An online petition protesting against the government’s approval to reactivate the No. 1 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City (新北市), has gained thousands of signatures in two days.
The petition, initiated by a civic environmental protection group, said that seven of the 120 anchor bolts used to attach the reactor to its concrete base were found broken or cracked during a routine safety check in March — which was confirmed by the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) as the world’s first case of fractured anchor bolts in a BWR-6 boiling-water reactor designed by General Electric Co (GE).
The petition said that although many people expressed concern over GE replacing only the damaged anchor bolts and the reactor’s operator, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), not explaining whether the other anchor bolts could also crack, the AEC still approved Taipower’s reactivation request filed on Monday.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said they began circulating the petition about two weeks ago, urging the government not to resume operations until the public’s concerns had been answered.
He said the number of signatories soared by about 7,000 people in the past two days, after the AEC’s sudden announcement on Monday of its approval for the restart.
The petition had 22,329 signatories as of 6pm yesterday.
“We feel angry and worried at the same time over the council’s sudden approval,” Hung said.
“The safety evaluation by the council was a black-box operation, using flawed regulations as a guise for legitimacy, to neglect the legislature’s request for an open hearing and to bypass public concerns,” he added.
Recently, many nuclear reactors in Japan have been blocked from reactivating because in addition to approval by the central government, local governments also have the right to decide whether they can operate, Hung said, “but in Taiwan, regulation is not open to public intervention.”
“We think the AEC should be charged with offenses against public safety for putting the public in danger of a possible nuclear accident,” Hung added.
The council said in a press release yesterday that its approval followed the enforcement rules for the reactivation of nuclear reactor facilities, and although maintenance took longer because of the damaged anchor bolts, its evaluation was made based strictly on safety criteria.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS