Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) lashed out at the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電) yesterday during his inspection of the Third Nuclear Power Plant (核三廠) in Pingtung County, saying that the real cause of a recent fire at the plant was the company's failure to pay attention.
Chang said that Taipower officials had lacked sufficient awareness of possible dangers after learning that salt crystals had affected transmission lines connecting the plant to remote high voltage towers on March 17.
Two electric generators at the plant came to a stop because of transmission problems.
Taipower's slowness in fixing the transmission problems, however, indirectly resulted in a fire on March 18 at the plant, which caused damage to an electric generator. The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) ranked the accident the worst of its kind in Taiwan's history.
On March 21, the Cabinet established an independent task force, led by National Science Council Chairman Wei Che-ho (魏哲和), to investigate last weekend's incidents at the plant . The taskforce members carried out their first inspection of the plant yesterday.
"It's time for Taipower to establish people's confidence in the company," Chang said.
Chang said that it would be irresponsible of Taipower to continue to ignore its "lax management" because most nuclear accidents which have occurred worldwide can be attributed to human error.
"Taipower has a responsibility to the lives and property of 23 million people in Taiwan," he said.
Taipower President Kuo Junne-huey (
Chang also demanded that Taipower officials carry out safety checks at the two other operational nuclear plants, both in Taipei County.
In addition to the Cabinet's task force, three other groups -- one from Taipower and two from the AEC, one of which is independent and includes experts from outside the AEC -- have been working on their investigations simultaneously.
Anti-nuclear activists, meanwhile, are far from satisfied with the government's investigation. They think existing nuclear safety regulation systems should be reviewed.
"The local monitoring network established by local residents, rescue teams and fire departments did not function adequately during the recent accident because Taipower officials at the plant procrastinated for at least one hour before reporting the accident," Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), secretary-general of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, told the Taipei Times.
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