The Green Citizens’ Action Alliance said yesterday that the conclusions of an international team of experts on Friday that the nation’s three operating nuclear power plants had passed a stress test were flawed, and that civic groups should be allowed to participate in the tests.
The assessment of the stress test reports of the three operating nuclear power plants, released by a peer review team from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, concluded that, overall, the test was implemented properly and its measurements were adequate, with a few caveats.
The alliance, a civic environmental group that has been dedicated to campaigning against nuclear energy in favor of sustainable energy for many years, made the remarks in a press release yesterday, saying that the Atomic Energy Council’s (AEC) nuclear disaster risk calculation should be based on potential for danger, not on probabilistic risk assessment.
The reports provided by the AEC were insufficient and not up-to-date, because they did not include the possibility of the Shanchiao Fault (山腳斷層) causing earthquakes or tsunamis, nor did they use state-of-the-art modeling to analyze tsunami risks, the group said, adding that the AEC should also take the team’s recommendation about implementing a systematic evaluation of combinations of different hazards more seriously.
Moreover, in light of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, the AEC and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) should not use the scale of “the most severe incident in history” as its calculation base for enhancement designs, but should be aware that there may be severe accidents beyond the design endurance standard, the group added.
The group said the AEC’s self-congratulatory attitude of boasting of the nuclear power plants’ good condition to the public may lead to nuclear accidents, because neither it nor Taipower have provided any data on the relationship between the Shanchiao fault and possible earthquakes that may cripple the plants, which geologists and environmental groups have often warned of.
It said that the stress tests should also include civic participation, to publicize the data for discussion and allow other specialists from other fields and civic groups to examine whether the tests were done with sufficient transparency.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we