Fire in nuclear power plant

I have seen 名 used as a measure word before (i.e. for firefighters here), but am not sure when it should be used.  Also, 組 as a measure word for a nuclear plant is new.  Does anyone know if 組 used because the plant in question has multiple reactors (i.e. so 組 is used in the sense of a system)?

Hi tvan,

The measure word "名" is used for specialists and workers, like 十名科学家，一百名警察，and 一千人农民工。"组" should be translated as "a set of ～", and it's used like 一组设备，一组加工机械，一组螺丝，一组同义词. In this article, "a nuclear power plant" is translated as "一座核电站", and the 坐 connotes a large facility. I think that 一组变压器 doesn't necessarily mean "multiple transformers", but anyway it is a compound facility that consists of several parts and units.

double post, deleted by me.

Hey what do you all think of this youtube channel for learning Chinese news like what we have in this group:  http://www.youtube.com/user/LearnChineseNews

changye, thanks for the clarification.  I usually skip over measure words (they don't really add any content) when reading, often to my detriment.

dthach, the usefulness of the video probably depends upon your level.  If, for example, you look at the article above and recognize one character in 100, then studying this article might not be efficient.  The video would be useful.  However, I found the video tedious because it went over characters/words that I already knew.  It looks like an excellent elementary-intermediate readers' tool.