Wed, Oct 25, 2000 page3

• Construction lagging at nuclear plant

  UNCERTAINTY The government's indecision on the issue of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project has engineers dusting off their resumes and contractors wondering if it is even worth bidding on a plant that may never operate

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電) officials said yesterday that construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has fallen behind schedule because of the Executive Yuan's failure to decide on the fate of the project.

  Although Atomic Energy Council (AEC) officials said that the quality of the construction would not be effected by the delay, anti-nuclear activists said that they did not trust the council and would protest in Taipei today to urge the government to end work on the plant as soon as possible.

  AEC Vice Chairman Ouyang Min-shen (歐陽敏盛) yesterday inspected the power plant's Lungmen construction site with members of a committee for supervising the environmental impact of the construction.

  

  Despite the dispute over the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project, the construction of the plant as well as the breakwater, located in Yenliao Bay, continued as usual yesterday.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMESN

  When meeting with AEC officials yesterday morning, Taipower officials said that the uncertain future of the plant had discouraged consulting firms, subcontractors, workers and Taipower officials. Some professional engineers have been sending out their resumes, according to officials.

  "The rate of progress of the construction has fallen behind by at least 5 percent, which translates to a delay of about six to 10 months," said Lin Chu-wan (林居萬), Taipower's site manager of the Lungmen Construction Office (龍門施工處) in Kungliao (貢寮) township, Taipei County.

  Ouyang said that the future of the plant did not depend on the quality, but the decision of the Executive Yuan.

  

  Taipower engineers yesterday continue construction of the reactor housing for the second generator of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said last week at the Legislative Yuan that the final decision would be made on the plant by the end of this year.

  Ouyang stressed yesterday that the AEC had no specific stance on nuclear energy.

  "Irrespective of whether the construction continues or not, the AEC is committed to maintaining professional supervision over the project," Ouyang said.

  The inspection by AEC officials yesterday was the tenth carried out by the committee and might be the last one if the project is terminated.

  Huang Huei-yu (黃惠予), division head of Taipower's public affairs department, told the Taipei Times that the 5 percent lag was estimated by Taipower at the end of September.

  Huang said that the delay could become more serious in the future because contractors may be unwilling to submit bids on a project that could be killed soon.

  "Some of these bids are for critical parts of the construction, such as discharge pipes under the sea connecting to the plant," Huang said.

  Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists continue to urge the government to stop work on the plant.

  Today, anti-nuclear Taipei County residents from remote townships, Chinshan (金山), Wanli (萬里) and Kungliao, where nuclear power plants currently operate, will carry mock barrels of nuclear waste with them to protest in front of KMT headquarters and the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

  "If KMT officials prefer nuclear plants, they should bring nuclear waste home with them," an activist told the Taipei Times yesterday.
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