Displaying pictures of decaying nuclear waste barrels and a girl with a brain tumor, Tao Aborigines from Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island) yesterday accused the government and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) of trying to annihilate the tribe by storing nuclear waste on the island for three decades.
“I cry everytime I tell the story of this five-year-old girl because I’m also a mother, and I believe every mother would feel heartbroken when she sees this picture and hears the story,” Sinan Mavivo, an anti-nuclear activist and resident of Lanyu, told a news conference in Taipei, while showing a picture of a five-year-old girl whose head was wrapped in gauze.
“When I first saw her, I thought she was wearing a mask, but no, it was gauze. She has to wear it because she has to undergo several treatments for brain tumor, and since she’s so little, the procedure has to be done through her mouth,” Sinan Mavivo said.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP
She choked back sobs as she talked, while Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) and Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) wiped away tears from their faces when they saw the picture.
Sinan Mavivo said that although there is no research establishing a firm connection between cancer and nuclear waste, official figures show that the cancer rate on the island has risen since the nuclear waste facility was opened in 1982.
She showed another picture in which workers were shown working in a trench where nuclear waste barrels are stored in the Lanyu Nuclear Waste Storage site. Most of the barrels have deteriorated, and dust-like nuclear waste was scattered around the trench.
“This is what it looks like in the trench, and the radioactive dust scatters whenever they open the cover over the trench to inspect the barrels, contaminating the land and sea,” Sinan Mavivo said.
After seeing the pictures, Tien said she recently visited the nuclear waste storage facility at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Wanli District (萬里), which she said was “fully air-conditioned with temperature and humidity control.”
“Why is the nuclear waste dump in Lanyu so primitive?” Tien asked.
“It’s not fair that we who live on Taiwan proper enjoy the electricity produced by these nuclear power plants, but it’s the people on Lanyu who have to take the waste,” she said.
Tien said she would ask Taipower to make funding available to remove the nuclear waste from the island, and push a special law to compensate Lanyu residents for what they have endured.
Lin supported the idea and accused Taipower of illegally storing nuclear waste on the island, since the lease for the plot of land where the facility is located expired at the end of last year.
Chang Hai-yu (張海嶼), a pastor at a local church, said that since the company had completed an inspection of all nuclear waste barrels last year, “Taipower should remove them from the island, and send them back to where they came from.”
“I hope President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) hears our cry, otherwise, the Tao are heading for destruction,” said Kuo Chien-ping (郭建平), a long-time Tao activist against nuclear waste.
“I’m sure he will hear us, because he always learns about current events from newspapers, and if newspapers publish what we say here, he will read about it tomorrow,” he said.
The Tao, as well as anti-nuclear activists, will stage a rally against nuclear power on Saturday next week in Taipei.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
RSS