Anti-nuclear advocates yesterday took the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to task for allegedly being in the dark for as long as 10 hours about an incident in the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant’s second reactor yesterday, renewing worries about the safety of the nation’s accident-plagued nuclear facilities.
Low lube oil pressure caused a built-in lube oil pump in one of the reactor’s two recirculation pumps to trip at 4:18am, disengaging the coupling between the oil pump and a motor.
According to standard procedures at the power plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Shihmen District (石門)), technicians then inserted control rods, reduced the operating speed of the other recirculation pump and decreased the reactor’s power level to 250,000 kilowatts.
The reactor returned to normal operations at 1:19pm.
Asked to comment on the incident at 2pm yesterday, council spokesman and Vice Chairman Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said he was not aware of it.
About 30 minutes later, Chou came back with an explanation.
“Every reactor is equipped with two recirculation pumps that are each responsible for [controlling the flow of] 50 percent of the water through the core. The accident was caused by the malfunction of a lube oil pump within one of the second reactor’s recirculation pumps, causing the reactor’s capacity to decrease to about 40 percent of its normal level,” Chou said.
State-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) reported the incident to the council’s Department of Nuclear Regulation immediately, Chou said.
“However, as the accident was not considered threatening to public safety, the department did not demand a shutdown or notify me,” Chou said.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance director-general Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑) criticized the council’s stance, saying that given the level of public concern about nuclear safety, the council should not have listened only to Taipower’s side of the story.
“Given the First [Jinshan] Nuclear Power Plant’s relatively outdated facilities, any small problem could be a prelude to a bigger accident,” Lai said.
Green Consumers Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) linked the incident to the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011, saying the meltdown was caused by a loss of coolant in reactors after power outages [triggered by an earthquake and tsunami] prevented the recirculation pumps from sending water to the cores.
Taipower should have closed the second reactor for a comprehensive examination, rather than “forcing” it to resume operation, Fang said.
“The council is supposed to be on high alert for any reactor accidents, yet it was clueless about the incident 10 hours later. I think what should be decommissioned first is not the Jinshan plant, but the council,” Fang said.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation