The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) expressed doubt about the current construction and test-run conditions at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), at the council’s Fourth Nuclear Power Plant Safety Monitoring Committee meeting held on Friday, suggesting that construction should be halted if no improvement is made.
The country’s fourth nuclear power plant project was authorized in the 1980s and construction began in 1999. However, the project has seen several construction delays, frozen budgets, test-run accidents and censure from the Control Yuan.
The AEC, in charge of monitoring the developer of the nuclear power plants — state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), held a safety monitoring meeting on Friday during which recent conditions at the plant were discussed.
Talks centered on a provisional agenda brought up by committee member Lin Tsung-yao (林宗堯), a former engineer at General Electric Co.
On Thursday, Lin penned a nearly 5,000-word letter detailing several problems at the power plant, including issues with the initial design, procurement problems leading to missed deadlines, hasty construction, tests run by inexperienced personnel and ineffective monitoring mechanisms by oversight bodies.
Lin’s suggestion to discuss these problems led to heated discussion among the AEC committee members, Taipower and legislators at the meeting.
Lin expressed concern about how Taipower had overseen the fourth plant’s construction and testing processes, citing the use of several contractors, scheduling issues leading to out-of-date instruments and the contracting of employees who had little experience.
He questioned the safety of such conditions.
“It [the construction project] is contracted by three companies, and they each do testing before being brought to the power plant for assembly. This is unheard of,” he said. “Who will be in charge of the test-run, and with what procedures?”
Lin, saying that airlines always ask veteran pilots do test flights, said that the people running the tests at the nuclear power plant were inexperienced.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) also questioned the safety of the plant if it were to go into operation.
Department of Nuclear Regulation director Chen Yi-pin (陳宜彬) was doubtful of the current management and construction conditions, and said with the way problems are being handled now, Taipower’s hopes to finish construction in three years are a “pie in the sky.”
“It may be best for construction to be halted now,” said Chen, adding that if they had halted the project three years ago, they could have saved much more money.
In defense of the company, Taipower vice chairman Huang Hsien-chang (黃憲章) said: “Taipower is already constructing the seventh and eighth reactors at the fourth plant, so, don’t underestimate the capability of Taipower.”
“Each facility is basically designed to completion and is assembled according to procedures on-site and tested on-site,” he said.
Taiwpower said in a statement yesterday that it would be “open-minded” about undergoing inspections and monitoring from different parties, as well as a complete inspection of the plant.
The fuel rods will not be put in place until safety can be assured, it said.
The Green Citizens Action Alliance urged the AEC to make more information public about the nuclear power plants, so that the people can help monitor the construction process.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole