相当于莱因河 Coal has restored its youth and “coal has restored its youth”—this is what the author said when he visited energy facilities in West Germany this fall. This is indeed the case. Our first visit in West Germany was the Urych Nuclear Energy Research Center. However, the owner of the research center specially arranged for us to visit a new open-pit coal mine. This is not unreasonable. One of the uses of the high-temperature reactor at the Urych Research Center is the gasification and liquefaction of coal. Once coal and coal are combined, once coal is gasified or liquefied, it will suddenly increase in value. Standing on a special platform on the edge of the open pit, it overlooks the entire mine. An open space of more than 2,000 meters has been dug into small hills by giant mining machines. There are several excavators on the field. It is said that it can dig up to 200,000 meters a day. The weight of the excavator itself is equivalent to the Rhine