Thu, Oct 21, 1999 page2

• Activists say site for new nuclear plant dangerous

  NUCLEAR POWER Despite reassurances from Taipower, legislators are concerned over the vulnerability of Taiwan's nuclear power plants to earthquake damage

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Environmentalists and lawmakers urged the government yesterday to comprehensively review the safety of Taiwan's three nuclear power plants following the earthquake, and to reconsider plans for a fourth nuclear power facility in Taipei County.

  In the wake of the devastating temblor on Sept. 21, which badly damaged electricity transmission around the island, especially in central Taiwan, the Taiwan Power Company (台灣電力公司) has tried to reassure critics of its safety record.

  Taipower officials said that earthquake-monitoring systems installed in all its nuclear plants trigger a shut down to prevent radioactive contamination when there is a quake registering more than 5.0 on the Richter scale.

  

  The Third Nuclear Reactor on the Kenting peninsula was the site of Taiwan's first nuclear accident.

  PHOTO: TAI LI-AN

  But environmentalists and lawmakers said yesterday the government should not risk Taiwan's safety with its belief that monitoring systems will prevent nuclear power plant accidents.

  "We worry particularly about the first two plants in northern Taiwan, which were built before the first regulations for building earthquake-resistant constructions were issued in 1982," said DPP lawmaker Lin Chung-mo (林重謨).

  Two of the nuclear power plants in Taipei County are situated 8km and 13km respectively from the Hsinchuang Fault (新莊斷層), also known as the Chinshan Fault (金山斷層). The third facility is in Pingtung County, 35km from the boundary of the Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates.

  

  A member of the Kungliao Anti-nuclear Self-help Association speaks on the dangers of the proposed site of the Fourth Nuclear Reactor.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  "In addition to having built its three existing power plants on dangerous sites, Taipower is planning to build the fourth plant on a sand dune and coastal alluvium along the north coast, where sand, silt and gravel cover a clay layer underground," said Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), from Taiwan Environmental Protection Union's Taipei Chapter (TEPUTC, 台灣環保聯盟台北分會).

  Responding to the claims, officials from Taipower said yesterday that though the three plants were located near fault lines they were built to be earthquake-resistant and plans for future plants have been thoroughly researched.

  "To avoid any threats posed by active fault lines, we must check the terrain and collect geological records on previous earthquakes when proposing a site for a nuclear plant," said Li Chuan-lai (李傳來) from Taipower's public relations office.

  But, lawmakers also criticized Taipower for its safety record, claiming the state-run company had paid inadequate attention to earthquake drills.

  "Taipower should have at least one drill every two years at every plant, but what we can see from the records is that there was only one drill at the first plant since 1992, two at the second plant since 1989, and two at the third plant since 1992," said DPP lawmaker Fan Hsun-lu (范巽綠).

  Taipower officials, however, told reporters later that the legislators' knowledge of nuclear energy regulations was flawed.

  "I think Fan has misunderstood the regulation regarding drills. We only have to have one drill at any of the existing plants," said Taipower's Li.

  Lu Chen-tsang (呂建蒼), a TEPUTC member, responded: "Does that mean the more nuclear power plants we have, the longer the period of time between drills for a plant? Taipower should not ignore the potential danger of radiation contamination, even if plants are in remote areas."

  Ritsuya Okuno (奧野津也), a Japanese activist from an organization called the No Nukes Asia Forum (NNAF), surveyed the site of the fourth power plant after the quake and claimed part of the construction around the nuclear reactor was already rusty.

  To stress the importance of disaster prevention, Okuno pointed to the recent nuclear contamination accident at the JCO uranium-processing plant in Japan as an example.

  "Japanese officials had ensured the safety of its nuclear power industry, but still such an accident happened unexpectedly," said Okuno, who said a fourth plant in Taipei County should be reconsidered.
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