Taiwan and the US have recently signed an arrangement to enhance bilateral cooperation on the regulation of the safety and environmental impacts of nuclear facilities in several areas, including sharing information and training safety personnel.
The text of the arrangement for the exchange of technical information and cooperation in nuclear regulatory and safety matters obtained by the Taipei Times showed that the scope of bilateral cooperation included technical information exchange, cooperation in confirmatory nuclear safety research, training and assignments, and technical advice.
It was signed on Jan. 4 by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in coordination with their respective designated representatives, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) of Taiwan and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the US.
Information is to be shared in areas such as the regulation of safety, safeguards (materials accountancy and control and physical protection), waste management, radiation protection (environmental monitoring, personal dose evaluation, calibration, proficiency testing), nuclear security, emergency preparedness and the environmental impact of designated nuclear facilities.
Under the arrangements, the AEC and NRC can also share information on nuclear safety research programs, including topical reports on related issues written by each side and documents relating to significant licensing actions and safety and environmental decisions affecting nuclear facilities, among others.
Also included is the early provision of information about important events, such as serious operating incidents and ordered reactor shutdowns that are of immediate interest to the AEC and the NRC and copies of regulatory standards, or by the two agencies.
Taipei and Washington agreed to cooperate in the provision of certain training and experiences for safety personnel from the AEC and the NRC.
The US and Taiwan agreed to exchange information covered by the arrangement through letters, reports and other documents, and by visits and meetings arranged in advance or on a case-by-case basis and to hold a meeting annually, or at such other times as mutually agreed, to review its implementation.
David Yao (饒大衛), director of the AEC’s Department of Planning, was quoted in a report by the US-based wire agency Bureau of National Affairs as saying that the arrangement would be an ideal platform for Taiwan to acquire more information about the emergency at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
When contacted, AIT spokeswoman Sheila Paskman declined to comment, saying that the US had signed similar arrangements with many other countries to enhance cooperation on nuclear safety.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner