Taipower chairman Chen Kuei-ming (陳貴明) told the legislature yesterday an additional NT$40 billion (US$1.15 billion) to NT$50 billion would be needed if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is to reach a stage where its two generator units can begin operations in 2011 and 2012.
The additional funding would bring the construction costs at the Gongliao (貢寮), Taipei County, plant to between NT$270 billion and NT$280 billion, Chen said.
Also yesterday, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said it was unlikely that the plant would be completed this year as scheduled.
“It will probably take two more years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday that a “minor alteration,” costing NT$1 billion, would allow the nation’s nuclear plants to add 1.7 percent to their annual electricity, enough to supply 100,000 families.
The reactor cores of the generators had been fitted with new flow meters for feedwater, deputy director of the Department of Nuclear Regulation Hsu Ming-te (徐明德) said.
Hsu said that feedwater is injected into the reactor core to be heated and turned into steam. The steam in turn pushes the main turbine generator to generate electricity.
“Traditionally, reactors are designed to withstand 102 percent of the heating generated by the reactor,” Hsu said.
This is because feedwater that flows into the reaction core is measured by a Venturi Meter, which has a mismeasurement range of 2 percent. As 2 percent means that more water would flow into the core, the reactors could overheat, he said.
With advanced equipment, more accurate ultrasonic flowmeters (UFM) with a 0.3 percent error range are now available, Hsu said.
This means that while workers at a nuclear plant only injected 100 parts of water into the reactor cores under the assumption that an extra 2 percent may have been put in, workers can now input 101.7 parts of water.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
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