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Wu seeks to calm Fourth
Nuclear Power Plant fears
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporter
Premier Wu Den-yih (§d´°¸q) yesterday reiterated that the government will not halt
construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant despite protests by anti-nuclear
activists and residents from New Taipei City¡¦s (·s¥_¥«) Gongliao District (°^¼d)
outside the facility.
¡§I can assure you that we will not allow the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to start
operation unless it is safe. As for halting construction, I am afraid that is
not easy,¡¨ Wu told the protesters during his inspection trip to the power plant.
At the request of the protesters, three people were allowed to attend the
briefing given by -state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power), the plant¡¦s
operator, on the progress of construction work and precautionary measures put in
place to deal with an earthquake or tsunami.
In light of the nuclear crisis at Japan¡¦s tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi
nuclear power plant, the government, in an effort to alleviate safety concerns,
has pushed back the operational date for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to 2013,
one year later than originally planned.
A resident described the fourth Nuclear Power Plant as a ¡§cannibalized vehicle¡¨
as Taipower did not follow the original design of the facilities at the plant
laid out by General Electric, but instead arbitrarily introduced 700 design
alterations, prompting compatibility concerns.
¡§The residents here and I have strong doubts about the quality of construction
work as there have been a number of incidents, including floods and power
outages at the plant over the past 10 years,¡¨ another resident said.
Wu instructed Taipower and the Atomic Energy Council, the national nuclear
regulator, to take the misgivings people have expressed about the plant
seriously and communicate with them in a open and candid way.
The government will invite international experts to inspect the safety of the
plant during the pre-operation testing period to make sure that no errors occur
during commercial operation, Wu added.
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