Anti-nuclear groups said they doubted there was a workable plan in place to evacuate 6 million people within the 30km evacuation zones of the first and second nuclear power plants, calling the government’s safety claims as absurd as an emergency exit-deprived Taipei 101 guaranteeing the safety of visitors.
Nuclear safety is not restricted to the nuclear engineering techniques within the plants, said Japan and Taiwan Exchange Association spokesman Chen Hong-mei (陳弘美), who organized a panel discussion about nuclear safety held yesterday called “No Nukes for Earthquake Countries.”
Three Japanese anti-nuclear advocates were on the panel, one of whom was Idogawa Katsutaka, the mayor of Futaba city, which is close to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Chen said that a Japanese research group, the Association for the Research of Transportation Problems and Human Rights, published a report in January on the evacuation time needed for people living within the 30km exclusion zones of the nuclear power plants in Japan.
The report said that the region that would require the most time to evacuate was one that has 750,000 residents, requiring at least 142 hours (six days) for full evacuation.
Chen said that there are 6 million people living within the 30km evacuation zone around Taiwan’s Jinshan (金山) and Kuosheng (國聖) nuclear power plants.
Murakami Tatsuya, then-mayor of Tokaimura village during the Tokaimura Criticality Accident in 1999, oversaw the evacuation of 310,000 residents living within a 10km radius of the Tokaimura nuclear power plant. He called a plan to evacuate the 1 million people within the 30km evacuation zone of Tokaimura plant “impossible.”
Idogawa, who was exposed to a high level of radiation while trying to get people out of the town, said that he was deceived.
“Nuclear power plants cannot continue operations without relying on lies,” he said, adding that before the Fukushima accident, Tokyo Electric Power Co and the Japanese government had repeatedly assured him that accidents would not happen.
He was told by a Swedish nuclear power expert that it would take 500 years before Futaba residents could return to their homes.
Taipei mayoral aspirants Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Wellington Koo (顧立雄) were among the participants at the discussion.
Koo said that as the chairman of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, which has always been anti-nuclear, he has taken a firm stance against nuclear power.
“After the tragedy at Fukushima, the problem of nuclear power has become palpable. It is no longer an issue about generational justice, but about our right to existence,” he said.
It has been reported that out of 34 nuclear reactors operating in earthquake-prone regions around the world, 30 are in Japan and Taiwan.
“All eight reactors in Taiwan are on the list,” Koo said, calling the government’s “no Fourth Nuclear Power Plant without nuclear safety” guarantee upheld by KMT Mayor hopeful Sean Lien (連勝文) “an empty promise.”
Ko panned the Ma administration as a “green-card government” with officials being able to flee the nation if a catastrophe occurs.
“The question of what to do with nuclear power plants is extremely simple when we take future generations into consideration. Only those who plan their future in four-year units would agree to the building of the plant,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS