Taipei insists that its many thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods are safe
Atomic body dismisses report on nuclear safety Taipei Times Staff Writer, with CNA , 9 Feb 12, The Atomic Energy Council yesterday dismissed a French newspaper’s report that raised doubts about the security of facilities storing spent reactor fuel, saying that spent fuel has always been kept under safe storage and strict management.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported on Tuesday that spent fuel pools at the Jinshan (金山) Nuclear Power Plant in Shimen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市) and Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, have become saturated and could therefore be severely hazardous in the event of an accident. Read more »
Taiwan’s election may mean closure of nuclear power there
Vote Holds Fate of Nuclear Power in Taiwan, NYT By ANDREW JACOBS, January 12, 2012 TAIPEI, Taiwan — When voters here choose a president and a new legislature on Saturday, their decisions will also determine whether Taiwan pulls the plug on a state-backed nuclear power industry that provides the country with a fifth of its electricity.
Although the presidential race has mostly been about pocketbook concerns and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan’s relationship with China, the leading challenger has made the elimination of Taiwan’s reliance on nuclear energy a central plank of her campaign. Pollsters and analysts say that the challenger, Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, has a good chance of unseating the incumbent, Ma Ying-jeou, whose party has long been a reliable backer of nuclear energy.
In recent months, Ms. Tsai has vowed to retire the island’s six aging reactors and has said that she would seek to mothball a problem-plagued nuclear plant that has been under construction since the late 1990s. The plant, whose price tag has nearly doubled to $9.3 billion, was supposed to begin operating this year, but further delays appear likely.
“After Fukushima, our society has realized that nuclear power is not only expensive but also unsafe,” Ms. Tsai said……. Taiwan — an island devoid of oil, gas and coal reserves — appears to be losing its appetite for the atom. Last spring thousands of protesters in Taipei demanded an end to the construction of the latest plant, the Lungmen nuclear project, or Nuke 4. Soon afterward, one of Taiwan’s richest tycoons joined the antinuclear chorus: Chang Yung-fa, chairman of the Evergreen Group, one of the world’s largest shippers.
Opponents say that there are a number of active seismic faults across the island and that more than five million people in northern Taiwan live within an 18-mile radius of two nuclear plants. For the 23 million people living on an island the size of Maryland and Delaware combined, there would be few places to run in the event of a disaster.
“Taiwan is simply ill suited for nuclear energy,” said Tsui Shu-hsin, secretary general of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, which has been waging a lonely battle against atomic power……..
No confidence in safety of Taiwan’s new nuclear plant
Even though it is not yet operational, the plant had already been declared by the World Nuclear Association as one of the most dangerous in the world,
NGOs have no confidence in safety of nuclear plant, Taipei Times, 20 Dec 11 TIME IS TICKING:One NGO director said solutions for several flaws at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant would be useless unless they were implemented immediately By Shelley Shan Non-governmental organizations (NGO) supervising the construction and operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant said they would issue a statement of no-confidence in reaction to a safety
report, to be submitted by Taiwan Power Corp (Taipower) today, which fails to tackle structural issues. Read more »
Taiwan’s nuclear waste dilemma
Activists challenge government on nuclear waste management policy, Taiwan News, Central News Agency, Taipei, By Hsu Chih-wei and Elizabeth Hsu Nov. 28 (CNA) Environmental groups charged Monday that Taiwan’s government has not resolved how to deal with nuclear waste and proposed suspending operations at the country’s three nuclearpower plants until the issue was dealt with.
The environmentalists made the appeal at an environmental assessment meeting held by the
Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on the government’s radioactive waste management policy. During the meeting, officials from the Atomic Energy Council (AEC), the country’s top nuclear regulatory body, presented a report on its proposed approach to dealing with nuclear waste that will become official policy ifapproved by the EPA assessment committee. One of the plan’s centerpieces was to have nuclear waste recycled overseas beforeshipping it back to Taiwan for permanent storage.
But environmental activists, including Green Citizens’ Action Alliance Deputy Secretary-General Hung Shen-han, were not convinced the solution was viable and advocated shutting down Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants until the issue was clearly addressed. Hung contended that one way or another, radioactive waste had to be stored either at home or abroad, and no foreign country has so far been willing to lease Taiwan land for storage of the waste. He acknowledged that radioactive waste could be recycled overseas but said the leftover material was still unstable and would still have to be stored in Taiwan, which he saw as a bad option.
Hung compared nuclear waste to a ticking time-bomb that threatened the life and
property of Taiwan’s people because of the unstable geographic nature of the island, which is prone to earthquakes. …. The government has selected Wuchiu in Kinmen and Daren in Taitung to serve as permanent storage sites for the waste, but it has encountered strong opposition from people in the two townships. http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1771961
Demand that nuclear power be an issue in Taiwan’s elections
Groups push for inclusion of nuclear issue in presidential debates Central News Agency Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Environmentalists, regular members of the public and scholars gathered Thursday to ask presidential candidates to address the issue of a nuclear-free homeland during the upcoming televised debates ahead of the 2012 presidential election. To get a clear and open message from the candidates is important, according to Yilan Charlie Chen Foundation, the organizer of a platform that promotes discussion on nuclear issues. There has been too much flip-flopping on the commitment to scrapping construction of the country’s fourth nuclear power plant, the foundation stated.
“We want candidates representing the ruling Kuomintang and opposition Democratic Progressive Party and minor opposition People First Party to prove they are serious about our concerns,” said foundation chairman Charlie Chen. Other organizations at the event — including the Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance — proposed that the debates should be held in one of the country’s nuclear power plants, so candidates can “face the fear themselves.” The issues of whether to continue building Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant, how to handle nuclear waste disposal and phase out nuclear power in the future have been hotly debated in the run-up to the Jan. 14 presidential election.
Three televised debates have been scheduled for Dec. 3, Dec. 10 and Dec. 17. (By Lee Hsin-Yin) http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1768269
Taiwan urged to abandon nuclear power – unaffordable costs
many people thought it was a waste of money to have spent NT$320 billion (US$10.6 billion) to construct the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City, and not allow it to operate, but it would actually cost twice that amount to retire the plant after it begins operations.
Writer urges Taiwan to abandon nuclear power Taipei Times, By Lee I-chia / Staff Reporter, 10 Nov 11 COSTLY:Japan-based writer Liu Li-erh said the rising costs of the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant should be a warning, particularly around the Taipei metropolitan area
Saying that the compensation for damage caused by the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan was way beyond what Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) or the Japanese government could afford, a Japan-based Taiwanese writer yesterday urged Taiwan to abandon all nuclear power. Read more »
Taiwan’s President Ma contradicts himself on nuclear power shutdown
Ma’s promises on energy policies — advocating commercial operations for the fourth nuclear plant, and in the meantime offering that the government would rather sacrifice the power plants than allow nuclear disasters to happen — sound tempting, but are completely contradictory, DPP’s presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, proposed, yesterday.
Ma’s government had only promised to give up on the use of nuclear energy when natural disasters strike, but by then nothing done could relief the calamity that had taken place, Tsai argued.
Existing nuclear plants to be shut down: MaThe China Post, 4 Nov 11President Ma Ying-jeou promised yesterday that the licenses of the existing three nuclear power plants will not be renewed after they expire, and if the fourth power plant begins stable operations before 2016, early shutting down of the first nuclear power plant will be considered Read more »
Taiwan presidential candidate promises a nuclear free Taiwan
The DPP presidential candidate, who is on a two-day campaign trip to Hualien and Taitung, also reiterated her initiative to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025.
Tsai apologizes for nuclear waste woes, Taipei Times By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter, in TAITUNG COUNTY 1 Nov 11 LOCAL SOLUTION:If elected, Tsai pledged to improve infrastructure on Orchid Island and let residents reach their own consensus on how to handle the waste there
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized to residents of Orchid Island (蘭嶼) over the government’s “outrageous” decision in 1982 to store nuclear waste on the island, Read more »
Taiwan moves to increase the liability of nuclear operators
the draft proposes that operators be responsible for natural disaster damage. The draft also raises the time in which an injured individual can seek compensation from nuclear power plant operators to 10 years from the current three years. Taiwanese government not taking nuclear risks seriously
Nuclear safety inaction panned, By Lee I-chia Taipei Times Staff Reporte, 12 July 11, Four months after a powerful earthquake and tsunami sparked a crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, environmental protection activists yesterday said the Taiwanese government remained flippant about nuclear safety.
RISKS:The former head of an anti-nuclear group said problems could occur at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant given a lack of experienced engineers working there.
During a press conference at the legislature, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said that if an earthquake of similar magnitude occurred in Taiwan, the operating power plants might be unable to withstand the impact and catastrophe might ensue at tremendous cost to society.
There are 108 schools located within a 20km radius of the Jinshan, Guosheng and Fourth Nuclear Power Plants in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Shihmen (石門), Wanli (萬里) and Gongliao (貢寮) districts respectively, Tien said.
“If something goes wrong at any one of the three plants, many schools will face total evacuation,” she said…..http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/07/12/2003508030
Public kept in the dark as Taiwan passes unpopular pro nuclear budget
Green Citizen Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said it was undemocratic for legislators to arbitrarily pass the huge budget when many of the details are kept secret from the public, not to mention barring citizens from observing the voting process from inside the legislature.
Lawmakers pass new nuclear funding, Taipei Times, By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Lee I-chia14 June The legislature yesterday voted down a set of anti-nuclear motions proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Holding just one-third of the legislative seats, the DPP failed in 11 attempts to block the use of nuclear power, despite support from anti-nuclear activists who have staged a protest outside the legislature since Sunday night. Read more »
Injustice of nuclear waste near Taiwan’s indigenous people
it was unfair for Aborigines, who usually consume less energy than other people in Taiwan, to be exposed to the dangers of coal mines in the past, and now nuclear waste….
Lawmakers pass new nuclear funding, Taipei Times, By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Lee I-chia 14 June “……Pani (拔耐), an Aboriginal woman and cofounder of Raging Citizens Act Now, provided a clear picture of the implications of nuclear energy for ordinary citizens. Read more »
Thousands of Taiwanese in anti nuclear protest
Thousands protest against nuclear plant in Taiwan, Google News, (AFP) 1 May 11, TAIPEI — Thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets on Saturday to protest against a new nuclear power station as safety concerns mounted in the wake of the atomic crisis in Japan, an organiser said. Read more »
2.000 Taiwanese protest against nuclear power
DPP Taipei City Councilwoman Hsu Chia-ching told IPS that “no one is advocating an immediate cessation of generation, but a gradual and balanced phase-out”.
In response to questions as to whether refusing to allow the new facility to operate would be a waste of money, Tsai said that “allowing Nuclear Four to operate and generate more radioactive spent fuel and waste would create a greater tragedy.”
TAIWAN Opposition Urges Nuclear Phase-out By 2025, IPS ipsnews.net, By Dennis Engbarth, 28 March 11, Over 2,000 protestors participated in a “We Love Taiwan, We Don’t Want Nuclear Disaster” march in Taipei City. Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman and former Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen has announced a proposal for a “2025 Non-Nuclear Home Plan” that will allow Taiwan to eliminate reliance on nuclear power by the end of 2025….
……. DPP Taipei City Councilwoman Hsu Chia-ching told IPS that “no one is advocating an immediate cessation of generation, but a gradual and balanced phase-out”.
In response to questions as to whether refusing to allow the new facility to operate would be a waste of money, Tsai said that “allowing Nuclear Four to operate and generate more radioactive spent fuel and waste would create a greater tragedy.”
“The damage to Japan’s society and economy, including tourism, agriculture, fishing and industry, is simply too huge, not to mention the costs of rebuilding,” National Taiwan University Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Hsu Kuang-jung told IPS, stressing that “the Fukushima incident is not yet over”.
“Nuclear power is the most expensive and risky method of power generation and if we don’t absolutely need it, why should we create so much danger and cause our people to live in fear?” asked Hsu. “The Taiwan people have never had a chance to directly express their will on whether to accept the risk of nuclear power.”
Over 2,000 residents near the fourth plant, environmentalists and opposition politicians participated in a rally last week with the theme “We Love Taiwan, We Don’t Want Nuclear Disasters”. …….
TAIWAN: Opposition Urges Nuclear Phase-out By 2025 – IPS ipsnews.net
Safety and costs concerns stall Taiwan’s nuclear program
Taiwan May Delay Startup of its Fourth Nuclear Plant, BusinessWeek, by Yu-Huay Sun in Taipei January 14, 2011 (Bloomberg) — Taiwan Power Co. may delay the startup of the island’s fourth nuclear plant for the fifth time since the state-run utility proposed the project in 1980………..Taipower, the island’s monopoly grid operator, had postponed four times the start of the No. 4 plant, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Taipei, because of safety concerns and rising construction costs. The project costs about NT$280 billion ($9.65 billion), according to Huang. Taiwan May Delay Startup of its Fourth Nuclear Plant – BusinessWeek
1 THIS MONTH
Uranium mining in Namibia http://namibian.me/group/canwin2?commentId=4103091%3AComment%3A47391&xg_source=msg_com_group
Nuclear industry is moribund, despite 2 new reactors licensed in USA http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3428147.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3413882.htm Is the world facing a groundwater crisis?
of the week http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/
and another WEBSITE : - New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution http://www.necnp.org/
EVENT
February 18 Hindsdale, Chicago American Association of University Women - nuclear disaster preparedness H.OB.aauw.reservations@gmail.com.
March 2012 is “March Against Nuclear Madness” and Beyond Nuclear has created a new March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page.
March 8th & 9th – Cape Town, South Africa - The Global Conference: Nuclear Power For Africa? http://koebergalert.org/npfree/
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT and WATER – present state
That nuclear core is in direct contact with tons of water. And that containment, while not leaking down, is leaking out the sides. That contaminated water is going into every other building on site. And there is literally thousands and thousands of tons of water in other buildings. That water contains radioactive cesium, radioactive strontium, and it also contains nuclear fuel. There will be uranium in that water and plutonium in that water as well. We know for sure that that water is leaking into the ground water and into the Pacific Ocean. So while it is important to know that we are not going to release the nuclear core directly into the center of the earth, the problem is not over. And as a matter of fact, the problem will last for tens, perhaps even as long as 30 years because this contaminated water is in the basements of all the buildings on site. And not only does it contain cesium (that hangs around for 300 years), strontium (hangs around for 300 years), but it also contains plutonium and uranium and they have half lives of tens of thousands of years.
So the problem is, what do we do with all that water that is contaminated? It is already leaking into the groundwater. It is already leaking into the ocean. TEPCO is frantically catching it and putting it into tanks. But just today, TEPCO announced that they are running out of tank space on site, and eventually they are going to have to release those tanks into the Pacific Ocean. Now they will try to clean up some of the isotopes like cesium. But they have been unable to capture all the strontium. Strontium is a bone seeker that causes leukemia… http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-could-it-have-china-syndrome
NUCLEAR REACTORS - WATER USE : Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.”- Dep of Parliamentary Services research note, 4 December 2006, no. 12, 2006–07, ISSN 1449-8456 Water consumption figures:
Nuclear: 2.3 L/ kWh
Solar (PV): 0.110 L/ kWh
Wind: 0.004 L/ kWh
(American Wind Energy Association estimate & US DOE)
A typical 1000-megawatt pressurized-water reactor (with a cooling tower) takes in 20,000 gallons of river, lake or ocean water per minute for cooling, circulates it through a 50-mile maze of pipes, returns 5,000 gallons per minute to the same body of water, and releases the remainder to the atmosphere as vapor. A 1000-megawatt reactor without a cooling tower takes in even more water–as much as one-half million gallons per minute. The discharge water is contaminated with radioactive elements in amounts that are not precisely known or knowable, but are biologically active.
Some radioactive fission gases, stripped from the reactor cooling water, are contained in decay tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. Some gases leak into the power plant buildings’ interiors and are released during periodic “purges” and “ventings.” These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also soil and water. http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/routineradioactivereleases.htm
NUCLEAR REACTORS -IONISING RADIATION to GROUNDWATER In USA the nuclear industry has contaminated groundwater with radioactive tritium at nuclear power plant sites all across the country. Nuclear plants that have admitted leaking tritium into the groundwater include:
- Braidwood, Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities in Illinois;
- Indian Point and Fitzpatrick in New York;
- Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim in Massachusetts;
- Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania;
- Callaway in Missouri
- Catawba in South Carolina
- Oyster Creek in New Jersey
- Hatch in Georgia
- Palo Verde In Arizona
- Perry in Ohio
- Palisades in Michigan
- Point Beach in Wisconsin
- Salem in Delaware
- San Onofre in California
- Seabrook in New Hampshire
- Shearon Harris in North Carolina
- Watts Bar in Tennessee
- Wolf Creek in Kansas
- Connecticut Yankee in Connecticut
- Vermont Yankee in Vermont
URANIUM MINING – OPEN CUT or UNDERGROUND It is very difficult to find figures on the amounts of water used. All mining is water intensive, but uranium mining is the greatest guzzler Water is extensively used to suppress airborne dust levels, to try to reduce the radioactive clouds that would otherwise emanate constantly from the uranium tailings.IN SITU LEACHING – Uranium Mining Process in-situ leaching uses a hydrogen peroxide mixture to strip the uranium from the rock, which kills tissue and destroys cells in human and animal life. The addition of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate called oxygenates causes uranium and other radioactive substances and trace metals to be liberated from the rock into the groundwater.
.. judges have too often taken the stance that they are judges who know nothing of the mining industry and accept the data of corporations, claiming the corporations are in the know.
..the water taken from the extremely pristine Westwater Canyon Aquifer near Crownpoint for uranium mining and used for flushing out chemicals would not be replaced in our lifetimes.
It takes hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, to transform aquifer water back into a drinkable condition. Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Scientists Back Navajos’ Uranium Mining Fight: Tribe fears contamination of drinking water
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