Restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would be irresponsible, as it would not be technologically sound or safe, civic groups said yesterday ahead of the nuclear referendum on Aug. 23.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, Taiwan convened a news conference alongside nuclear experts at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, urging the public to vote against reactivating the plant.
Pingtung County Oversight Nuclear Safety Commission member He Li-wei (賀立維), who holds a doctorate in nuclear engineering from Iowa State university, said that restarting the plant would be an irresponsible game of chance.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The plant was designed with a service life of 40 years and extending its operations or restarting it after being decommissioned cannot be decided via a referendum, he said.
Nuclear power plants run the highest risk of safety at their early stage of operation, as different components and devices have yet to work smoothly together, He said.
The risk would peak again at the end stage of service life, when many parts of the plants have worn out over the years, he said.
Comparing the Pingtung plant to the Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Florida, He said the two plants were constructed by the same company, with both employing pressurized water reactors.
However, the structure of the Crystal River Nuclear Plant was damaged when efforts were made in 2009 to remove and replace its steam generators, he said.
The work failed to be carried out and the maintenance fees totaled more than US$3 billion, eventually leading to the shutdown of the plant, He said.
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant might repeat the same mistake, he added.
Restarting nuclear plants is completely different from reactivating stored weapons, he said, urging the Nuclear Safety Commission and its chairman, Chen Min-jen (陳明真), to come forward and address the issue of nuclear waste to ensure nuclear safety for future generations.
Tzu Chi University public health associate professor Hsieh Wan-hua (謝婉華) said the incidence of thyroid cancer in children was found to have significantly spiked after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.
The disaster also gave rise to increased cases of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as broken families and social barriers, she said, adding that mental health issues haunted many affected people for years.
“We cannot afford to gamble on such a risk,” Hsieh said
Nuclear disasters have long-lasting and costly consequences and the suffering would continue for generations to come, she added.
Lee Kuei-lin (李桂林), a retired Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) employee who had worked at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District (金山) and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), is an occupational injury victim of nuclear plants.
Lee said that from 1974, he worked for many years at highly radioactive zones at the two plants, but Taipower did not provide him with sufficient training and protection against radiation protection.
Lee, who has been having radiation-related occupational injuries since 1980, said that restarting a power plant is not only an energy policy choice, but a life-and-death challenge.
Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) said the main text describing the nuclear referendum states that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would not be restarted without passing a safety evaluation.
However, an evaluation cannot completely ensure safety, she said, adding the plant had multiple incidents over its 40-year service life and should not be restarted after it had served its term and retired.
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant saw multiple nuclear safety incidents in its service life from 1984 to last year, including fires, power failure and beach pollution.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS