After many twists and turns, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced a shortlist of three potential sites for a permanent low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.
Under consideration are Taitung County’s Nantien Village (南田村), Pingtung County’s Hsuhai Village (旭海村) and Penghu’s Dongjiyu Islet (東吉嶼) — all remote and sparsely populated communities.
The announcement last Friday of the three sites marked a significant step forward in the country’s controversial drive to build a permanent disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste from its three existing nuclear power plants and the fourth now under construction, as well as radioactive waste from medical, academic, industrial and agricultural institutions.
Over the years, Taiwan has accumulated some 200,000 barrels of such waste, 97,500 of which are stored at a temporary dump opened in 1982 on Orchid Island, also known as Lanyu, off the southeastern coast.
The rest is being kept at the three nuclear power plants in operation and at a national nuclear energy research institute.
Taiwan is one of only six countries among the 34 that utilize nuclear energy that have not set up a permanent disposal facility for low-level waste. At present, 77 such facilities are in operation around the world, with 71 using shallow land disposal and six using cavern disposal.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) first faced a site dilemma in the mid-1990s, as the Tao Aborigines on Lanyu protested vociferously over the waste dump in their backyard and insisted that the waste be removed.
The utility twice launched drives to find new sites in the late 1990s, but both failed because of opposition from residents of the potential sites, environmentalists and anti-nuclear energy advocacy groups.
To cope with public health and safety concerns, the government decided to draft legislation that sets siting criteria, processing and suitability requirements and future operational regulations.
The legislation was passed in May 2005, providing Taipower the legal basis to override the objections of angry residents to start site surveys.
The process, however, has remained far from smooth, beset by continued resistance from local residents around potential sites.
After suffering many setbacks, Taipower offered a NT$30 million (US$1 million) subsidy to each village considered a potential site, in exchange for permission to conduct geological surveys and evaluation studies to determine the locations’ suitability to host a disposal facility. Identifying potential sites, however, does not mean establishing a radioactive waste facility will be easy.
Financial incentives provided for in the legislation, along with technological advances, should in theory make it easier for Taipower to find a site and come up with a construction plan that is acceptable to communities.
The law authorizes the government to offer NT$5 billion in subsidies to the locale hosting the site, with 40 percent going to residents of the village, 30 percent to neighboring villages, 20 percent to the county or city in which the village is located and 10 percent reserved for contingency plans.
At the same time, thanks to advances in nuclear waste processing technology, Taiwan now produces only about 300 barrels of low-level radioactive waste each year.
Given this trend, a permanent disposal facility would only have to cover an area of 1km2 to 2km2 to accommodate the existing 200,000 barrels of low-level waste plus another 800,000 barrels estimated to be produced until 2049, when Taipower is expected to decommission its last nuclear power generator.
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