Environmental activists yesterday vowed to stage a large-scale protest if the government does not immediately suspend the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, as well as re-examine the nation’s three operational nuclear power plants.
Saying that Taiwan would be hopeless if the incident at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant happened here, Green Party Taiwan spokesperson Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) said the residents of Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), where the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is located, would hold a demonstration in front of the Executive Yuan tomorrow morning, demanding an immediate suspension to the power plant’s construction.
Those planning to join election primaries for legislators representing Taipei City and New Taipei City should tell the voters where they stand on this issue, he added.
Pan’s avowal was made at a press conference held by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) and Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英).
At the press conference, Tien played what she said was a recorded conversation between an engineer of the state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) and his supervisor. According to the tape, the engineer was pressured by his supervisor to pay the contractor, who only partially followed the original design of the protective facilities at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant — also known as the Longmen Nuclear Power Plant — laid out by General Electric Co.
Gloria Hsu (徐光蓉), a professor at National Taiwan University (NTU), accused Taipower of changing the original design at its discretion and even skimping on construction materials. For example, Hsu said, the company replaced the heat-resistant gaskets with plastic ones.
“After what happened at Fukushima, many countries around the world are re-examining the soundness of their nuclear power plants,” she said. “Only the Taiwanese government acts like this is no big deal.”
Referring to remarks made by Atomic Energy Council Deputy Minister Huang Tsing-tung (黃慶東) during a legislative session on Monday that the nation’s nuclear power plants were built on stable bedrock, making them as solid as the “lotus-shaped pedestal supporting the goddess Guanyin,” Hsu questioned why the government officials could be so confident to say that the nation would not see a nuclear power crisis similar to that of Fukushima.
“Japan, Russia and the US have all seen nuclear power accidents happen in their own countries. We purchased the power plant facilities from the US and we ended up having more faith in these facilities. This is ridiculous,” Hsu said.
Hsu also said the nation’s operational plants — Jinshan, -Guosheng and Ma-anshan nuclear power plants — were built to withstand a peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.3G. However, the government raised the PGA to 0.33G after the 921 earthquake in 1999. The facilities do not follow this updated regulation, she said.
Shih Shin-min (施信民), also of NTU, stressed the importance of raising the fourth plant’s ability to cope with the impact of earthquakes. Instead of a magnitude 7 quake, the power plant must be able to withstand a magnitude 9 earthquake, he said.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS