Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday reiterated that the government will not halt construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant despite protests by anti-nuclear activists and residents from New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) outside the facility.
“I can assure you that we will not allow the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to start operation unless it is safe. As for halting construction, I am afraid that is not easy,” Wu told the protesters during his inspection trip to the power plant.
At the request of the protesters, three people were allowed to attend the briefing given by -state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power), the plant’s operator, on the progress of construction work and precautionary measures put in place to deal with an earthquake or tsunami.
In light of the nuclear crisis at Japan’s tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the government, in an effort to alleviate safety concerns, has pushed back the operational date for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to 2013, one year later than originally planned.
A resident described the fourth Nuclear Power Plant as a “cannibalized vehicle” as Taipower did not follow the original design of the facilities at the plant laid out by General Electric, but instead arbitrarily introduced 700 design alterations, prompting compatibility concerns.
“The residents here and I have strong doubts about the quality of construction work as there have been a number of incidents, including floods and power outages at the plant over the past 10 years,” another resident said.
Wu instructed Taipower and the Atomic Energy Council, the national nuclear regulator, to take the misgivings people have expressed about the plant seriously and communicate with them in a open and candid way.
The government will invite international experts to inspect the safety of the plant during the pre-operation testing period to make sure that no errors occur during commercial operation, Wu added.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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