Following the methodologies of the US Senior Seismic Hazard Analysis Committee, Taiwan Power Co conducted a seismic hazard assessment for the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County. The assessment found that the peak ground acceleration (PGA) — the maximum acceleration of the ground during an earthquake — could reach as much as 1.384g (the acceleration of the Earth’s gravity) — in an earthquake of sufficient magnitude, far exceeding the 0.4g that the facility was designed to withstand. The PGA is higher than the 0.85g at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power plant in California, 0.488g at the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and far greater than the PGA values of nuclear plants in Europe.
With the exceptions of the Diablo Canyon plant, the San Onofre Plant in southern California and the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant in northern California — which are near fault lines — the majority of the US’ nuclear facilities are in low-seismicity zones. According to data published in 2021 by the World Nuclear Association, the Diablo Canyon plant was designed for PGA of 735Gal. As 1g is about 980Gal, the plant was designed to withstand 0.75g. The San Onofre plant — which was decommissioned in 2013 — was designed for 657Gal (0.67g). The Humboldt Bay plant was fully decommissioned in 2021.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission information shows that the seismic hazard assessment of the Diablo Canyon plant was also conducted using SSHAC Level 3.
Moreover, research published last year by the Nuclear Safety Commission, Safety Regulatory Technology Research on Probabilistic Seismic Risk Assessment for Nuclear Power Plants (核電廠機率式地震風險評估安全管制技術研究) showed that the PGA the Diablo Canyon plant was designed to withstand was 0.85g.
The Palisades plant is on track to be the first nuclear power facility in the US to restart operations after being decommissioned, but its new PGA is just 0.488g — much lower than even the 0.698g of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門).
While some fault lines in Taiwan have been classified as inactive, many could be recognized as active under Japan’s new regulatory standards. According to Japan’s updated standards, the Ma-anshan plant would not be approved for a license extension.
After the March 11, 2011, earthquake off Japan and the massive tsunami that damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Tokyo implemented new regulatory requirements for commercial power reactors, with the rules retroactively applied to all of the country’s plants in July 2013. The new framework prohibits the construction of nuclear reactors and other critical facilities on land near active faults.
The regulations also expanded the definition of “active” faults. The original definition was movement in the past 120,000 to 130,000 years. The new rules require that, when there is uncertainty, geological records must be examined going as far back as 400,000 years.
In August last year, the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority denied a request to restart the second reactor at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Fukui Prefecture due to the risks of an “active” fault.
The geological environment of the Ma-anshan plant is one of the worst among all of the nuclear power plants in the world.
How would Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) interpret the data? Is he not concerned that, if the Ma-anshan plant’s operating license were to be extended, a major earthquake could trigger a nuclear disaster and the resulting spread of radiation could affect the companies at the Southern Taiwan Science Park?
Wood Fire Yang is director-general of the Association for the Demolition of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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