[1] President Joe Biden has set ambitious goals for fighting climate change: To cut U.S. carbon emissions in half by 2030 and to have a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. The plan requires electricity generation – the easiest economic sector to green, analysts say – to be carbon-free by 2035. [2] A few figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) illustrate the challenge. In 2020 the United States generated about four trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Some 60 percent of that came from burning fossil fuels, mostly natural gas, in some 10,000 generators, large and small, around the country. All of that electricity will need to be replaced - and more, because demand for electricity is expected to rise, especially if we power more cars with it. [3] Renewable energy sources like solar and wind have grown faster than expected; together with hydroelectric, they surpassed coal for the first time ever in 2019 and now produce 20 percent of U.S. electricity. In February the EIA projected that renewables were on track to produce more than 40 percent by 2050 - remarkable growth, perhaps, but still well short of what’s needed to decarbonize the grid by 2035 and forestall the climate crisis. [4] This daunting challenge has recently led some environmentalists to reconsider an alternative they had long been wary of: nuclear power. [5] Nuclear power has a lot going for it. Its carbon footprint is equivalent to wind, less than solar, and orders of magnitude less than coal. Nuclear power plants take up far less space on the landscape than solar or wind farms, and they produce power even at night or on calm days. In 2020 they generated as much electricity in the U.S. as renewables did, a fifth of the total. [6] But debates rage over whether nuclear should be a big part of the climate solution in the U.S. The majority of American nuclear plants today are approaching the end of their design life, and only one has been built in the last 20 years. Nuclear proponents are now banking on next-generation designs, like small, modular versions of conventional light-water reactors, or advanced reactors designed to be safer, cheaper, and more flexible. [7] “We’ve innovated so little in the past half-century, there’s a lot of ground to gain,” says Ashley Finan, the director of the National Reactor Innovation Center at the Idaho National Laboratory. Yet an expansion of nuclear power faces some serious hurdles, and the perennial concerns about safety and long-lived radioactive waste may not be the biggest: Critics also say nuclear reactors are simply too expensive and take too long to build to be of much help with the climate crisis. [8] While environmental opposition may have been the primary force hindering nuclear development in the 1980s and 90s, now the biggest challenge may be costs. Few nuclear plants have been built in the U.S. recently because they are very expensive to build here, which makes the price of their energy high. [9] Jacopo Buongiorno, a professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT, led a group of scientists who recently completed a two-year study examining the future of nuclear energy in the U.S. and western Europe. They found that “without cost reductions, nuclear energy will not play a significant role” in decarbonizing the power sector. [10] “In the West, the nuclear industry has substantially lost its ability to build large plants,” Buongiorno says, pointing to Southern Company’s effort to add two new reactors to Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia. They have been under construction since 2013, are now billions of dollars over budget - the cost has more than doubled - and years behind schedule. In France, ranked second after the U.S. in nuclear generation, a new reactor in Flamanville is a decade late and more than three times over budget. [11] “We have clearly lost the know-how to build traditional gigawatt-scale nuclear power plants,” Buongiorno says. Because no new plants were built in the U.S. for decades, he and his colleagues found, the teams working on a project like Vogtle haven’t had the learning experiences needed to do the job efficiently. That leads to construction delays that drive up costs. [12] Elsewhere, reactors are still being built at lower cost, “largely in places where they build projects on budget, and on schedule,” Finan explains. China and South Korea are the leaders. (To be fair, several of China’s recent large-scale reactors have also had cost overruns and delays.) [13] “The cost of nuclear power in Asia has been a quarter, or less, of new builds in the West,” Finan says. Much lower labor costs are one reason, according to both Finan and the MIT report, but better project management is another.
🔗 Texto adaptado de:
🔗 Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/nuclear-plants-are-closing-in-the-us-should-we-build-more. Retrieved on: Feb. 3, 2022.
In paragraph 12, the author affirms “(To be fair, several of China’s recent large-scale reactors have also had cost overruns and delays)”, in order to:
clarify that China has also faced problems with the construction of large-scale nuclear reactors.
praise China’s capacity of building large-scale nuclear reactors fast and effectively.
explain that China is more efficient that South Korea when building large-scale nuclear reactors.
support the view that China and South Korea can build projects on budget and on schedule.
discuss the reasons why China and South Korea can build nuclear reactors at a lower cost.
Cesgranrio • ELETRONUCLEAR • Nível Superior
Questão 24 • Gabarito: (A)
In paragraph 12, the author affirms “(To be fair, several of China’s recent large-scale reactors have also had cost overruns and delays)”, in order to:
(A) clarify that China has also faced problems with the construction of large-scale nuclear reactors.
(B) praise China’s capacity of building large-scale nuclear reactors fast and effectively.
(C) explain that China is more efficient that South Korea when building large-scale nuclear reactors.
(D) support the view that China and South Korea can build projects on budget and on schedule.
(E) discuss the reasons why China and South Korea can build nuclear reactors at a lower cost.
Para isolar a relação lógica exata e ratificar o gabarito oficial, mapeia-se o alvo discursivo:
01. Comando (Command): Identificar o propósito pragmático do autor (in order to) ao inserir a frase parentética contendo ressalvas no parágrafo 12.
02. Gatilho (Trigger): O marcador discursivo de moderação e concessão honesta "To be fair" governando a intenção de neutralidade jornalística.
03. Operação (Operation): Análise de Intenção e Função Retórica Textual (Author's Purpose), decodificando o papel de calibragem argumentativa de um adendo climático/financeiro.
04. Evidência (Evidence): A admissão explícita de falhas e problemas na China contida dentro do fragmento (cost overruns and delays).
05. Discriminação (Discrimination): Neutralizar inversões que pintam o trecho como louvor (B) ou apoio de perfeição (D), falsas comparações bilaterais (C) ou confusões de causas estruturais (E).
06. Validação (Validation): Certificar que pontuar problemas em um exemplo anteriormente blindado é um ato típico de esclarecimento e nuance realista (clarify problems).
07. Decisão (Decision): Escolher de forma cirúrgica e linear a alternativa A, mantendo a engrenagem de processamento da esteira B3GE™ livre de dispersão.
Competência avaliada: 34. Author's Purpose and Tone (Equilíbrio Factual e Esclarecimento de Nuance).
A resposta irretocável e indestrutível. O emprego da locução adverbial e pragmática de concessão To be fair dentro dos parênteses serve exatamente para quebrar uma idealização. Ao citar os estouros de orçamento (cost overruns) e atrasos (delays) em território chinês, o autor insere um banho de realidade técnica, esclarecendo de forma transparente que até os líderes do setor enfrentam graves perturbações logísticas.
Distrator 06 — Contradição Direta (Inversão Crítica de Valência Tonal).
A Engine desvalida a opção por completo. O fragmento destaca falhas severas de cronograma e planejamento de engenharia na China. Tentar classificar a exposição explícita de problemas gerenciais como um ato de louvor ou exaltação da capacidade de construir de forma "rápida e efetiva" inverte de ponta a ponta o vetor semântico da ressalva.
Distrator 01 — Extrapolação Factual (Invenção de Competição Bilateral).
O item cria um cenário de superioridade competitiva que não foi desenvolvido na passagem. O parágrafo agrupa a China e a Coreia do Sul sob o mesmo selo de liderança em obras de baixo custo. Afirmar que o objetivo daquela frase específica era provar que os chineses dão um banho de eficiência nos sul-coreanos ultrapassa o limite lógico autorizado.
Distrator 06 — Contradição Direta (Sabotagem de Premissa Probatória).
Este mecanismo tenta forçar a leitura de que o adendo serve para dar suporte à tese de blindagem orçamentária dos líderes asiáticos. Contudo, ao revelar que reatores de grande porte na China estouraram os gastos e saíram do prazo, a frase atua justamente como um contra-exemplo que enfraquece a ideia de infalibilidade desses mercados.
Distrator 17 — Verdadeira, mas Incompleta (Confusão de Escopo Explicativo).
O examinador joga uma isca temática perigosa. O artigo de fato discute os motivos dos baixos custos na Ásia (como o preço da mão de obra e técnicas de gestão), mas essa discussão profunda e estrutural é conduzida pelas palavras de Ashley Finan no parágrafo 13. O parênteses do parágrafo 12 é apenas um alerta pontual de moderação factual.
O Símbolo das Marcas Parentéticas: Na engenharia de textos dissertativos e reportagens, o uso de parênteses para trazer um fato negativo no meio de um bloco de elogios funciona como uma cláusula de salvaguarda do autor. Serve para dizer ao leitor: "eu sei que eles são líderes, mas não pensem que o sistema deles é perfeito". Capturar essa malícia elimina distratores ufanistas (B e D).
Evitando a Antecipação Temática (E): Atente-se ao limite físico do trecho recortado pelo enunciado. O parênteses traz apenas a informação nua e crua de que houve atraso e custo extra; ele não abre espaço para destrinchar os motivos macroeconômicos desse fenômeno. Deixar a explicação densa para o bloco correto (parágrafo 13) mata a pegadinha cognitiva.
thematic: Reading & Interpretation
theme: 34. Author's Purpose and Tone
Peça Operativa Principal: Parenthetical Concession Interpretation / Pragmatic Marker Auditing / Rhetorical Balance Mapping
SILO 3 — Contextual
contentTopic: 08. Energy, Recycling & Sustainability
subtheme: Interpretation of qualifying parenthetical statements and authorial neutrality in global energy infrastructure analysis
O item afere a proficiência na decodificação de funções retóricas e propósitos comunicativos de marcadores pragmáticos de moderação discursiva, catalogado sob o tema 34. Author's Purpose and Tone do SILO 2. A consolidação do gabarito ocorre ao evidenciar que a expressão parentética temperada por "To be fair" visa estabelecer um contraponto realista e esclarecedor, quebrando a idealização do mercado chinês ao revelar os seus problemas internos de infraestrutura, pulverizando distratores de distorção tonal ou generalização.