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Penghu protests against plan to build nuclear waste storage site

Penghu protests against plan to build nuclear waste storage site Kaohsiung, Taiwan News By Elizabeth Hsu April 11 (CNA)

“…………………….protest in Fengshan in Kaohsiung County Saturday, voicing their strong opposition to the government’s plan to establish a nuclear waste storage site on a Penghu islet.

The protesters, headed by Penghu County Magistrate Wang Chien-fa, chanted anti-nuclear slogans at the rally held at a local temple and vowed to use whatever power they had to stop the plan from being carried out.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced in mid-March that it has listed Daren Township in Taitung County and Dongjiyu of Penghu County as the two suggested sites to store low-level radioactive waste.

The two counties are required to decide whether or not to accept the proposal by holding a referendum, according to the MOEA…………………………..Dongjiyu covers more than 140 hectares of land, 100 hectares of which have been listed by the Penghu County government as a “nature conservation zone” in an attempt to block the state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) from opening a nuclear storage facility on the islet.

Taipower, however, can still appropriate the other 40 hectares of land, Wang said, and he urged county residents to unite in opposition to the referendum………………………………“Since the government wants to develop tourism in Penghu, it should not act to set up a nuclear waste storage site there, ” he argued, vowing to fight to the death against the facility.

In addition to Wang, Yeh Chung-ju, chief of Wanan Township, and Legislator Wong Chung-Chun of the ruling Kuomintang also joined the protest.

Penghu protests against plan to build nuclear waste storage site – Taiwan News Online

April 13, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium