nuclear-news

Taiwan officials brush off worries about nuclear power plant flaws

Officials downplay nuclear plant flaws GLOSSING OVER FAULTS:A ‘Liberty Times’ report said a Taipower employee alleged that a report on the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant omitted the plant’s flaws Taipei Times By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter, with CNA 12 May 14, Officials yesterday sought to play down leaked test results indicating possible flaws in a containment structure of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, saying the problem will be fixed as part of ongoing tests and inspections.

Taiwan Power Co (Tai-power, 台電) chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said that finding and sealing leaks in the primary containment structure of the plant’s first reactor were normal steps in safety inspection procedures.

Hwang said similar leaks were discovered during inspections carried out on the nation’s first, second and third nuclear power plants, all of which are operated by the state-run Taipower.

The company is also responsible for the nearly completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).

Answering questions at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) said the council would strictly review Taipower’s safety reports on the plant to ensure the leakage rates of the reactor containment building are within safety standards.

Tsai’s remarks came in response to a report by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday which said it received an anonymous report from a person who identified himself as a worker at the plant saying that during the integrated leak rate test (ILRT) and structure integral test (SIT) conducted at the plant’s No. 1 reactor from Feb. 26 through March 5, leakage rates were found to be too high.

The company had reported them as normal.

Meanwhile, outside the committee meeting room, Green Citizen Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) criticized Taipower for claiming that the structure had no problems in its publicized safety test report on its Web site last month.

He alleged that the company only reported the good parts, but not flaws, which he said should be considered lying to the public…….http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/05/13/2003590217

May 13, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Taiwan