A dozen anti-nuclear activists protested in front of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) building in Taipei yesterday, accusing the government of having no solution for dealing with nuclear waste.
The protest occurred as an environmental impact assessment meeting was beginning at the EPA.
Thousands of anti-nuclear protesters clashed with police over nuclear waste issues in Germany on Friday.
Photo: CNA
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that high-level radioactive waste could be disposed of outside of the country and that low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of in Taiwan, some within the plants and some in repositories, during a press conference on energy policy at the Presidential Office.
At yesterday’s second environmental impact assessment meeting on radioactive waste disposal policies, the Atomic Energy Council reported its strategies on nuclear waste storage, including putting the spent fuel rods in storage pools, land-based dry repositories and a final disposal site, while interim storage of spent fuel may include reprocessing abroad.
The protesters said the government was hiding the truth about the danger of both wet and dry storage of spent nuclear fuel by saying that the waste could be dealt with abroad, when actually the final disposal site might be in Taiwan.
They urged the government to halt operations at nuclear power plants to prevent the threat posed by an increasing number of nuclear fuel rods while no safe disposal site exists.
“There are two methods of disposal beyond our national borders. One is to dispose of the spent fuel at a final disposal site abroad, for which there is no precedent internationally,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said.
“The second is to ship the spent fuel abroad for reprocessing, meaning the uranium would be refined and recycled, but will still be shipped back to Taiwan,” Huang said. “It is irresponsible to say that we can dispose of the spent fuel beyond our national borders.”
The alliance said a feasibility study on the final disposal site would not be finished until 2037, but with the unstable geological conditions in Taiwan and possibly no safe disposal site abroad, it said it wondered where the large number of spent fuel rods would be stored.
“We suggest the government store spent fuel in the basement of the Presidential Office, to let -everyone know that it isn’t dangerous,” Gongliao Anti-nuclear Self-Help Association chairman Wu Wen-chang (吳文樟) said.
The protesting groups included the Green Party Taiwan, Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, the Homemakers’ Union and Foundation, Taitung Anti-Nuclear, the Anti-Spent Fuel Association and several others.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
RSS