Reactor No. 2 of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) unexpectedly shut down yesterday afternoon, with authorities still investigating the cause.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said the reactor’s alarm was tripped on 1:10pm yesterday due to high water levels in the reactor, causing the steam turbine to be shut down, followed by an emergency shutdown of the reactor.
The reactor was stable and there was no radiation leak, the company said.
Nuclear fuels inside the reactor core are immersed in water to heat the water, which turns to steam and then drives a steam turbine to generate electricity, and a feedwater system replenishes water boiled off from the reactor and keeps water levels stable, Taipower said.
The company theorized that the reactor’s feedwater system might have malfunctioned and caused water levels in the reactor to rise above normal levels, which the safety system recognized as an anomaly, leading it to shut down the turbine, but the exact cause remains to be determined.
Taipower was running with a 7.84 percent operating margin yesterday and there should be no power shortages this week as temperatures are falling, the state-run company said.
Atomic Energy Council Minister Chou Yuan-ching (周源卿) said the reactor could not be reactivated until Taipower makes a report to the council for review, which might take a few days.
The incident saw a complete shutdown of the Jinshan plant — whose reactor No. 1 has been out of commission since December 2014 — ahead of a national anti-nuclear protest tomorrow.
Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said there have been sporadic incidents at Jinshan plant and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) — the nation’s oldest nuclear plants — in recent years, and the government should decommission those plants as soon as possible to prevent another incident, while making public the cause and investigation of the incident to ensure public safety.
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