An environmental protection group said yesterday that the government should send officials to Japan to learn more about the impact of earthquakes on nuclear power plants and to prepare contingency plans for future tremors in Taiwan.
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) made the appeal after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked Japan's northwest coast on Monday, killing at least nine people, injuring hundreds and causing a nuclear reactor to leak water containing radioactive material into the sea.
Noting that Taiwan and Japan are located in a region of the West Pacific where earthquakes frequently occur, TEPU officials said the Atomic Energy Council and the state-owned Taiwan Power Co should send officials along with representatives from environmental protection groups to Japan to learn from its experience.
The officials noted that the Tokyo Electric Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station leaked about 1.2m2 -- or 1,200 liters -- of water from the building housing one of its seven reactors after the earthquake.
The nuclear power station issued a statement later that the leak had been stopped and that no "significant change" in the sea water had been detected after the leak. The statement also said that the leak had no negative impact on the environment.
same reactor
The TEPU officials said the reactor unit used in the Japanese power station is the same as the one used in Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant, which is under construction in Gongliao (
Noting that Japan has more advanced technology in nuclear energy than Taiwan, the TEPU officials said Taiwan should send officials to Japan to learn more about the impact of earthquakes on nuclear power plants and to map out measures to deal with future earthquakes in Taiwan.
In related news, an underwater earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 rocked eastern Taiwan yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The tremor struck at 7:42am with an epicenter 24.6km northeast of Hualien County. It occurred at a depth of 18.6km, the bureau said.
The bureau did not issue a tsunami alert.
Additional reporting by AFP
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