The Green Citizen Action Alliance (GCAA) yesterday protested outside a forum held by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and Chung-hwa Nuclear Society, criticizing the organizers for inviting speakers who they said had a pro-nuclear power stance.
“Distorting the real facts about nuclear power,” several GCAA members chanted together, while holding a banner that implied that the organizers and speakers at the forum were all part of a “pro-nuclear power fraudulent organization.”
The group said the Japanese speakers had been advocates for nuclear power in their country for many years, even after the Fukushima Di-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011, so by inviting them to talk about nuclear power, Taipower seems to be trying to misguide the media and the public.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
One of the speakers, Michio Ishikawa, a supreme adviser at the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute, said the main cause of the Fukushima Di-ichi disaster was not the devastating earthquake, but rather the following tsunami that led to a 10-day blackout at the plant, causing a nuclear meltdown and radiation leak.
There is no problem with the safety designs at present, but the risk of blackouts cannot be avoided with the current level of technology, he said, adding that the disaster was man-made and resulted from the failings of the government and related agencies.
However, the GCAA said Ishikawa has long been an advocate of nuclear power, and that the official report made by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission of Japan’s Diet had stated “we believe there is a possibility that the earthquake damaged equipment necessary for ensuring safety.”
They also questioned the background of another speaker, Masao Nakamura, an honorary adviser at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry and a former journalist who wrote about nuclear power issues for many years for Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun daily, by saying that he had been commissioned by the Japan Atomic Energy Relations Organization to write a propaganda strategy report back in 1991.
The group said another speaker — Noboru Takamura, a professor at the Nagasaki University’s Department of Radiation Epidemiology — has spoken about how being exposed to certain levels of radiation may not necessary lead to negative health impacts, but they questioned why recent news reports have shown several children living near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant having been diagnosed with thyroid carcinoma.
Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) told the forum: “We will allow the public to make the final decision [about the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮)], but no matter what, we will definitely complete its construction safely.”
He said many reports have exaggerated the impact of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster, such as the number of deaths or the cost of compensation and restoration, but until today the Japanese government’s official report showed that only seven people died at the plant and none of the deaths were directly attributable to radiation exposure.
“There is no so-called ‘safe’ nuclear power,” GCAA secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said. “The most serious problem about using nuclear power is that if a serious accident happens, the scale of the disaster would be so large that everyone in Taiwan would have to bear the consequences, and the risks posed would last for generations.”
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS