The Tainan City Government began an operation on Thursday to clean up dioxin-contaminated soil around the site of the defunct Anshun factory of the Taiwan Alkali Industrial Corp (TAIC,
The NT$3 million (US$93,000) operation, expected to be finished before Feb. 6, will excavate 180m3 of polluted soil from areas along the former chemical factory's drainage system. The pollutants will be sealed in a concrete structure for the next 20 years, officials from the city government's Environmental Protection Bureau said.
The officials said stockpiles of pentachlorophenol -- a chemical used as a wood preservative and pesticide and produced by the factory -- had been washed into the drainage system by rain over a long period and had leached into the surrounding soil, causing the dioxin concentrations in the soil to exceed the highest allowed limit by 64,100 times, with the pentachlorophenol level 257 times higher than the tolerable limit.
In November 2001, Taiwan adopted 1,000 nanograms of international toxic equivalents (TEQ) per kilogram as the maximum acceptable level of dioxin concentration in residential soil. This standard has also been adopted in the US, Germany and Japan.
Dioxins are known carcinogens that can cause birth defects, diabetes, immune system abnormalities and many other adverse health effects if they accumulate in the body in large amounts.
Research shows 200 parts per trillion TEQ dioxin level in residential soil corresponds to a one-in-10,000 cancer risk.
The Anshun factory was set up by the Japanese in 1942 to produce a variety of chemical products, including hydrochloric acid, caustic soda and liquid chlorine. The factory became a state-owned company named Taiwan Alkali the year after Japan's surrender at the end of World War II in 1945.
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC,
For decades, residents living around the factory grew farm produce and raised fish in ponds without any knowledge of the pollution hazard.
Recently declassified government documents show that the government took no action after becoming aware in 1982 that mercury concentrations in the area's fish exceeded levels considered safe for human consumption.
At the request of the Tainan City Government, National Cheng Kung University researchers tested blood samples from 570 residents living in the polluted area. Testing results showed that 72 percent of them had much higher levels of dioxins in their blood than the tolerance limit set by the UN.
The Environmental Protection Agency has spent more than NT$110 million since 2003 to remove contamination sources and monitor soil conditions and water quality in fish ponds around the site. In 2005, the Ministry of Economic Affairs set aside NT$1.3 billion over five years to help the affected residents.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS