A second-phase safety review of the nation’s three operating nuclear power plants is likely to be completed early next month, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday.
As soon as it is completed, a final report will be submitted to the Cabinet, AEC Deputy Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) told a public hearing held by legislators, adding that the AEC would continue to follow up on the safety status of the plants on a regular basis.
He said the three nuclear power plants have undergone stress tests based on EU standards, a report which is expected to be published within a couple of months.
Stress tests are also to be conducted at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), which is still under construction, he said. The plant will not obtain a license to install nuclear fuel rods until it meets all 19 requirements set by the AEC, he added.
The hearing was held ahead of the first anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, sparking global concern over nuclear safety.
To mark the anniversary, environmental groups in Taiwan are set to hold a march in Taipei on March 11 to voice their opposition to nuclear power.
As a warm-up to the event, the groups staged demonstrations at entrances to the Executive Yuan, the Control Yuan and the legislature yesterday, demanding that the government abandon nuclear power immediately.
Among the protesters was Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics.
Kao speculated that at least 1 million people would lose their lives in the event of an accident at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市), or the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli (萬里), New Taipei City, both of which are a little more than 20km from Taipei.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
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