Officials yesterday sought to play down leaked test results indicating possible flaws in a containment structure of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, saying the problem will be fixed as part of ongoing tests and inspections.
Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power, 台電) chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said that finding and sealing leaks in the primary containment structure of the plant’s first reactor were normal steps in safety inspection procedures.
Hwang said similar leaks were discovered during inspections carried out on the nation’s first, second and third nuclear power plants, all of which are operated by the state-run Taipower.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The company is also responsible for the nearly completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Answering questions at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) said the council would strictly review Taipower’s safety reports on the plant to ensure the leakage rates of the reactor containment building are within safety standards.
Tsai’s remarks came in response to a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday which said it received an anonymous report from a person who identified himself as a worker at the plant saying that during the integrated leak rate test (ILRT) and structure integral test (SIT) conducted at the plant’s No. 1 reactor from Feb. 26 through March 5, leakage rates were found to be too high.
The company had reported them as normal.
Meanwhile, outside the committee meeting room, Green Citizen Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) criticized Taipower for claiming that the structure had no problems in its publicized safety test report on its Web site last month.
He alleged that the company only reported the good parts, but not flaws, which he said should be considered lying to the public.
Taipower vice president Chen Pu-tsan (陳布燦) said the company had conducted ILRT and SIT on the containment building and the latter was completed and proved to be in compliance with international standards.
Chen added the company will find the problem and make sure it is solved if it finds leak rates exceeding standard during tests.
Tsai said Taipower has been seeking ways to further reinforce the containment structure since then.
Once the flaws have been corrected, Taipower will conduct an ILRT again, he said.
The ILRT and SIT are just two of 307 tests that must be conducted before fuel rods can be installed in the reactor, Tsai said, though he described them as “vital” because of the primary containment structure’s role in minimizing the release of radioactive material into the environment.
The SIT is designed to test the pressure threshold of the steel reinforced concrete structure, he said. The test subjects the structure to 15 percent more pressure than in normal conditions to see if it can withstand the stress.
Tsai said the AEC will “rigorously inspect” Taipower’s test results as soon as his agency receives all the documentation.
The council will make sure problems are solved before giving approval, he added.
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