The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday the radiation leak from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant will not reach Taiwan in the coming days, recanting an earlier report that said the country would be exposed to radiation today.
Since the Japanese plant damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami did not have a serious radiation leak on Monday, the radioactive dust will not reach Taiwan today as previously forecast and will not pose any health risks to residents of Taiwan, the council said in a statement via e-mail.
Based on the meteorological conditions released at 2am yesterday by the Central Weather Bureau, even if there were a new leak of radiation from the plant in the following 36 hours, the forecast radioactive fallout would still move eastward from Japan in the next five days and would keep its distance from Taiwan, the council said.
Photo: Wu Liang-i, Taipei Times
As of 11am, 722 samples of imported Japanese food, including dairy products, alcoholic beverages, fruit, soft drinks, fresh seafood, fish, curry, Chinese yams, spices, candies, fava beans, noodles and frozen seafood, had been tested for radiation, the council said.
In addition, 89,780 inbound passengers have undergone radiation screening at Taiwan’s three main gateways — Taipei International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport. Only 45 people have been found carrying minuscule levels of radioactive substances and all were allowed to go home after receiving treatment to remove the pollutants, the council said.
Meanwhile, spurred by Japan’s nuclear crisis, the council said yesterday that Taiwan and China have reached a consensus to strengthen cooperation in nuclear safety supervision and protection.
Authorities from the two sides have preliminarily agreed to forge a nuclear safety agreement at the next round of high-level cross-strait talks likely to take place in the first half of this year, the council said.
The agreement would establish an official contact mechanism between the two sides to facilitate information exchanges and emergency responses in case of accidents, council officials said.
Under the tentative understanding, the council and China’s National Nuclear Safety Bureau would work together to build a nuclear safety mechanism that would serve as a communication channel across the Strait.
Thirteen of China’s operational nuclear power reactors are located in the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, just 200km away from Taiwan.
If any accidents were to occur in China’s nuclear plants, the damage to Taiwan could be many times greater than the threat posed by the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, which is 2,000km away, council officials said.
Council officials said the nuclear safety agreement would not touch on the issue of nuclear waste management.
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