Anti-nuclear environmentalists and legislators called for a delay of the construction the island's fourth nuclear power plant after locating several problems during a field investigation yesterday.
Taiwan Power Company (
Following the 921 earthquake last month, lawmakers and environmentalists have asked for a comprehensive review of the safety of Taiwan's three existing nuclear power plants.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
In addition, they have also urged the government to reconsider plans for a fourth nuclear power plant, which is located near five known fault lines.
DPP lawmakers Lin Chung-mo (
"The plant is designed to resist big earthquakes. But we don't think a devastating tremor like the 921 earthquake would happen here because the five faults nearby have been identified as inactive," said Lin Chu-wan (
According to Taipower, the construction of the plant, initiated last year, is currently 29 percent complete and will be finished by 2005. So far, the company has invested NT$36.4 billion in the project.
Although earthquake-sensing equipment has yet to be established at the site, Lin said that several instruments have been set up to monitor construction conditions, including pressure, tension, and displacement to ensure safety.
During the field investigation, the three lawmakers observed problems such as rusty reinforcing bars and seawater seeping into the foundation of the plant, which has long worried residents living nearby. Residents in the area have asked that construction of the plant be suspended.
"We don't think it's a good idea to continue construction until the confusion that local residents feel is dispelled," said DPP lawmaker Lin.
However, Taipower officials said that the things the lawmakers were concerned about were actually within guidelines.
"We engineers think the current situation (the existence of rust on reinforce bars) is allowable," Taipower's Lin said.
In addition, Lin that said groundwater around the site has been monitored carefully to see if any seawater has penetrated the construction site.
However, activists from the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (
Taipower has been using nuclear power as one of its energy sources since 1964.
However, building nuclear power plants has become a tedious process as disputes between the government and environmentalists have become common-place.
It wasn't until 1978 that the first nuclear power plant started operating.
Since then, environmental activists have brought several controversial environmental protection issues to light, including the death of clustered coral near hot waste water discharge pipes from plants and other coastal ecology problems.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS: Trump and Xi respect each other, are in a unique position to do something great, and they want to do that together, the US envoy to China said The administration of US President Donald Trump has told Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “we don’t want any coercion, but we want [the Taiwan dispute] resolved peacefully,” US ambassador to China David Perdue said in a TV interview on Thursday. Trump “has said very clearly, we are not changing the ‘one China’ policy, we are going to adhere to the Taiwan Relations Act, the three communiques and the ‘six assurances’ that were done under [former US president Ronald] Reagan,” Perdue told Joe Kernen, cohost of CNBC’s Squawk Box. The act, the Three Joint Communiques and the “six assurances” are guidelines for Washington
DEEPENING TIES: The two are boosting cooperation in response to China’s coercive actions and have signed MOUs on search-and-rescue and anti-smuggling efforts Taiwan and Japan are moving to normalize joint coast guard training and considering the inclusion of other allies, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. Both nations’ coast guards in June sent vessels to the seas south of the Sakishima Islands to conduct joint training, the report said, adding that it was the second joint maritime training exercise since the nations severed formal diplomatic ties in September 1972. Japan dispatched the Nagoya Coast Guard’s Mizuho, a 134m, 6,000-tonne patrol vessel which can carry a helicopter, while the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sent the 126m, 4,000-tonne Yunlin, one of its largest vessels, the report
RSS