After being kept in a warehouse since 2003, the reactor pressure vessel for Unit One of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was yesterday finally moved out of storage to be installed on its pedestal.
However, environmentalists expressed concern about the safety of the reactor component. They said that, during a visit last month with Japanese anti-nuclear activists to the plant in Gongliao Township, Taipei County, they noticed that the pressure vessel had started showing signs of rust, which they blamed on lax management.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said yesterday that plans for the reactor to go into commercial operation by July next year would be indefinitely delayed.
The 1,007-tonne reactor pressure vessel was completed in 2001 by Babcock-Hitachi, a subcontractor of General Electric. It had been in the warehouse since June, 2003, after it was shipped from Japan. According to Taipower's original plans, construction of the reactor should have been completed by the end of last year.
Lin Yuan-te (林源得), deputy manager for Taipower's Lungmen Construction Office in Gongliao, confirmed yesterday that the vessel was brought to the construction site yesterday.
He said that the pressure vessel would be loaded onto its pedestal on Friday.
Another reactor will be installed in a few years at the power plant, which has a projected total capacity of 2,700MW.
Lin said that as of the end of last month, the plant was about 58 percent complete.
"Progress remains behind the original schedule. The original start-up date for the plant's first reactor, July 2006, will definitely be postponed," he said.
Lin said that the Executive Yuan is still reviewing Taipower's evaluation report on the delay, and that it remains uncertain how long the delay will be.
Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists were skeptical about the safety of the first reactor owing to the rust that had accumulated on the pressure vessel.
"Before installation, Taipower should explain the massive rust build-up to both residents [of Gongliao Township] and the general public. We'd like to know if it would cause any problem," Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑), executive-general of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, said yesterday.
Lai said that the presence of rust was just one of the examples showing Taipower's lax management with its sub-constructors. In June 2002, it was found that questionable materials were used in the construction of a reactor pedestal for the plant.
Lai said that the designs for the construction, which date to January 1998, should be reviewed and updated.
Lai said that the same type of reactor, an advanced boiling-water reactor (ABWR), was used in a nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki, Japan, where several nuclear accidents have occurred. Due to persistent campaigning by the anti-nuclear movement, the latest ABWR reactor in Japan had been built under stricter criteria, such as incorporating a design more resistant to earthquakes.
Lin said yesterday that Taipower has been in close communication with people concerned about nuclear power for years and that all problems raised by the public have been fixed.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
Central and southern Taiwan are to see increasingly heavy rainfall from last night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system on Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around Japan's Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions. The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by this afternoon and reaching China's Zhejiang through the East China Sea tomorrow,
RSS