Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Chairman Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) said on Monday that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) had delayed naming its final potential disposal sites for low-level radioactive waste by five months beyond a legally mandated deadline.
As the body in charge of a statute governing the final disposal site of the waste, Tsai said the AEC has sent letters to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taipower asking for an explanation.
The AEC is in the process of gathering information and dealing with questions concerning related laws, Tsai said, adding that Taipower had sent a report at the end of February on its progress in choosing the final disposal sites.
“The choice of the final disposal sites has to be made, not only because the statute has cleared the Legislative Yuan, but because of the safety of radioactive waste and the government’s pledge to the residents of Lanyu [also known as Orchid Island],” he said.
The disposal site on Lanyu mainly accepts low-level solidified radioactive waste from the medical, agricultural, industrial and academic sectors as well as from nuclear power plants.
The site began to operate in May 1982 and stopped accepting additional nuclear waste in April 1996. A total of 97,672 barrels are stored in 23 trenches on the island.
Faced with the island’s high temperatures, humidity and salty air, some barrels storing the waste showed signs of corrosion early this year, prompting the AEC to request that Taipower re-examine them as soon as possible.
Reports said that Taipower has chosen four possible sites — Mudan Township in Pingtung County, Daren and Dawu townships in Taitung County and Wanan Township on Penghu — for the final storage site.
The first three townships agreed to allow Taipower to conduct geological surveys, but as the law stipulates that the establishment of the site would require the consent of county residents through a local referendum and not just the consent of township residents, Taipower “dared not” conduct the surveys, the reports said.
Although Taipower favors Penghu’s Wanan Township, the county commissioner, councilors and village chief have all voiced strong opposition to the plan.
The new location will receive the waste currently stored on Lanyu and at Taipower’s three nuclear power plants.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS