The Control Yuan yesterday censured state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) over its changes to the design of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant by up to 1,000 items, demanding the government not allow the plant to start operation unless it is safe.
Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), in charge of investigation into safety issues at the plant, said Taipower had made more than 1,000 arbitrary design changes without permission from General Electric Co (GE), which originally designed the plant.
“That Taipower only partially followed the original design and stuck with its plan to make the changes in defiance of orders from the Atomic Energy Council showed that it ignored nuclear security issues at the power plants,” Huang said.
Following the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsumami, the safety of nuclear power has resurfaced as a public concern, prompting the government to consider postponing the original scheduled opening of the fourth nuclear power plant by one year, to the end of 2013.
Huang urged the central government to push Taiwan’s participation in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and related non-government organizations to enhance the country’s nuclear inspections and its inclusion in a nuclear incident information system.
The Control Yuan also said the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) had committed serious errors in its solar energy promotion program.
The ministry encouraged farmers in Pingtung County to abandon their fish ponds, which had been blamed for serious land-subsidence problems because of overuse of underground water, and switch to solar energy production following Typhoon Morakot in August 2009.
However, earlier this year it changed its subsidy policy. It decided that the subsidies would not be disbursed from the day the contract was signed — as originally indicated — but on the day construction is completed. The move triggered complaints.
Control Yuan member Chao Jung-yao (趙榮耀), who initiated the motion to censure the ministry, said the ministry had violated the principle of good faith by arbitrarily changing the subsidy plan, which in turn damaged the government’s credibility and image.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
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A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
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