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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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