The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), which is to be shuttered next month, is seeing its living quarters and storage areas overrun by wild animals, because of the greatly reduced number of staff supervising the facility.
Covering 480 hectares and staffed by 400 workers, the plant is beginning to be invaded by packs of feral dogs and even deer, workers said.
The dogs are a particular problem, as they are aggressive and sometimes chase the workers, while Formosan Reeve’s muntjac deer stroll about the facility as if they own the place, and even take shelter under the eaves of staff dormitories, a worker said.
A plant employee said that he was a young man when he started work at the plant, yet the years flashed past and he is now ready to collect his pension, while the facility he has spent his working life servicing is set for what might be an early retirement.
He now wonders if he will have the opportunity to witness the day of its unsealing, he said.
The power plant was built — to near completion — at a cost of about NT$283.8 billion (US$9.13 billion).
However, due to growing concerns and protests over its safety, triggered by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, in April last year the government announced a plan to suspend work on the plant.
In order to maintain the option of reopening the plant, the decision was taken to shutter the facility, with preparations due to be completed on June 30, and on July 1 it is to officially enter storage mode.
Under the three-year storage plan, supplies and maintenance fees are expected to add up to about NT$3.4 billion.
There are 30 systems that are to be placed in dry storage, the reactors and the cooling water system are to be sealed in wet storage, and the rest of the systems are to be kept running, or run on a periodic basis to maintain working order.
The 115 systems associated with the No. 2 reactor are to be placed in dry storage, as it has not yet been completed.
State-owned Taiwan Power Co spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) said that all the plant’s equipment would be maintained in the best condition possible, while “waiting for an opportunity” for a referendum that would decide whether to unseal it.
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