Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday said it plans to temporarily store Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant’s used fuel rods at the facility for several decades as it works to find a more permanent repository site for the radioactive waste, an announcement that was quickly criticized by environmentalists and local residents.
The company made the announcement after the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that the utility wanted to establish a temporary repository at the plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) to store 5,720 bundles of used fuel rods and more than 60,000 drums of low-level radioactive waste after the plant is decommissioned in 2019.
“It is only temporary. Although we could store the radioactive waste in dry storage at the plant for 40 years in accordance with international conventions, we do not plan to put it there for that long,” Taipower nuclear energy section spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) told the Taipei Times.
Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times
Taipower’s retirement proposal for Jinshan, which was submitted to the Atomic Energy Council in November last year, would see the plant’s No. 1 reactor shut down in December 2018 and the No. 2 reactor shuttered the following July, Lin said.
The company has proposed spending NT$18.2 billion (US$544.32 million) over 25 years to completely shutter the plant after the reactors are shut down, with eight years spent on reducing nuclear contamination, 12 years to dismantle the plant’s buildings and facilities, and three years to monitor the radioactive level of the surrounding area, he said.
Taipower plans to build a 8,200m2 dry storage unit for high-level radioactive waste and a 5,000m2 low-level radioactive waste storage unit in the southwestern section of the plant site as a temporary measure, he said.
The company is trying to gain public support to build a permanent central radioactive waste storage facility on an uninhabited island, he said, adding that the company plans to submit a feasibility report on its central waste storage proposal to the government by September.
Shimen District residents and environmentalists said Taipower’s temporary waste storage plan would endanger the 7 million people living in the greater Taipei area.
Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance chief executive Kuo Ching-lin (郭慶霖), who lives near the plant, said the Jinshan facility and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里) have been running for about 40 years, and residents must be consulted about keeping nuclear waste in the area for another 40 years.
“Even if the company wants to store radioactive waste at nuclear plants, it could not be done without having an open and transparent dialogue with local residents. We do not want to become another Orchid Island [Lanyu, (蘭嶼)],” Kuo said.
“Pollution remediation and land reutilization are the most important things following the plants’ deactivation, and we hope that Taipower is determined to help revitalize the local economy that has withered because of the nuclear plants,” Kuo said.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said the storage proposal poses a long-term health risk because dry storage casks might corrode and crack due to exposure to the elements.
“Nuclear plants can only be used as interim repositories, because they are not designed to hold radioactive wastes that have half-lives of more than 10,000 years. Selection of a permanent site is an urgent issue that everyone must face up to,” Tsuei said.
Atomic Energy Council Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) yesterday told lawmakers during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan that the council forwarded Taipower’s proposal to the New Taipei City Government earlier this year to be publicly announced.
However, New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said he would not approve the plan and that the city could not become a nuclear waste storage site that would pose a risk to greater Taipei area residents.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS