A comprehensive investigation into Taiwan's nuclear power plants, which was prompted by a recent scandal involving the Tokyo Electric Power's (TEPCO) failure to disclose damage to some of its reactors, suggests that the three Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) plants are safe, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) officials said yesterday.
News pertaining to TEPCO's failure to replace damaged core shrouds and other parts at its reactors that it operated in the 1990s was first exposed in late August.
Taiwan's nuclear watchdog AEC was prompted by the scandal to launch a comprehensive investigation on Aug. 30 of its three operational nuclear power plants.
"We spent a whole month and reviewed more than 250 videotapes, which record steps in the latest routine maintenance at each plant, to look for any potential problems," AEC Vice Chairman Chiou Syh-tsong (
Chiou said that the council took the TEPCO scandal seriously because learning lessons from others' mistakes could prevent the occurrence of similar ones.
Historically speaking, Chiou said nuclear industries in Taiwan and Japan had built close relations through exchange of operational experiences and technologies in past decades.
"However, the TEPCO sandal does not imply that similar mistakes would necessarily exist inside Taipower," Chiou said.
TEPCO's role in that scandal was confirmed as a violation of Japan's Electric Utility Law after the government examined some important reactors.
In addition, more coverups were exposed by other voluntary inspections covering all equipment and facilities regarding reactors.
On Oct. 6, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry decided to supervise all inspections of nuclear reactors, according to the Japan Times.
Chiou said that similar problems pertaining to core shrouds at boiling water reactors in Taiwan were discovered and fixed 10 years ago.
"We've done our best to prevent the occurrence of malfunction caused by damage to the components at the plants," Chiou said.
In the future, Chiou said that the nuclear industry in Taiwan would still maintain close relations with its counterparts in Japan in a bid to learn advanced technologies.
Chiou said Japan's experience in operating advanced boiling water reactors at a plant in Kashiwazaki, the only one in the world operating this type of reactor, would be invaluable to Taiwan.
Taiwan will become the second country in the world to use advanced boiling water reactors.
According to Ni Maw-sherng (
Ray Wu (吳瑞堯), director of the AEC's Fuel Cycle and Materials Administration, told the Taipei Times that Tawain, a user of nuclear technologies, still has lots to learn from Japan, a vender.
Wu is the convennor of the 17th Sino-Japan Seminar on Nuclear Safety, which will be held in Taipei on Nov. 20 and Nov 21.
He said that 25 Japanese nuclear experts from Tohoku Electric Power Co, Hokuriku Electric Power Company, Toshiba and others would communicate with their counterparts in Taiwan on diverse topics, such as operation of nuclear plants, nuclear safety, and the management of radioactive waste.
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