State-own Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) faces a fine of NT$15 million (US$498,000) from the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) for altering the construction design of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), without authorization.
The council said this was not the first time Taipower had been fined for making design changes without permission from the original designer, General Electric Co (GE), thus the council decided to increase the penalty for repeated violations.
In 2008, Taipower was fined NT$4 million, but this time the fine was the highest possible amount stipulated in the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Control Act (核子反應器設施管制法).
According to the act, alterations to the design must receive approval from the original designer before proceeding.
According to the council’s Department of Nuclear Regulation Director Chen Yi-pin (陳宜彬), there was disagreement between Taipower and GE because of the periodic suspensions and resumptions of construction work on the plant, so the council had allowed Taipower to amend the design first, but required the state-owned utility to promise to get permission from GE afterwards.
“Since Taipower and GE solved the problem in early 2009 and GE has started its work again, we feel the alternative measures should no longer have been carried out and Taipower should have returned to the normal procedure of getting GE’s permission before continuing with construction,” Chen said.
Chen said the council received a document from the Control Yuan’s National Audit Office late last year that said Taipower had continued to make changes without obtaining GE’s permission in advance and so it decided to slap Taipower with a heavy fine.
The council finished its investigation, submitted its report to higher-level authorities, communicated with Taipower and also gave it one last chance to explain the violations late last month. Saying Taipower had failed to offer a convincing explanation, the council’s screening committee, during a meeting on Oct. 30, meted out a fine of NT$15 million for the design changes it deemed a second-level violation of the law and other regulations.
At the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Taipower vice president Hsu Hwai-chiung (徐懷瓊) said: “We acknowledge there have been some imperfections in procedure on our part ... as for the penalty, we think it’s a little too heavy.”
According to Taipower spokesman Roger Lee (李鴻洲), the utility explained the design alterations to the council during a meeting last month and provided data to prove it had obtained the necessary approval from GE.
Saying the utility asked the council for an extension of the measure, but had received no response, Lee said Taipower’s decision to proceed with the changes without an answer was certainly an “administrative flaw,” but not one that constitutes a major violation.
Additional reporting by CNA
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS