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Activists present ideas for improving
nuclear safety
PRACTICAL: While the group would prefer a future
free of nuclear power, they suggested that the reserve power supplies at nuclear
plants should have 72 hours of energy
By Lee I-Chia / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
Legislator Tien Chiu-chin, National Taiwan University atmospheric sciences
professor Gloria Hsu and Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairman Shih
Shin-min, right to left, display photos of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster
at a meeting in Taipei yesterday marking the 25th anniversary of the meltdown.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Drawing references from European nuclear
safety standards, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union yesterday urged the
government to take the possibility of a nuclear crisis in this country more
seriously and to map out concrete contingency plans.
The group issued the call at a press conference held to coincide with the 25th
anniversary of the catastrophic incident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
Ukraine.
The group proposed its own list of suggestions titled “What Taiwan’s Nuclear
Power Plants Can At Least Do.”
Put together by Gloria Hsu (徐光蓉), a professor at National Taiwan University’s
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the report reviewed the situation of
Taiwan’s nuclear plants and referenced the nuclear safety standards of -European
countries.
While in favor of a non-nuclear future for Taiwan, the group listed six
suggestions in an effort to improve the safety of the nation’s existing nuclear
power plants.
The suggestions involved issues concerning the structure of the nuclear
reactors, management of the waste fuel rods, monitoring and emergency
electricity sources for the power plants, facilities related to the plants, the
geographical environment, as well as natural hazards and risk evaluations.
Hsu, in her analysis of the radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi
nuclear power plant, which was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in
Japan last month, pointed out that the loss of electricity was a crucial issue.
She suggested that the emergency power system of Taiwan’s nuclear power plants
should be able to sustain the plants for at least 72 hours, instead of the eight
hours maximum capacity that was in place at Fukushima.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), showed pictures of
victims from the Chernobyl disaster, saying that while official reports in 2000
estimated that the damage was US$120 billion, unofficial estimates put the cost
at US$358 billion.
Tien urged the government to promise a 100 percent safe nuclear power policy,
“or else nuclear power is not an option for Taiwan.”
In related news, members of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance yesterday
afternoon staged a protest outside a public hearing held by the Ministry of
Economic Affairs regarding the review of the nation’s energy policy.
The protesters demanded that the ministry apologize for allegedly lying to the
public about power shortages if nuclear power plants were to be shut off.
The protesters showed statistics calculated from data released by the ministry
to prove their claim that if all the power plants were shut down immediately,
the nation would still have nearly 10 percent of its electricity stored in
backup.
The protesters also questioned why the latest draft energy policy presented by
the ministry was almost the same as the one brought up in February, before the
Fukushima crisis.
Inside the venue, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) told the hearing that the government
pays exceptional attention to the issue and has taken actions to re-evaluate the
safety of the nation’s nuclear power and energy policy after the Fukushima
crisis.
He reiterated that fuel rods would not be put into the Fourth Nuclear Power
Plant (核四), which is under construction in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao
District (貢寮), unless its safety is assured. The government welcomes inspection
and monitoring from the public, he added.
Apparently unconvinced, opponents of nuclear energy stood up in their seats
shouting repeatedly: “Taiwan does not have a power shortage,” as Wu walked out
of the auditorium following his speech.
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