Mon, Oct 04, 1999 page8

• Editorial: Time for nuclear power policy rethink

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  Perhaps the accident at Japan's Tokaimura uranium processing facility last Thursday happened too soon after the 921 earthquake for its lessons to be of value to Taiwan.

  Or perhaps people were reassured, being told by Taipower officials on Friday that since Taiwan does not have anything similar to the uranium processing facility where the accident took place, then such things could not happen here.

  Taipower's point is acknowledged. But the island does, of course, have three nuclear power stations -- with two reactors apiece making six in all. A fourth nuclear power station was planned in the 1980s and now is in the process of construction.

  In the wake of the 921 earthquake, the Tokaimura incident serves to remind us that nuclear power is not an option that should ever have been considered suitable for Taiwan, and the expansion of nuclear power generation, by means of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant at Kungliao in Taipei County, should be stopped.

  Defenders of nuclear power are likely to cite several points in defense of Taiwan nuclear power program. First there is the argument stated above, that Taiwan doesn't have Tokaimura-like facilities. This is about as relevant as saying that a disaster could not happen at the plant in Chernobyl because it was not the same kind of plant as that on Three Mile Island.

  The truth is that nuclear power generation is an inherently risky business depending on critical control of forces that, should that control fail for whatever reason, do ugly things to large areas.

  Then there is the argument that no critical nuclear accidents have been caused by acts of God, such as the 921 earthquake. As true as this might be, just because such accidents have not occurred so far in the 30-40 year history of nuclear-powered electrical generation is no reason to assume that they will never happen.

  And there is the argument that Taiwan, vulnerable to Chinese blockade as it is, needs to be as self-sufficient in power resources as possible. First, if tensions are going to come to such a head with China that we are talking blockade, then knowing Beijing's proclivity for throwing missiles around, having nuclear plants should hardly make Taiwan sleep soundly in its bed.

  And finally there is the argument that the Japan accident was caused by stupidity, by improper handling procedures in a company that simply should not have been handling such material. This degree of unprofessionalism should never occur in Taiwan we will be told. "Should" is used here advisedly because it is a rash person who would say "can't." It might be asked whether the Japanese are a bunch of notorious cowboys who willfully flout safety standards. In general, they are not. But every generality has its exceptions and accidents do happen. Japanese nuclear industry best practice is on a par with Taiwan's, but it is worst practice we are worried about, and that generally only becomes apparent after the fact.

  Readers might remember the last nuclear-related accident in Taiwan. On Sept. 1, a truck carrying radioactive waste from Taipower's First Nuclear Power Plant overturned in Taoyuan County's Shih-men township, dislodging 31 barrels of highly radioactive steel frames dismantled from a reactor into the Chienhwa creek. The driver of the truck was found to have been drunk and the truck itself was overloaded. This was not Taipower's fault, of course. It is cited here to show that the best safety practices cannot in the long run defeat the ingenuity of human folly and irresponsibility.

  And so we are left with six, soon to be eight, nuclear reactors, on a small island that is an earthquake prone area, that experts tell us is likely to become more seismically unstable over the next couple of decades, menaced by an enemy's missiles and always a potential victim of Murphy's Law. Time, therefore, to seriously rethink the role of nuclear power in Taiwan.
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