A plan to expand the storage limits of spent fuel pools has been approved following safety inspections, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday in response to claims by anti-nuclear activists on Monday that the number of spent fuel rods had already exceeded the storage limit of the nation’s nuclear power plants.
The protesters said state-owned Taiwan Power Co, which operates the nation’s nuclear power plants, has increased the storage density of the plants’ spent fuel rods so that more of them could be kept in the pools.
The plan to increase storage density had not passed an environmental impact assessment in 1996 on the grounds that “technical skills were insufficient and unfeasible,” the protesters said, adding that over-storage of spent rods increased the risk of a nuclear accident.
The Green Citizens’ Action Alliance said the original storage design of spent fuel pools was limited to 3,030 spent fuel rods for the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市), 5,040 for the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) and 1,492 for the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), Pingtung County.
After increasing the storage density, however, the three power plants now contain 5,514, 7,544, and 2,328 spent rods respectively, the protesters said.
They added that the storage capacity would still be insufficient even after the density increase if the plants were to operate for 40 years, the average lifespan of nuclear power plants.
In response, the council said it had to approve a safety analysis report before expanding the storage capacity for the spent fuel rods and that it would establish a special project review committee to evaluate the integrity of the plan and whether it met safety standards.
The three nuclear plants had all previously been approved to expand their spent fuel pools’ storage capacity, with the limit of 6,166 spent fuel rods for the Jinshan plant, 8,796 for the Guosheng plant and 4,320 for the Ma-anshan plant, the council said.
There isn’t a problem of exceeding the limit for storing spent fuel rods, it said, adding it would continue to monitor the safety of nuclear power.
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