State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) must draft a plan by 2015 for the decommission of the first reactor at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant, which is the oldest nuclear power plant in the country, a senior official at the Atomic Energy Council said yesterday.
The operator of the nation’s three nuclear power plants has to submit the plan by Dec. 5, 2015 to show the council how it plans to permanently and safely shut down the reactor in 2018 as scheduled, Chiu Tzu-tsung (邱賜聰), head of the council’s Radiation Monitoring Center, told a budget-screening session at the legislature in Taipei.
Taipower must detail the costs and manpower it will need to handle the task, and how it intends to dispose of the reactor, which has been running commercially since Dec. 6, 1978, he said.
If the company fails to submit the plan on time, it will face a fine of between NT$500,000 and NT$2.5 million (US$17,200 and US$85,900) and be given a new deadline, Chiu said.
Fines will be handed out every time the company fails to honor the deadline, Chiu said.
By making the company submit a plan three years before the reactor is to be shut down, the authorities will have time to review the project, the official said.
He added that once the reactor is shut down, it should be dismantled within 25 years.
The power plant, located in Shimen District (石門) of New Taipei City (新北市) in northern Taiwan, has two reactors.
Taipower’s second plant, which started running commercially in 1979, is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2019.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
Chinese embassy staffers attempted to interrupt an award ceremony of an international tea competition in France when the organizer introduced Taiwan and displayed the Republic of China flag, a Taiwanese tea farmer said in an interview published today. Hsieh Chung-lin (謝忠霖), chief executive of Juxin Tea Factory from Taichung's Lishan (梨山) area, on Dec. 2 attended the Teas of the World International Contest held at the Peruvian embassy in Paris. Hsieh was awarded a special prize for his Huagang Snow Source Tea by the nonprofit Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products (AVPA). During the ceremony, two Chinese embassy staffers in attendance
RSS