Environmentalists yesterday called on the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to conduct a thorough survey around Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island) as a report released by Japanese academics shows that an unusual amount of radiation has been found on the island and that the nuclear waste storage facility on the island may be leaking.
“Two Japanese academics have found unusual levels of radiation at more than 10 locations around Lanyu, with the level at one location as high as 500 times more than the environment background value — this shows that the issue of radioactive pollution is very serious on the island,” Peter Chang (張武修), a professor at Taipei Medical University’s School of Public Health, and the chairman of the National Association for Radiation Protection, told a news conference yesterday.
“We hereby call on the AEC to conduct a throughout survey on radiation levels on the island,” he added. “This is not only for the safety and health of residents, but also for protection of tens of thousands of visitors to the island.”
He said that exposure to such levels of radiation may increase the risk of residents and visitors getting cardiovascular diseases, cancers, or giving birth to deformed babies.
Chang was referring to a report released by Tokyo-based J.F. Oberlin University professor Katsumi Nakao and associate professor You Kato from Tokyo Metropolitan University’s Division of Radiological Science.
The two Japanese academics conducted a three-day survey of the island from late last month to early this month and formally released their results in Tokyo on Thursday.
Tao Foundation executive director Sutej Hugu urged the AEC to mark polluted areas, inform residents about the risks, discover the source of the radiation, inspect the nuclear waste storage facility, find out those who should be held responsible for the leak, remove the storage facility and thoroughly clean the site.
In response, AEC Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) said at a separate setting that the council did not find unusual levels of radiation during its latest survey, which was carried out earlier this month.
He added, however, that to allay worries from the public, the council would conduct another survey next month and will invite lawmakers to travel along.
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS