The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) is to launch a plan by the end of this year that would see nuclear power plants transformed into geothermal power generation facilities, AEC Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) said yesterday.
The nation’s three operating nuclear plants are to be decommissioned one after the other until 2025 and this retirement is proceeding as scheduled, Hsieh told the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday, adding that the council has also funded efforts to study “green” energy in recent years.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the council should be tasked with the development of geothermal power, given that a viable source can be found about 20km beneath the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里).
One of Wu’s references was a March 4 op-ed by Wang Shou-cheng (王守誠) on TechNews (科技新報). In the article, Wang encouraged the government to set up a geothermal energy development zone in Wanli and Jinshan (金山) districts where two nuclear power plants are located.
While the nation hopes to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, geothermal power should not be marginalized in consideration of different sources, Wu said.
The government should consider launching a more progressive plan to make use of the geothermal energy stored beneath the Guosheng plant, Wu said, adding that the AEC must play a more active role in such a plan.
Also expressing his support for geothermal power, Hsieh promised to propose a preliminary plan to develop sources of geothermal energy beneath nuclear power plants by the end of December.
As for the storage of nuclear waste on Orchid Island (蘭嶼, Lanyu), Hsieh said the council is evaluating two disposal plans proposed by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — either transporting it back to the original power plants or to choose another site for centralized storage.
Hsieh made the remarks in response to questions from DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅).
Under the first plan, Taipower would need five years for preparation and four more years to transport the waste, Hsieh said.
Spent nuclear fuel would be kept in indoor dry storage rooms, newly appointed Taipower chairman Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said when assuming office on Monday last week.
New Taipei City residents are not entirely opposed to the plan and they also welcome the indoors storage of spent fuel, Hsieh said yesterday, adding that more communication with local governments and the public is needed.
As for the scenario in which a centralized storage location would be used, Taipower would be required to select a site within three years and to finish construction within five years, Hsieh said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS