A fire that broke out at a nuclear power plant in southern Taiwan yesterday was promptly extinguished and would not cause further safety concerns, the Nuclear Safety Commission said.
A fire broke out yesterday at about 11am at Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春).
At 11:23am, the Pingtung Fire Department received a report that a large amount of black smoke was coming from the plant and sent 12 vehicles and 21 personnel to contain the fire.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
By 11:41am, the fire was contained after the plant’s internal fire department used water lines to extinguish the blaze, it said.
No one was injured.
During construction work at the facility, sparks from cutting iron were picked up by the wind and ignited nearby materials, the fire department said.
The building has already been decommissioned, and the fire did not affect power generation or safety, Taipower said in a statement.
Personnel from the commission who were sent to the facility said that there are no concerns about the facility’s safety or radiation leakage.
There have been no changes in radiation conditions in the surrounding area, and the plant continues to function normally, the commission said.
It added that it ordered Taipower to take preventive measures to avoid a recurrence, and vowed to monitor the company’s handling of the situation.
The fire sparked complaints and concern in the vicinity that local authorities were not immediately notified about it.
Hengchun Township Councilor Chao Chi-ming (趙記明) went to the power plant’s front gate to protest what he called a lack of transparency.
Local officials were not permitted entry into the facility.
The plant failed to abide by regulations on reporting such incidents immediately to local officials, the Pingtung County Government said, adding that it would impose the maximum fine allowable under the law.
Violations may be punished with a fine of NT$40,000 to NT$100,000, and the plant might be ordered to suspend operations for up to 30 days.
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