Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday made a public call for bids to transport 1,200 used nuclear fuel rods abroad.
The state-run utility has budgeted NT$11.25 billion (US$355.67 million) for the project. The operation is to be the first time Taipower has transferred such a significant amount of spent fuel rods outside of the nation, it said.
The 1,200 spent radioactive rods include 480 used fuel rods from the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) and 720 rods from the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, Taipower said.
Taipower spokesperson Lin Te-fu (林德福) told a news conference that if the contract agreed to after a bidding in the middle of next month, the firm plans to send the first batch of 300 used fuel rods by the end of this year.
Lin said the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications will review transportation plans to ensure the safety of the transfer operation.
“It is common to transfer used fuel rods outside of a country and it will have minimal impact on the environment,” Lin said, adding that Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Japan have similar deals.
“It would be ridiculous and irresponsible if we were to leave spent fuel rods unhandled for future generations to deal with,” the utility said in a statement.
Lin said potential bidders might come from Japan, Russia, the UK and France, as those nations are capable of handling nuclear waste.
Taipower said given that a new dry-storage facility for used fuel rods in New Taipei City is pending local government approval, if Taipower does not send the fuel rods abroad, then the No. 1 reactor at Jinshan plant might have to cease operations by March next year due to a lack of storage space for nuclear waste.
Lin said fuel rods can be processed to extract reusable plutonimum and uranium, which will not be shipped back to Taiwan, adding that only about one-fifth of the volume of waste exported will be returned to Taiwan.
The material sent back in about 20 years will be solidified glass, Lin said.
Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) said Taipower has been communicating with the public regarding ways to handle the spent fuel rods, adding that sending the nuclear waste away from Taiwan is one of the feasible options.
“The eventual transporter and Taipower will move the spent fuel rods in accordance with international regulations,” Deng said. “I hope the public considers the proposed methods rationally.”
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
RSS