The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) yesterday said it would seek “all possible judicial remedies” to overturn a Supreme Administrative Court ruling exempting Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) from paying a NT$30 million (US$1 million) fine for failing to remove low-level nuclear waste from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼).
“It was regrettable that the court ruled in favor of Taipower,” the council said. “The court apparently cited the wrong regulations and failed to take into account key evidence that could affect the ruling. We believe that certain issues remain unexplained and unclarified through judicial procedures, and on May 5, we filed an appeal to overturn the ruling.”
“As the producer of nuclear waste, Taipower should properly dispose of it based on a designated timeline. We will exhaust all judicial remedies to prevent the power company from leaving the nuclear waste for the next generation,” it said.
Photo: CNA
As the state-run company failed by the end of March 2016 to propose sites for relocating the nuclear waste on Orchid Island, the council fined Taipower NT$10 million in August 2016. In November 2017, it fined Taipower NT$30 million for years of inaction regarding the disposal of the nuclear waste.
In its defense, Taipower said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs had in 2012 announced that Taitung County’s Daren Township (達仁) and Kinmen County’s Wuciou Township (烏坵) were potential storage sites for low-level nuclear waste.
However, the two county governments have refused to hold referendums on the ministry’s proposal, it said, adding that the ministry should not be blamed for the delay in relocating the nuclear waste.
Taipower said that it did not break the law when it dismissed an ad hoc task force that was created to communicate with the residents in Taitung County, allowing them to return to work at its nuclear back-end management department.
The task force was dismissed in response to the ministry’s plan to reform state-run corporations, it said, adding that the move was also approved by the ministry.
The company was exempted from the NT$30 million fine after the Taipei High Administrative Court and Supreme Administrative Court ruled in its favor.
The Supreme Administrative Court said in its ruling that the timeline for communicating with the residents should be determined based on progress made in selecting potential nuclear waste storage sites, over which Taipower had no control.
“Even though the ministry approved Taipower’s proposed sites, the implementation and progress of the plan cannot be completely decided by Taipower, nor does the ministry have the right to order Taipower to cooperate,” it said.
As for Taipower’s NT$10 million fine, the Taipei High Administrative Court in April 2018 ruled that the company was exempt from paying it.
After the verdict was appealed, the Supreme Administrative Court in December 2019 abolished the Taipei High Administrative Court’s ruling and returned the case to the High Administrative Court for a retrial. The High Administrative Court has yet to hand down a verdict in the second trial.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS