With the artificial intelligence boom, Taiwan’s demand for electricity is expected to rise in the next few years, which has led to the idea that the decommissioning of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County should be delayed.
The Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) has already been out of service for several years, and with the recent opening of a new dry storage facility, the spent fuel rods stored there can be moved out gradually, enabling the next phase of decommissioning work to begin.
As decommissioning or extending the lifespan of a nuclear power plant requires some time to implement, there is an opportunity to use the decommissioning of the Jinshan plant as an example to evaluate whether the lifespan of the Ma-anshan plant is worth extending.
When decommissioning a nuclear power plant, in addition to moving the nuclear waste to dry storage, the process requires a lot of decontamination and classification work.
After running for about 40 years, a nuclear power plant would have experienced operational problems, which causes nuclear contamination of the plant’s equipment, part of which can only be discovered during its dismantlement.
Therefore, depending on the degree of contamination, some of the waste must be properly processed before capacity reduction, while more seriously contaminated waste that cannot be processed safely must be properly sealed and a safe storage environment sought. This can easily delay decommissioning and result in more funds than was budgeted to be spent.
At present, the Jinshan plant’s turbines and other important facilities have already been dismantled. There has been no international precedent in which a nuclear power plant has been dismantled and then resumed operations again. Theoretically, the possibility of restarting the Jinshan plant is very low.
Nuclear Safety Commission Chairman Chen Tung-yang (陳東陽) has recently said that there is no standard procedure for decommissioning a nuclear power plant. Therefore, there would be a considerable overlap between decommissioning work at the Jinshan plant and any extension evaluation of the Ma-anshan plant.
The public resistance, budget overruns and difficulties in disposing of radioactive waste encountered during the decommissioning of the Jinshan plant could serve as important references to determine whether or not it is cost-effective to delay the decommissioning of the Ma-anshan plant.
If these problems turn out to be more difficult to handle than expected, it would be worth seriously considering whether the government should delay the decommissioning of the Ma-anshan plant.
Given global warming, nuclear power’s low-carbon emissions have once again attracted attention.
However, when decommissioning nuclear power plants, the public must face the difficulties and costs of nuclear waste storage, as well as the plants’ demolition. Under such circumstances, it is worth considering whether nuclear power is the only way to solve the carbon emissions problem.
With geological concerns in Taiwan regarding the construction of nuclear power plants and potential storage sites, the risks of extending the operation of nuclear power plants and the disposal of nuclear waste would be a considerable test for the government.
Chen Kuan-lin is a research manager from Taipei.
Translated by Eddy Chang
US President Donald Trump’s second administration has gotten off to a fast start with a blizzard of initiatives focused on domestic commitments made during his campaign. His tariff-based approach to re-ordering global trade in a manner more favorable to the United States appears to be in its infancy, but the significant scale and scope are undeniable. That said, while China looms largest on the list of national security challenges, to date we have heard little from the administration, bar the 10 percent tariffs directed at China, on specific priorities vis-a-vis China. The Congressional hearings for President Trump’s cabinet have, so far,
US political scientist Francis Fukuyama, during an interview with the UK’s Times Radio, reacted to US President Donald Trump’s overturning of decades of US foreign policy by saying that “the chance for serious instability is very great.” That is something of an understatement. Fukuyama said that Trump’s apparent moves to expand US territory and that he “seems to be actively siding with” authoritarian states is concerning, not just for Europe, but also for Taiwan. He said that “if I were China I would see this as a golden opportunity” to annex Taiwan, and that every European country needs to think
For years, the use of insecure smart home appliances and other Internet-connected devices has resulted in personal data leaks. Many smart devices require users’ location, contact details or access to cameras and microphones to set up, which expose people’s personal information, but are unnecessary to use the product. As a result, data breaches and security incidents continue to emerge worldwide through smartphone apps, smart speakers, TVs, air fryers and robot vacuums. Last week, another major data breach was added to the list: Mars Hydro, a Chinese company that makes Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as LED grow lights and the
US President Donald Trump is an extremely stable genius. Within his first month of presidency, he proposed to annex Canada and take military action to control the Panama Canal, renamed the Gulf of Mexico, called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator and blamed him for the Russian invasion. He has managed to offend many leaders on the planet Earth at warp speed. Demanding that Europe step up its own defense, the Trump administration has threatened to pull US troops from the continent. Accusing Taiwan of stealing the US’ semiconductor business, it intends to impose heavy tariffs on integrated circuit chips
RSS