Anti-nuclear advocates yesterday took the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to task for allegedly being in the dark for as long as 10 hours about an incident in the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant’s second reactor yesterday, renewing worries about the safety of the nation’s accident-plagued nuclear facilities.
Low lube oil pressure caused a built-in lube oil pump in one of the reactor’s two recirculation pumps to trip at 4:18am, disengaging the coupling between the oil pump and a motor.
According to standard procedures at the power plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Shihmen District (石門)), technicians then inserted control rods, reduced the operating speed of the other recirculation pump and decreased the reactor’s power level to 250,000 kilowatts.
The reactor returned to normal operations at 1:19pm.
Asked to comment on the incident at 2pm yesterday, council spokesman and Vice Chairman Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said he was not aware of it.
About 30 minutes later, Chou came back with an explanation.
“Every reactor is equipped with two recirculation pumps that are each responsible for [controlling the flow of] 50 percent of the water through the core. The accident was caused by the malfunction of a lube oil pump within one of the second reactor’s recirculation pumps, causing the reactor’s capacity to decrease to about 40 percent of its normal level,” Chou said.
State-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) reported the incident to the council’s Department of Nuclear Regulation immediately, Chou said.
“However, as the accident was not considered threatening to public safety, the department did not demand a shutdown or notify me,” Chou said.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance director-general Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑) criticized the council’s stance, saying that given the level of public concern about nuclear safety, the council should not have listened only to Taipower’s side of the story.
“Given the First [Jinshan] Nuclear Power Plant’s relatively outdated facilities, any small problem could be a prelude to a bigger accident,” Lai said.
Green Consumers Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) linked the incident to the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011, saying the meltdown was caused by a loss of coolant in reactors after power outages [triggered by an earthquake and tsunami] prevented the recirculation pumps from sending water to the cores.
Taipower should have closed the second reactor for a comprehensive examination, rather than “forcing” it to resume operation, Fang said.
“The council is supposed to be on high alert for any reactor accidents, yet it was clueless about the incident 10 hours later. I think what should be decommissioned first is not the Jinshan plant, but the council,” Fang said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data