With legislators and civic groups expressing their concern over the safety of nuclear waste treatment, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday that the ministry is planning to set up an independent nuclear waste treatment center.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, legislators across party lines asked how the ministry, Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power, 台電) and the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) plan to deal with nuclear waste and whether they can ensure safety.
AEC Deputy Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said 16,671 spent fuel bundles — high-level radioactive waste — produced by the three operating nuclear power plants are being kept in the plants’ spent fuel pools.
Duh said that because the pools at the first and second nuclear power plants in New Taipei City’s Jinshan (金山) and Wanli (萬里) districts are unable to store all the spent fuel bundles produced in the plants’ lifespan of 40 years, the bundles are to be moved to dry cask storage facilities that are now being built as midterm storage sites.
According to Taipower’s Spent Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Program Plan, which is now evaluating potential rock formations, the final disposal site is to be decided by 2038 and ready to use by 2055, he said.
As for low-level radioactive waste disposal facilities, Chou said an estimated total number of about 740,000 barrels — including 292,048 barrels produced during their 40-year lifespan and 455,783 barrels produced during the decommissioning process — are to be created by the three nuclear power plants.
Duh said that about 100,000 barrels are stored on Lanyu (蘭嶼, Orchid Island) and others are being kept in storage facilities at the three power plants.
He added that the ministry in 2012 named Taitung County’s Tajen Township (達仁鄉) and Kinmen’s Wuchiu Township (烏坵鄉) as potential sites for building a final depository, but the two local governments have not agreed to hold local referendums to decide the site.
According to Yilan Charlei Chen Foundation president Chen Hsi-nan (陳錫南), who was invited to present to the committee, the design of Taiwan’s dry cask storage does not allow spent fuel bundles to be removed or transported to other sites, because it lacks sufficient vibration-proof and crash-proof material.
The oldest dry cask storage facilities in the US have only been used for 26 years, so Taipower cannot prove that the facilities can keep the spent fuel safe from leakage for 40 years, Chen added.
Meanwhile, He Li-wei (賀立維), a nuclear expert who worked at the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, said seven hydrogen explosions occurred when the institute tried to remove fuel bundles from pools 26 years ago in Taoyuan County’s Longtan Township (龍潭).
Taipower vice president Chen Pu-tsan (陳布燦) said that although the oldest dry cast storage facilities in the US are just 26 years old, they were designed to be used for more than 40 years, and so are the ones designed for Taiwan.
Duh said three months ago, the ministry decided to establish an independent administrative institution to deal with nuclear waste issues, and public hearings are being held to collect opinions.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned