A fire that broke out at a nuclear power plant in southern Taiwan yesterday was promptly extinguished and would not cause further safety concerns, the Nuclear Safety Commission said.
A fire broke out yesterday at about 11am at Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春).
At 11:23am, the Pingtung Fire Department received a report that a large amount of black smoke was coming from the plant and sent 12 vehicles and 21 personnel to contain the fire.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
By 11:41am, the fire was contained after the plant’s internal fire department used water lines to extinguish the blaze, it said.
No one was injured.
During construction work at the facility, sparks from cutting iron were picked up by the wind and ignited nearby materials, the fire department said.
The building has already been decommissioned, and the fire did not affect power generation or safety, Taipower said in a statement.
Personnel from the commission who were sent to the facility said that there are no concerns about the facility’s safety or radiation leakage.
There have been no changes in radiation conditions in the surrounding area, and the plant continues to function normally, the commission said.
It added that it ordered Taipower to take preventive measures to avoid a recurrence, and vowed to monitor the company’s handling of the situation.
The fire sparked complaints and concern in the vicinity that local authorities were not immediately notified about it.
Hengchun Township Councilor Chao Chi-ming (趙記明) went to the power plant’s front gate to protest what he called a lack of transparency.
Local officials were not permitted entry into the facility.
The plant failed to abide by regulations on reporting such incidents immediately to local officials, the Pingtung County Government said, adding that it would impose the maximum fine allowable under the law.
Violations may be punished with a fine of NT$40,000 to NT$100,000, and the plant might be ordered to suspend operations for up to 30 days.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS