Taiwan – Decision on nuclear waste disposal site years away: official

Taiwan – Decision on nuclear waste disposal site years away: official – Or its war!

Lawmaker Tien, an Yilan native, threatened on behalf of the county to launch a war against the government if the greater Nan’ao area is chosen as the permanent disposal site.
“We will fight until the end!” she declared.

[…]

Image source ; http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/anti-nuclear-protest-taiwan-attracts-nearly-13000

2014/07/14 21:35:04

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201407140030.aspx

aipei, July 14 (CNA) No decision has been made on the location of a permanent nuclear waste disposal site, an official said Monday, after residents of Nan’ao Township in Yilan County reacted angrily to speculation that their town was being considered for the site.

The search remains in its initial stage, which is focused on evaluating the quality of potential “host rock” for nuclear waste repositories, said Lee Hsiao-tung, the head of the Ministry of Economic Affairs office responsible for nuclear waste storage.

Lee explained that the high-level radioactive waste disposal plan proposed by state-run utility and nuclear power plant operator Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) is divided into five stages, with the project’s completion set for 2055.

In the current stage that concludes in 2017, the goal is to study and evaluate underground rock strata that would be suitable for hosting and storing nuclear waste, Lee said.

The second stage, aimed at choosing candidate sites and determining the most suitable one, will not begin until 2018.

“No one can say now that Nan’ao is the ultimate place” for the nuclear waste disposal site, Lee said in a presentation of the nuclear waste disposal site selection plan held at Yilan County Hall.

The presentation was attended by opposition Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Tien Chiu-chin, Hsiao Bi-khim and Chen Ou-po, government officials, Taipower executives, Yilan County officials and representatives of Yilan residents.

According to the Atomic Energy Council, the country’s top nuclear power regulator, several potential host rock areas are being evaluated, including the granite strata of the Taiwan-controlled island groups of Kinmen and Matsu and rock formations in the greater Nan’ao area in southern Yilan County.

Chen Teng-chin, the head of Yilan County’s Environmental Protection Bureau, contended, however, that none of the sites being studied in Kinmen and Matsu are suitable for a permanent waste disposal site because of the small scale of their rock beds.

Given that Taipower has conducted drilling tests in Hualien County’s Xiulin Township near Nan’ao, all signs point to the greater Nan’ao area, which covers a river valley plain south of Suao Township, as the final choice, Chen said.

“Don’t even think” of that possibility, Nan’ao Township chief Chiang Ming-shun said at the presentation, arguing that all Nan’ao residents are strongly opposed to the idea.

Lawmaker Tien, an Yilan native, threatened on behalf of the county to launch a war against the government if the greater Nan’ao area is chosen as the permanent disposal site.

“We will fight until the end!” she declared.

(By Worthy Shen and Elizabeth Hsu)
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