The tracks of Taiwan's nuclear development

The brain drain, which began between 1964 and 1965, worried school officials sufficiently that in 1968, Tsinghua began to offer scholarships.

These helped at first, Tseng said, but over the years as interest in nuclear energy petered out and public opposition to the use of nuclear power grew, scholarships fell off to the point where there were none left.

Not only that, he added, but nuclear science at Tsinghua is now just a section where it used to be a department.

He said the KMT still knows that this type of energy is important, but people are afraid of the potential safety threats that it poses.

"Most people hear about nuclear energy and they are afraid and feel that the best thing to do is not to even touch it," Tseng said.

Taiwan's nuclear weapons research

In the late 1980s a former INER employee, Chang Hsien-yi (張憲義), caused a sensation in Taiwan after defecting to the US with evidence that the government was indeed close to developing the ability to produce nuclear weapons.

Tseng, who saw Chang often at meetings between the INER and Tsinghua researchers, said he was surprised when the news first broke in 1988.

While there was always talk about the possibility such work was proceeding, Tseng said he "never heard much about the development of weapons."

He said although he wouldn't rule out the possibility, he doubted that Taiwan was as close to success as many believed.

"They [those working on the project] may have thought they could have built something, but their success rate wasn't that high," Tseng said.

"At the time there was so much international pressure, especially from the US. If you had any kind of plan or intentions, it would be uncovered immediately," he added.

In the late 1960s Taiwan purchased a natural-uranium heavy-water research reactor, which it called the Taiwan Research Reactor. From its workings small amounts of plutonium could be produced, Tseng said.

"But making a bomb would have been difficult," he added. Not only was there the problem of separating materials, but there also was the concern of doing it without getting caught.

The International Atomic Energy Agency was always making measurements of uranium, and if any was missing they would know, he said.

Tseng also brought up the problem of where such a weapon could be tested once developed.

"To do something like this you need human resources and equipment," he said.

"There are plenty of people now who can help out, but who would want to build it?" he concluded.