A decision by the Cabinet in mid-February to resume halted construction of the Foruth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) has temporarily silenced a political brouhaha but longstanding concerns over environmental damage, insufficient safety precautions and radioactive waste disposal remain unaddressed.
This week the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will hold a meeting to review Taipower's proposal to build a final repository for low-level radioactive waste in Wuchiu township (烏坵鄉), Kinmen County and its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
However, environmentalists and experts who have already seen the report are skeptical, saying there are many questions that Taipower has yet answer.
Uncertain solutions
Disposal of nuclear waste has long been a difficult question for Taipower, which operates Taiwan's three plants.
It is estimated that there have been about 300,000 barrels of radioactive waste produced by Taipower, including around 100,000 barrels in Orchid Island (蘭嶼), awaiting disposal.
Since June in 1998, Taipower has carried out a primary survey of geological and environmental conditions of Hsiaochiu Islet (
Taipower has also spent seven years searching for nuclear waste dumps overseas and domestically, but each attempt has failed due to strong local opposition from residents.
On the islet, there are fewer than ten residents living in the island's only village. The island is so small that sometimes the surf reaches resident's homes.
The islet, currently controlled by the Ministry of National Defense, has been regarded as a perfect disposal site for nuclear waste because of its remoteness from Taiwan. And with only 10 residents, local opposition is seemingly of little concern.
The possible future home of at least one million barrels of low-level radioactive waste, according to the report, will be actually under granite rock, more than 50m beneath the seabed.
But "in terms of ecology, national security, and nuclear safety, the report has to be revised heavily, if it is not rejected by the EIA committee," Yang Chao-yueh (
According to Taipower's idea included in the EIA report, all low-level nuclear waste will be stored at the repository with the radioactive waste from hospitals and research institutions.
To build the repository in Wuchiu, Taipower has found an ideal model to copy from -- the Swedish Final Repository.
The repository, hewn from 430,000m3 of granite rock 50m beneath the Gulf of Bothnia's seabed, is operated by Svensk Karnbranslehantering AB, a Swedish nuclear fuel and waste management company.
The repository, the world's first operating geological repository for low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste, is located at a spot off Sweden's rocky Baltic coast 160km north of Stockholm.
The under-seabed facility near the Forsmark nuclear station was regarded by scientists as one of the most advanced facilities in the world when it opened in 1988, and was first presented to the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Symposium on Management of Low- and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Wastes convened in Stockholm.
Yang, who is also an oceanography professor at National Taiwan University, said that it was uncertain that the Swedish technology, which is suitable for the frigid zone, could be used in tropical areas.
"Meanwhile, they seem to forget a threatening factor -- earthquakes," said Yang, adding that this was one of big differences between Sweden and Taiwan.
In addition, Yang said, Taipower has failed to pay attention to the negative impact on the marine environment that may be caused by the establishment of a repository.
"I see some areas of the report that don't make sense. For example, Taipower said the coverage rate of living coral is 50 percent but that only four kinds of fish live in the waters," Yang said.
A high coverage rate of vulnerable living coral implies that the waters are suitable for fish. Using Pingtung County's Nanwan (
So is Taipower mistaken about the coral, the fish, or both? Either way, questions remain.
Then there is the national security aspect. Yang said that though the islet was close to China's Fujian Province, it did not discuss China's possible reaction to the facility's construction.
Yang also said Taipower's pre-treatment of radioactive waste was questionable.
"In 1997, experts with Greenpeace, invited by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, found leaking at the dump on Orchid Island," Yang said.
Officials of the Atomic Energy Commission, however, claimed that since 1986 no radioactive waste water had leaked at the site.
Yang said 11 out of 15 EIA committee members appointed by outgoing EPA head Lin Jun-yi (
Political struggles, however, might affect the future of the repository in Wuchiu. Alleged administrative problems involved in a recent oil spill in southern Taiwan have forced Lin out of the EPA and the new head, Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), may have a different approach toward the assesment.
Foreign Rejection
As Taiwanese anti-nuclear activists protested against the resumption of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant last month, their counterparts in South Korea were fighting against turning some areas of the Korean peninsular into a nuclear repository.
What particularly worries both ruling and opposition parties is a plan for Taiwan to ship nuclear waste to North Korea.
According to the Korea Times, both parties joined forces to urge Taiwan to reverse its plan.
In Taiwan political figures have shown much less concern about the environment and more on political stability and economic prosperity, the reasons cited by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
If the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is to go ahead after all, however, solving Taiwan's nuclear waste disposal problem becomes all the more pressing.
Huang Huei-yu (黃惠予), a division head of Taipower's public affairs department, told the Taipei Times that the export of radioactive waste to North Korea was still uncertain. The status of Taipower's contract with North Korea in 1997 is still unchanged.
"Taipower will not prepare for shipping the waste to North Korea unless we are notified that construction [of the facilities] has been completed and an operational license issued," Huang said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique