Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Vice Chairman Chiou Syh-tsong (
Chiou said Taiwan's 19 steel works that operates melting furnaces have been obligated to establish alarm systems since 1995. By the end of 2001, 114 reports of the discovery of radioactive materials have prevented potential radioactive contamination of steel products.
The radioactive rod discovered on Monday in Kaohsiung contains krypton-85, a radioactive isotope of the noble gas krypton, according to the AEC's Institute of Nuclear Energy Research yesterday.
Officials said that no series number was imprinted on the rod, to help identify its source. Researchers will further carry out further non-destructive examination to ascertain where the rod might have come from.
Krypton-85 is produced naturally, as well as by human activities, mainly the nuclear industry. Officials said, it is an ideal tracer due to its chemical stability as an inert gas. In Taiwan, a number of companies use it to monitor the thickness of products, including paper and polyethylene.
The AEC's Department of Radiation Protection yesterday checked all listed krypton-85 items but found all could be accounted for and were kept safely.
"We suspect that the rod might be used by the industry three decades ago," Chiou said, adding that the agency did not form its radiation protection department to monitor and safeguard radioactive materials in Taiwan until 1979.
Chiou said, after 1979, the agency has urged illegal holders of radioactive sources to report and the deadline would be this year.
When the revised Ionizing Radiations Regulations takes effect next year, unauthorized holders of regulated radioactive sources will be prosecuted and/or fined severely.
Also yesterday, Chiou denied that Taiwan has ever imported any plutonium from overseas and said all spent fuel from nuclear plants which contains plutonium has been stored safely and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Chiou spoke in order to deny a March 27 Washington Post report, which claimed Taiwan was on a list of 33 countries which have been provided by the US with plutonium under the 1954 Atoms for Peace program.
The report said that the US Energy Department cannot fully account for small amounts of potentially dangerous plutonium sent to other countries, including Iran, Pakistan and India.
"Never has Taiwan imported plutonium from overseas because the material has been highly regulated by the IAEA," Chiou told the Taipei Times, adding that he had never heard of plutonium capsules.
Taiwan, however, has plutonium spent fuel because the element is created in nuclear reactors as a by-product of using uranium-238 at nuclear power plants.
"Plutonium spent fuel is stored at interim repositories at plants. The Taiwan Power Company will find or build final repositories for spent fuel by 2032," Chiou said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching