Tue, Jun 14, 2016 page3

• Reactor restart chance ‘virtually zero’

  SHUTTERING: The AEC minister said there is no issue of extending the lifespan of the nation’s nuclear power plants, nor are there any plans to decommission them early

  • By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
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  Following the controversy surrounding the proposed reactivation of the No. 1 reactor at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門), Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) yesterday said the probability of reactivating the long-shuttered reactor is “virtually zero.”

  The reactor has been out of action since December 2014 due to the discovery of a loose handle on a fuel rod cask, and according to a resolution passed by the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee in March last year, the reactor could not be reactivated until the council makes a formal report to the legislature.

  The council has not been able to deliver a report, despite five requests, because the committee has refused to arrange a session for a reactivation report.

  At a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee yesterday, Hsieh said the council would not request that the legislature arrange a session for the reactivation report, but that the council might agree to deliver a report should the Ministry of Economic Affairs or Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) request it to do so.

  “Under the conditions [that the committee will not arrange a session for the council and the council will not request a session], I can say that the probability of reactivating the reactor is virtually zero,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.

  Hsieh agreed with Huang.

  “Since the reactor is scheduled to be decommissioned in two years, and since it is unlikely that a session will be arranged for the reactivation report, can it be assumed that the reactor will be automatically decommissioned [without being restarted]?” Huang asked.

  “One might as well say that, because the operation of the reactor has been ceased,” Hsieh said.

  Huang said that the council should consider decommissioning the reactor ahead of schedule since it is unlikely to be revived.

  “The only issue during my term in office is decommissioning [nuclear power plants] and there is no issue of extending the lifespan [of nuclear plants],” Hsieh said, adding that the council has no plans to decommission nuclear power plants ahead of schedule.

  Should the ministry and Taipower decide to reactivate the reactor, the council would have to launch an investigation to determine whether the reactivation might pose a safety risk, else the council could not guarantee it would be safe to restart the reactor, he said.

  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛) accused the council of inconsistency, saying two separate reports submitted by the council last year and last month said the reactor had been cleared to be restarted, but Hsieh was now saying the council was not sure if the facility could be safely reactivated.

  “If the council’s previous reports cannot be trusted, how can subsequent reports be trusted?” Chiang asked.

  Hsieh did not respond.

  The committee also passed a motion to request that the council deliver a report to the legislature before the reactivation of the No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), after a power surge burned out a protective device in the reactor’s electricity generation system last month.
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