The Control Yuan yesterday impeached 12 former and current senior managers from the state-owned China Shipbuilding Corp (CSBC) and Taiwan Power Com-pany (Taipower) for dereliction of duty in supervising the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant's reactor pedestal.
The reactor pedestal is the base underneath the nuclear reactor.
After a half-year investigation, the Control Yuan yesterday released the results of its probe.
The report said the errors in the construction had seriously affected the safety of the plant.
"Those errors not only endanger the plant, but also resulted in great losses for Taipower since it slows down construction. Also, the mistakes had a negative impact on the company's reputation," the report said.
Those errors were revealed by the media last July and sparked widespread public concern.
The task force found that nine of 32 samples taken from the pedestal contained defective materials which, it said, made the managers' negligence obvious.
In addition, numerous cracks were found in the plant's reactor pedestal. The report said that detailed records of the work done in constructing the pedestal were not made, in violation of regulations governing public construction projects.
"The quality of construction work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant appears to have drawbacks," Control Yuan member Huang Wu-tzu (
Not long after the allegations came to light, the Ministry of Economic Affairs released the names of officials to be given demerits over the flaws. Twenty-two officials are from Taipower and China Shipbuilding.
China Shipbuilding subcontracted New Asia Construction and Development Corp to build the pedestal.
The 12 will be sent to the Judicial Yuan's Committee for the Discipline of Public Functionaries, which will investigate the case and decide whether disciplinary action should be taken against the 12.
Among the 12 who were impeached, eight were from the CSBC. The eight are: former general manager Chiang Yuan-chang (
The remaining four were from Taipower. They are: the director of the company's Fossil and Nuclear Fuel Department, Lu Hsueh-yi (
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