The nation’s annual nuclear safety drill is to take place around Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) from Thursday to Saturday, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) officials said yesterday.
“Since Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster [in 2011], our nuclear safety drills have been upgraded, from centralized ones to those that involve real personnel, venues and situations,” AEC Deputy Minister Chiu Tzu-tsung (邱賜聰) told a news conference in Taipei.
This year’s drill would mobilize about 10,000 personnel, the largest ever, Chiu said, adding that it will be the first time that the drill would be conducted outside as well as inside the plant.
To test the response capabilities of the agencies involved, the council will add “impromptu situations” during the drill without informing those involved in advance, he said.
Chiu is to serve as the drill’s commander-in-chief, while Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fuu (楊偉甫) are to be deputy commanders.
The drill will be divided into three stages, with two scenarios, the council’s Department of Nuclear Technology section chief Liu Chun-mao (劉俊茂) said, adding that the two versions are different in terms of simulating what devices would break down and when.
The drill would simulate an earthquake tomorrow, with Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) the next day simulating response measures at the nuclear power plant, he added.
National Taiwan University Hospital’s Jinshan (金山) branch and Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital are to conduct drills on rescuing and treating people with radiation injuries.
On Friday, the local governments of New Taipei City, Keelung and Taipei as well as the Ministry of National Defense are conduct a drill on management of public transport and mass evacuations, with the Fuxinggang (復興崗) military base in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) serving as a shelter for evacuees.
AEC Radiation Monitoring Center is to monitor radioactivity in food and in the environment while delivering public warnings.
On Saturday, schools and community centers in New Taipei City and Keelung are to be involved when the simulated emergency situation gets upgraded to a disaster, Liu said.
The worst scenario imaginable would be “a meltdown at a nuclear reactor along with radiation leaks,” Chiu said.
The council has invited foreign officials to observe the drill, including five from Japan’s Cabinet Office and Nuclear Regulation Authority, one from the US Department of Energy and one from the French Office in Taipei, AEC Department of Nuclear Technology Deputy Director Huang Chun-yuan (黃俊源) said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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