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Taiwanese activist demand local referendums on nuclear power

Activists push for local nuclear polls Taipei Times By Lee I-chia 11 Mar 14 Anti-nuclear supporters yesterday called for an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Control Act (核子反應器設施管制法) to allow local referendums for residents to decide whether nuclear plants should be built within 50km of their homes.

The amendment was suggested by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) at a public hearing to discuss evacuation zones for nuclear reactors hosted by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator You Meinu (尤美女) at the Legislative Yuan yesterday.

Lu said that according to Article 11 of the Act on Sites for the Establishment of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Facilities (低放射性廢棄物最終處置設施場址設置條例), sites for building nuclear waste final depositories must be approved by local residents through referendums.

And while nuclear power plants, with fuel rods in the reactors and highly radioactive nuclear waste stored in the spent-fuel pools, pose greater risks to nearby residents than low-level nuclear waste, the law should be amended so that people living within 50km of plant sites can decide on the construction, installation of fuel rods and operation of reactors through local referendums, she said.

DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said the issue of nuclear power safety includes three aspects — the reactors, disaster response measures and waste treatment………

Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association secretary-general Yang Mu-huo (楊木火) said he is worried that the northeastern monsoon wind will blow airborne substances from the plant to Shuangsi District (雙溪) in New Taipei City, where the catchment area of the Peishih River (北勢溪) — the water source of the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫) — is located.

“Spent nuclear fuel is like ‘shit’ from the reactors, and it is ridiculous that proposals for building reactors can gain approval, because it’s like building a house with no toilet to ‘deal with the shit,’” association member Yang Kuei-yin (楊貴英) said……

After complaining that residents were led to sites by the sea in previous nuclear disaster drills, which would be deadly if a complex disaster were to occur, like that in Fukushima, Japan, which included a major tsunami, she suggested that drills without warnings be held to see if the government is as well-prepared as it claims……http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/03/12/2003585462

March 12, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized