Some 300 Tao aborigines staged a protest yesterday at an interim nuclear repository on Orchid Island to press the government to relocate the radioactive waste from their home as soon as possible.
The demonstrators demanded that the government declare that the state-owned Taiwan Power Company's (Taipower) use of the nuclear dump after New Year's Eve is illegal and set a definite time frame for removal of the waste.
PHOTO: LI KUANG-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
The demonstrators said that if the government fails to respond to their demand within 15 days, they will launch an even larger protest. They ended their demonstration after planting several taro plants at the site to symbolize their claim to the land.
The Tao tribesmen began to converge on the Taipower nuclear dump on Lanyu, located some 42km off Taiwan's southeast coast, early in the morning. While tribal elders wore traditional Tao attire, including silver helmets and long spears, younger Tao people carried posters that read: "Oust nuclear waste! Oppose relocation of residents."
More than 200 policemen were mobilized to maintain order. At one point, some demonstrators threw stones at the policemen, but the clash was soon stopped when Tao elders assisted in controlling the situation.
At present, 97,672 barrels of low-grade radioactive waste from Taipower's three nuclear power plants are stored at the Lanyu nuclear dump.
The Tao demanded that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) honor his campaign promise to relocate the waste during his presidency, which will end May 20, 2004. In recent years, the Tao have staged many large demonstrations to push for prompt removal of the waste.
The Cabinet passed a draft bill last month that outlines legal proceedings to ensure professionalism and information transparency when choosing permanent nuclear dump sites for domestic low-grade radioactive waste. The bill is now awaiting approval of the Legislative Yuan.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said in mid-December that the government will eventually relocate the nuclear waste, but he added that the government needs to extend the interim land lease with a Tao association until it can find a new location.
Tao tribesmen demanded that certain provisions believed to hinder relocation be revised. Moreover, they are opposed to any extension of the lease contract, which was signed between Taipower and the Tao association in 1982 and will expire by the end of this year.
The demonstrators also de-manded that the government form a high-level negotiation team to discuss the relocation issue with their representatives.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS