On March 18, 2001, salt-bearing seasonal sea fog led to an insulator flashover at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, causing it to experience a total blackout that lasted two hours. The steam-powered cooling system that did not require external electricity was still operational at that time, so the reactor core did not lose its cooling function.
However, the incident clearly exposed the gradual erosion of the plant’s safety margin — an external power failure followed by multiple diesel engine malfunctions left only the steam-powered cooling system operational. Had the blackout lasted any longer, the risk of a core meltdown would have escalated rapidly over time. That two-hour blackout activated multiple layers of backup systems — a real-life example of “hanging by a thread.”
Redundancy systems serve a similar purpose to a reserve parachute — you rely on them in the event that the main one fails. A reserve parachute is designed for use in emergencies — to save lives. That being said, no one would consider a failure of their primary parachute to be a trivial matter just because there was a backup prepared.
Even worse, if the reserve parachute also fails, the result would be fatal — and that is an entirely possible scenario.
The steam-powered cooling system of a nuclear plant is similar. It relies on the decay heat generated after a nuclear reactor shuts down to produce steam, which then drives a turbine to pump water for cooling. While it does not require external electricity, the amount of steam decreases over time as heat gradually dissipates — thus, it is not infinitely reliable. It is designed to buy time, not as a long-term solution.
The point is not to deny that the Ma-anshan plant was ultimately safe during the incident, but to emphasize that when one redundancy system after another gradually collapses, leaving the reserve parachute — the plant’s steam-power cooling system — as the only remaining support, the risk has already neared the very edge.
If that last line of defense were to fail, there would be catastrophic consequences — core meltdown, an explosion from hydrogen accumulation, or even the release and spread of radioactive materials — all of which are serious possibilities.
Jay Hu is a professional in the technology industry with a background in Taiwan’s high-tech sector.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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