Taipower chairman Chen Kuei-ming (陳貴明) told the legislature yesterday an additional NT$40 billion (US$1.15 billion) to NT$50 billion would be needed if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is to reach a stage where its two generator units can begin operations in 2011 and 2012.
The additional funding would bring the construction costs at the Gongliao (貢寮), Taipei County, plant to between NT$270 billion and NT$280 billion, Chen said.
Also yesterday, Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said it was unlikely that the plant would be completed this year as scheduled.
“It will probably take two more years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said yesterday that a “minor alteration,” costing NT$1 billion, would allow the nation’s nuclear plants to add 1.7 percent to their annual electricity, enough to supply 100,000 families.
The reactor cores of the generators had been fitted with new flow meters for feedwater, deputy director of the Department of Nuclear Regulation Hsu Ming-te (徐明德) said.
Hsu said that feedwater is injected into the reactor core to be heated and turned into steam. The steam in turn pushes the main turbine generator to generate electricity.
“Traditionally, reactors are designed to withstand 102 percent of the heating generated by the reactor,” Hsu said.
This is because feedwater that flows into the reaction core is measured by a Venturi Meter, which has a mismeasurement range of 2 percent. As 2 percent means that more water would flow into the core, the reactors could overheat, he said.
With advanced equipment, more accurate ultrasonic flowmeters (UFM) with a 0.3 percent error range are now available, Hsu said.
This means that while workers at a nuclear plant only injected 100 parts of water into the reactor cores under the assumption that an extra 2 percent may have been put in, workers can now input 101.7 parts of water.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS