Practice these TOEFL iBT listening tests to help you score high in the TOEFL Listening Section. Check the correct answers and audio transcripts below. This video is in the series of NEW TOEFL iBT Preparation: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2jvSGmpWX1UMjbc8Onae7i-R6Z8VcPbU.
Questions 29 through 34. Listen to a lecture in a science class.
(professor) Today, I'll be talking about an accident at a nuclear power plant. The accident I’ll be discussing is the one that occurred at Three-Mile Island in 1979. This was an accident that, uh, while it was very serious, was not as catastrophic as it could’ve been. By the end of the lecture, you should understand what factors contributed to the accident there.
Now you can see Three-Mile Island in this photograph. The nuclear reactor at Three-Mile Island is in the middle of a river in the state of Pennsylvania. This nuclear reactor has two PWRs, which means that it has two pressurized water reactors. The problem that occurred in 1979 was in the Number Two pressurized water reactor.
Now we’re going to discuss what happened in the Number Three reactor. . . . Oh, excuse me, did I really say that? There are only two reactors, and the problem was with the Number Two reactor at Three-Mile Island. The important thing to understand about this accident with the Number Two reactor was that there was a series of problems rather than a single problem.
The series of problems occurred in the water-cooling system. The initial problem was that a cooling system valve stuck open and cooling water ran out.
Now unfortunately, the problem didn't end when the cooling valve was stuck open because operators misinterpreted the instrument readings. They knew there was a problem. Let me repeat this because it’s important. They did know there was a problem, but they were mistaken about what the problem was.
They thought the cooling system had too much water rather than too little water. Because they thought there was too much water, they shut off the emergency cooling water. As a result, there was no water to cool the nuclear reactor. Now there wasn’t a complete nuclear meltdown when the emergency cooling water was turned off, but there was a partial nuclear meltdown. A nuclear
meltdown would occur if the uranium in the fuel core melted completely. In this situation, heat built up in the fuel core until the uranium began to melt, but it didn’t melt down completely.
I hope you understood the series of events that led to the problem at Three- Mile Island, one that, while serious, could’ve been catastrophic. It all started with the stuck valve in the cooling system and was exacerbated by the misinterpreted readings and the improper shutdown of the emergency cooling system. Fortunately, the meltdown that did occur was only partial and not complete.
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Correct Answers:
29. A
30. B
31. B
32. A cooling valve was stuck closed. - NO
Instruments were misread. - YES
The emergency cooling was turned on. - NO
A partial meltdown occurred. - YES
33. D
34. C
