The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday that a task force at the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower,
The recommendation appears to be an attempt by the agency to avoid a war of words over the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) failure to address the AEC's previous complaints about Taipower's work on the plant.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Last Saturday, the ministry released a list of names of those to be given demerits in relation to defects in materials and workmanship on the reactor pedestal.
The 22 officials involved are from two state-own companies; Taipower and the China Shipbuilding Corp. China Shipbuilding subcontracted the New Asia Construction and Development Corporation to build the pedestal.
The punishments -- in the form of demerits, imposed on Taipower by the ministry -- received immediate media criticism, since not a single high-ranking official was punished or asked to step down.
Yesterday, AEC Chairman Ouyang Min-shen (
"What we care about is that Taipower take action to ensure the quality of the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant," Ouyang said at a press conference yesterday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
Last month, when investigating the use of inferior welding material in the reactor pedestal, the AEC told Taipower that the company had seriously violated nuclear regulations and failed to deal properly with administrative neglect.
Ouyang also said that when he met Taipower's President Lin Ching-chi (
Lin told Ouyang that a task force to assure the quality of construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant had already been established last week and would be chaired by Taipower Vice President Tsai Mao-tsun (
Tsai also said that Taipower would offer to let its contractors, subcontractors, workers and related staff enter nuclear safety-related training programs, according to Ouyang.
"We hope that a sound nuclear safety culture will established iself gradually from now on," Ouyang said.
Ouyang said that he has been furious after finding out about the use of inferior welding materials on April 24, when a retired nuclear engineer sent him a message via e-mail to report the malfeasance.
When Ouyang met with Minister Lin on May 23, however, he was stunned by Lin's lack of knowledge about the defect.
"How could China Building let such things occur? How could Taipower manage the crisis so carelessly? What kind of nuclear safety culture do we have?" Ouyang said yesterday in an emotional meeting with reporters, who kept asking him if he was satisfied with the punishments meted out by the ministry.
Ouyang said that the recent controversy was only the tip of the iceberg as far as exposing short-comings in Taiwan's nuclear safety culture.
Over the last two decades, Ouyang told the Taipei Times yesterday, the rate of job rotation for Taipower staff at nuclear power plants has been far too low.
"Taipower is like an old man that has blood-circulation problems," said Ouyang, adding that staff in charge of nuclear power generation also deserves more encouragement.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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