Discussing the future direction of the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) amid criticism that it has been too favorable to Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), AEC Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) yesterday told a Taipei news conference that it would emphasize transparency and public participation.
Hsieh reiterated that the council has to remain neutral and transparent, and encourage the public’s participation in overseeing nuclear plant safety to regain the public’s trust.
“The Atomic Energy Council must be accountable to the public, and I hope that there will be at least two members on the council’s decision-making committee from environmental organizations,” he said.
“Although council officials are the most educated and capable of government officials, they are overly conservative. The council will be open to the public and share information on how it handles nuclear incidents as fast as possible,” Hsieh said.
He reaffirmed the government’s policy of going nuclear-free by 2025, adding that the council will complete a review of Taipower’s decommissioning plan of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) by June next year.
However, while saying that he supports the relocation of low-level radioactive waste from Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as a step toward transitional justice, Hsieh said there have been many difficulties in selecting a site for another temporary or permanent nuclear waste repository.
If Taipower fails to come up with a storage site option by September, it has to propose an alternative plan to relocate it, which might involve temporarily depositing it on an unpopulated island, the council said
Nuclear power plants might become temporary storage sites for high-level radioactive waste should the council fail to find another repository site, the council said.
Council officials also said the Jinshan plant’s No. 1 reactor, which has been out of operation since December 2014 due to a loose handle on a fuel rod cask, can be reactivated in a few days if the legislature approves Taipower’s reactivation plan.
The reactivation has been proposed to ease a power shortage crisis, despite the government’s nuclear-free policy, with Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) yesterday saying that the reactor remains a possible option and nuclear-free policy does not mean the early decommissioning of the nation’s three operating nuclear plants.
‘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