Thu, May 18, 2000 page2

• Nuclear plant activists get support from Japan

  ENERGY POLICY Representatives from an overseas organization opposed to nuclear power said that the reactor Taipower plans to install in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is of the same type as one that has `gone critical' seven times in Japan

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Following a large-scale anti-nuclear demonstration on Saturday, local activists, now allied with foreign supporters, urged the incoming government yesterday to halt the ongoing construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

  After visiting the construction site in Taipei County's Kungliao township (貢寮鄉) Tuesday, officials from Japan opposed to nuclear power, along with representatives from the No Nuke Asia Forum (NNAF, 非核亞洲論壇) said at a press conference in Taipei that the type of reactor the plant will use is definitely not as safe as Taiwan Power Corp (Taipower, 台電) claims.

  "The model, which uses two advanced boiling water reactors (ABWR) with 135 megawatts of output, is similar to that which we have in Kashiwazaki (柏崎市), Japan.

  

  Japanese officials hold pictures that catalog the incidents at a nuclear power plant in Kashiwazaki, Japan, which houses the same type of nuclear reactors which are being constructed at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

  In the past three years, seven incidents caused by improper design have been reported there," said Tadaoh Yabe (矢部忠夫), a Kashiwazaki City Councilor.

  Tabe said he suspected people in Taiwan have been cheated by the government -- because the Japanese government never guar-anteed people there that such a reactor was absolutely failsafe.

  In addition, Japanese anti-nuclear activists said geological and meteorological conditions in Taiwan were inappropriate for nuclear power plants.

  Yabe joined last week's protest in Taipei with his colleagues, Shinchi Takahashi (高橋新一), Harutoshi Iizuka (飯塚晴紀), Koei Kasahara (笠原浩榮), and NNAF representatives, including environmental photographer Ritsuya Okuno (奧野律也).

  Okuno came to Taiwan after the 921 earthquake last year to investigate the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, along with local anti-nuclear activists. But on Tuesday, when visiting the site again, he said he found there were problems.

  "I don't think Taipower can manage nuclear accidents properly, because the access roads to the site are winding and narrow," Okuno told the Taipei Times.

  He said that rescue scenarios in the event of a nuclear accident had not been properly taken into consideration.

  Local activists said that they would meet Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), the incoming Minister of Economic Affairs, on Monday -- his first day in office -- in order to keep up the pressure on the new government.

  Activists also expressed their disappointment with comments by president-elect Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on Tuesday, when he stressed that the future of the plant would not be influenced by the DPP's charter, which opposes nuclear power.

  "Even if he distances himself from the DPP's platforms, he should not disregard his own campaign promises regarding environmental protection," said Shih Shin-min (施信民), chairman of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (台灣環保聯盟).

  "His opposition to the construction of the nuclear plant won him votes in Taipei County during the presidential election," Shih said.
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