The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) established an independent task force yesterday to investigate Sunday's fire at the Third Nuclear Power Plant (核三), the worst accident of its kind in Taiwan's history.
The establishment of the task force was designed to assuage the anti-nuclear lobby, which had complained that the AEC could never carry out an independent investigation due to what anti-nuclear activists described as its "mutually beneficial relationship" with Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電).
The leader of the task force, AEC vice chairman Ouyang Min-shen (
Their first field investigation at the plant will be within three days.
Ouyang said that the task force would incorporate two other inspection reports, written by the AEC and Taipower, and produce a final report on the accident within two weeks.
"Until then, the nuclear plant will not be allowed to supply any electricity," Ouyang said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (
Ouyang said that the transparency of the investigation would ensure nuclear safety and eliminate people's doubts about the nuclear industry.
Lin had said on Monday that recent heavy fog in southern Taiwan caused the accumulation of salt crystals on transmission lines connecting the plant and high voltage towers, resulting in a short circuit which sparked a fire when back-up generators were engaged.
Ouyang stressed that the accident had actually not been "too serious."
"The accident at the plant could be ranked as second class, according to standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Three Mile Island accident in the US was classified as fifth class and the Chernobyl accident was seventh class," Ouyang said.
Ouyang said the investigation would focus on reviews of the procedures for maintenance work on transmission lines and machines at the plant.
Meanwhile, anti-nuclear legislators and environmentalists yesterday lashed out at the AEC, Taipower and other agencies.
Anti-nuclear legislators said that an independent task force should include Cabinet agencies, legislators, Control Yuan members, experts and local residents' representatives.
DPP Legislator Lai Chin-lin (
Lawmakers said that the truth was that nuclear safety regulations in Taiwan did worry people.
"There have been more than 80 accidents since Taiwan began to operate nuclear plants in 1978. At the Third Nuclear Power Plant alone, there have been three serious fires," independent legislator Eugene Jao (趙永清) said.
Jao added that Taipower had not learnt from past accidents. Taipower once spent 14 months repairing damage caused by a fire at the plant in 1985, he said.
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said yesterday after US President Donald Trump criticized the nation’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the US, saying he aimed to restore US chip manufacturing. National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) did not name Trump in a Facebook post, but referred to President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments on Friday that Taiwan would be a reliable partner in the