The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) yesterday approved Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) request to restart a nuclear reactor, saying the council is still adhering to the government’s plan to achieve a nuclear-free homeland by 2025.
Taipower operates six nuclear reactors at three nuclear power plants. Until last month, only the No. 1 reactor at Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), Pingtung County, was operational.
Since the implementation of a summer electricity rate at the start of this month, Taipower has made two requests to the council, saying it needs to restart the No. 1 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) and the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan plant.
Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) on Thursday announced on Facebook the activation of the No. 1 reactor at the Guosheng plant, before the AEC made an official announcement on Friday.
Opponents of nuclear power worry that the government’s promise to phase out nuclear power by 2025 will not be realized.
A group of protesters gathered in front of the Executive Yuan at 9:30am yesterday, demanding that Premier Lin Chuan (林全) bar Taipower from restarting more nuclear generators.
“Lin should oust AEC Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) and immediately stop the nuclear plants’ operation,” Taiwan Environmental Radiation Survey convener Lin Jui-chu (林瑞珠) said.
There are 8,783 spent fuel rods stored at the Guosheng plant and in case of an emergency, there would be no room to store other spent fuel rods taken out of the reactor, Lin said.
The campaigners also asked the Control Yuan to investigate the liability of Lin Chuan and Hsieh, as well as that of Minister of the Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光).
The AEC called a news conference one hour after the protest began.
“The AEC has been independent in making decisions. The minister without portfolio’s predictions might be based on his information from other sources,” AEC Department of Nuclear Regulation Director-General Chang Shin (張欣) said.
Taipower on June 1 made a request to restart the Guosheng plant’s No.1 reactor and on Friday made an application for electricity delivery, department Deputy Director-General Li Chi-ssu (李綺思) said.
The company applied to restart the Ma-anshan plant’s No.1 reactor on Wednesday, which the council approved yesterday, Chang said.
Hsieh said the council reviews applications filed by Taipower and the Ministry of Economic Affairs based on their adherence to safety standards.
The six nuclear generators will start to be decommissioned from next year through to 2025, he said, reaffirming that the time frame has not changed.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS