The raging controversy over the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) has sparked public concerns over nuclear waste disposal, but Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said on Monday that it would do its best to deal with the final management of nuclear waste.
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the disposal of nuclear waste is a headache, because the city currently has problems dealing with the waste that has already been created.
“If Taiwan cannot deal with the problem of disposing nuclear waste, how can the country use nuclear energy? If nuclear waste continues being stockpiled in the city, would it be acceptable to local residents?” Chu asked.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Chai Fu-feng (蔡富豐), a Taipower spokesman, said that low-level radioactive waste has not only been produced by nuclear power plants, but also by medical and related research institutes.
He said that while the schedule for selecting sites for the disposal of nuclear waste has been postponed, Taipower would strive to seek a breakthrough in the matter.
Meanwhile, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) has asked Taipower to complete the selection of sites for nuclear disposal facilities by 2016 and to complete construction of the facilities by 2021. Otherwise, the AEC would not rule out taking proper control measures, including ordering a halt to operations at nuclear power plants.
AEC Deputy Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said the council is duty-bound to ensure nuclear safety.
Equipment and facilities in Taiwan’s nuclear power plants were largely imported from the US, and the AEC has formulated regulations governing the establishment of nuclear power facilities, nuclear refueling and granting of operating licenses based on international standards and rules, Chou said.
After Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in 2011, the AEC stepped up inspections of nuclear power plants by sending two specialists to carry out safety checks every two weeks, Chou added.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has chosen Wuciou Island (烏坵) in Kinmen County and Daren Township (達仁) in Taitung County as possible sites for storage facilities for low-level radioactive waste. The ministry plans to carry out an environmental assessment and to hold local referendums to decide on a suitable site.
Over the past few years, the AEC has leveled fines ranging from NT$100,000 (US$3,370) to NT$1 million on Taipower for violating guidelines on how nuclear waste should be stored.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS