The No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant which was restarted on Tuesday, tripped yesterday during testing, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said.
The plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) was expected to output at full capacity by the end of the week, but a safety mechanism governing the reactor’s steam valve that was set too sensitively triggered a shutdown yesterday afternoon, Taipower said.
The company said it would wait for approval from the Atomic Energy Council before restarting the reactor again.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Power Co
The reactor had been shutdown since 2016 and underwent an overhaul late last year, with the company applying to the council on Feb. 5 to restart it after repairs were complete.
The restart obtained a preliminary approval from the council on March 5 and cleared a subsequent review by the Legislative Yuan on March 15.
Taipower restarted the reactor at 11:30am on Wednesday last week, allowing it to slowly build up heat and pressure in preparation for the generation of power on Tuesday at 12:55pm.
The council said an emergency shutdown was indicated yesterday at 1:25pm after a warning signal was given by the reactor’s neutron detection system.
Taipower is investigating the incident and would issue a public report after it is able to fully confirm the cause of the shutdown, the council said.
The reactor is not to be restarted before the investigation is complete and the council inspects facilities in accordance with established laws and regulations, the company said.
Taipower said it had already run excess speed tests on the main steam generator, as well as two tests on the system’s power generating equipment before the shutdown, adding that an initial investigation indicated that the sensitivity of a sensor on a steam valve was set too high.
Environmental groups responded to the news of the shutdown by calling for the reactor to remain suspended and for those in charge of approving its operation to be held responsible.
New Taipei City Nuclear Energy Safety Supervision Committee Chairman Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) also condemned Taipower for the shutdown by a safety mechanism so soon after the reactor’s restart.
“Although there was no radiation leak at the plant, the incident has already led to doubts about the facility among the public,” Lee said.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association lawyer Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) said she hopes the incident would be properly investigated and that the results of investigation will be truthfully revealed to the public, adding that she hopes Taipower will see the restart is a mistake and abandon its plans to restart the reactor.
Green Consumers’ Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) joked about the incident on Facebook, saying: “A machine that shuts down is a good thing. It is one that cannot shutdown that we need to be worried about. If we face that, we will be done for.”
Fang said he believed there was no way the reactor, which had been inoperable for 670 days, could function normally.
The use of old nuclear equipment has already been the cause of a 20 percent increase in power costs, he said, adding that the plant’s age creates a risk of nuclear disaster.
Additional reporting by Ho Yu-hua and Yang Mien-chieh
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify