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Lawmakers urged not
to restart plant
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Activists said the
unprecedented case of broken anchor bolts on a reactor after a quake at the
Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant was worrying
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Several civic groups yesterday rallied outside the legislature, urging lawmakers
not to agree to a proposal to restart operations at a nuclear power plant in New
Taipei City (·s¥_¥«) amid concerns that its operations would threaten the lives of
millions of people in the Taipei metropolitan area.
¡§Stop the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant! Stop the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant!¡¨
dozens of people representing 16 civic groups chanted as they rallied outside
the legislature in the afternoon before a meeting on the proposal was scheduled
to take place.
The groups included the Green Citizens¡¦ Action Alliance (GCAA), Raging Citizens
Act Now, the Taiwan International Workers¡¦ Association, the Taiwan Environmental
Protection Union and the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Foundation.
Although only a few dozen people were there, they took with them a petition with
more than 8,000 signatures, asking lawmakers not to allow the nuclear power
plant to resume operations.
Operations at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City¡¦s Wanli
District (¸U¨½) were suspended for mechanical inspections in March. However, an
earthquake occurred at the time, causing seven of 120 screw bolts on the reactor
to break, raising concerns among the public about whether the nuclear facility
is safe.
¡§What happened at the nuclear power plant was very serious because this is the
first case in the world where screw bolts on a nuclear reactor have broken,¡¨
GCAA deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (¬x¥Ó¿«) told the crowd. ¡§If something
as safe as screw bolts can break under Taiwan Power Co¡¦s [Taipower] watch, how
can we trust Tai-power to keep the plant¡¦s operations safe?¡¨
Hung added that it was especially scary since a high-ranking member of the
Taipower management team was found to be cheating during safety inspections at
nuclear power facilities.
¡§It would be better if the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant remains shut,¡¨ Hung
said.
Tsai Ya-ying (½²¶®ïï), an attorney affiliated with Wild at Heart, reminded
lawmakers and the public of the consequences if a nuclear disaster like the one
that occurred at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan last year
happened at the Guosheng plant.
¡§When the nuclear disaster happened at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant in Japan, people living within a 30km radius of the plant were evacuated,¡¨
Tsai said. ¡§If that happens at the Guosheng plant, the 30km radius evacuation
zone would cover most of the Taipei metropolitan area with 5.8 million
residents.¡¨
She said that Taipower has been caught several times hiding information when
problems occurred at nuclear power plants.
¡§We don¡¦t trust it anymore. The Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant should not be
allowed to resume operations,¡¨ Tsai added.
In addition to calling on the legislature to stop the nuclear power plant from
resuming operations, the groups called on the central government and Taipower to
be more transparent when it comes to nuclear safety issues.
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