Four foreign nuclear energy experts are visiting to review local nuclear power generation facilities, but have not yet made any suggestions for improvement, state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said yesterday.
“The experts arrived in Taipei on Feb. 6 from Germany, the UK, France and Japan, and are scheduled to stay until Saturday,” Taipower spokesman Lee Hung-chou (李鴻洲) said.
As a member of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), Taipower is entitled to seek technical support missions from the London-based organization, Lee said.
Taipower can apply for up to four WANO support missions per year since it has four nuclear power plants, Lee said, adding that the company applied for two missions last year.
Taipower has conducted thorough safety checks and taken measures to strengthen safety at its nuclear plants following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan last year. Lee said the experts were invited to review those new measures.
Over the past few days, he said, Taipower staff have taken the four experts to the country’s three operational nuclear power plants and the fourth one under construction.
According to a bilateral confidentiality agreement, Taipower cannot disclose any opinions or suggestions expressed by WANO specialists without the organization’s prior consent, Lee said.
“As the experts are still in the process of inspection, they have not yet made any definite suggestions,” Lee said, adding that Taipower will unveil the content of their final report only after obtaining the WANO’s agreement.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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