Atomic Energy Council Deputy Minister Huang Tsing-tung (黃慶東) and other officials yesterday attracted heavy criticism over concerns about Taiwan’s ability to accurately detect radiation levels and deal with a potential nuclear disaster.
The council told a press conference yesterday afternoon that it had detected minute levels of radioactive iodine in dust particles. In previous days, it said it had not detected any radiation in or around Taiwan, even though a number of countries much farther from Japan had said that they had detected minor levels of radioactive particles.
As of noon yesterday, the council insisted that radioactive dust from Japan had not drifted to Taiwan, prompting widespread distrust of detectors set up by the council at several radiation fallout checkpoints in northern Taiwan.
Representatives from the council, the Department of Health, the Environmental Protection Administration, the Council of Agriculture and several other government agencies and national water reservoirs were questioned at the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene committee meeting.
Aside from lawmakers and government officials, academics with expertise in the fields of chemistry, public health, risk management and atomic energy were present to discuss the impact of nuclear crises on the environment and public health.
Several lawmakers said they feared Taiwan would not be able to handle a disaster such as the one that struck Japan following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11 that sparked a series of problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Angered by Huang’s comment that the council was “thinking about increasing [the number of checkpoints],” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) said it should immediately increase the number of radiation detection check points.
DPP Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) grilled council officials on the ability of detectors to measure radioactivity in the air and to explain how radioactive dust had drifted across the world and skipped Taiwan, as council data seemed to indicate.
Huang Tsing-tung said the council’s instruments were “extremely sensitive” and that the agency would “take this opportunity to fine-tune the instruments’ sensitivity.”
In other news, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) told Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) that the ministry would prioritize Taiwan’s participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Aside from the declared bids to have meaningful participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), “we should make a strong case for participation in the IAEA,” Chiang said.
Taiwan lost its IAEA membership in 1971 when the UN transferred the China seat from the Republic of China (ROC) to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which joined the IAEA in 1984.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
RSS