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.
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