Authorities yesterday attempted to ease fears of a Japan-style crisis at the nearly completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) ahead of a mass protest this weekend.
The state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) faces an uphill battle to persuade the public that its nuclear facilities are safe after a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in 2011, crippling the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
In a similar situation as Japan, Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.
Two opinion polls in March showed a majority of Taiwanese oppose the new plant. Demonstrators plan a rally on Sunday calling for the government to abandon the project, which Taipower said cost more than NT$280 billion (US$9.4 billion) and is more than 90 percent completed.
“We have learned many lessons from the Fukushima incident. We have improved on the safety measures to ensure that a similar incident will not happen in Taiwan,” Taipower vice president Chen Pu-tsan (陳布燦) said.
Taipower has spent NT$10.2 billion on additional safety measures at the plant, including plans to build a 14.5m anti-tsunami dyke and install additional generators.
This month, a team of 45 Taiwanese and 12 international experts began a six-month inspection of the plant to test its systems and review safety.
“Even if an earthquake and tsunami of the same magnitude that struck Fukushima were to hit Taiwan, it would not have affected the fourth nuclear plant,” Chen said.
The three existing nuclear plants supply about 20 percent of Taiwan’s electricity. Construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant started in 1999, but has been repeatedly delayed by political wrangling.
Taipower says the country will face power shortages without a new nuclear plant. The Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City, and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, as well as several other power stations are due to be retired in the near future.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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