Decommissioning of 1st nuclear power plant facing major delay Focus Taiwan 2018/12/03 Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) By Elizabeth Hsu Taiwan is scheduled to begin decommissioning the first reactor of its oldest nuclear power plant in New Taipei on Dec. 5 after 40 years of service, but the deadline will not be met because of questions over how to deal with the plant’s nuclear waste.
The plan to decommission the two reactors in the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant included the construction of an outdoor storage yard at the plant site for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel.
The facility was built in 2013 but has yet to pass a New Taipei government inspection needed to obtain an operating permit, leaving the decommissioning process in limbo.
Hsu Tsao-hua (徐造華), a spokesman for Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), which runs Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants, said that if the storage facility cannot be used, the 816 fuel rods still in the Jinshan plant’s first reactor will have to stay where they are, and the plant’s safety equipment will have to be kept running.
Though the company has planned an indoor storage facility, it will take at least 10 years to build, which could delay the decommissioning process by at least a decade, Hsu warned………..
The thorny spent fuel storage and EIA review issues that will cause the Jinshan plant to miss the scheduled deadline come down to politics, and at least to some extent to the New Taipei government’s attitude on the issue.
New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) has declared that his city “can never be the permanent storage place for nuclear waste.”
His position has been at odds with the general stance of his party, which advocates the use of nuclear power as the country moves toward its ultimate goal of becoming a nuclear-free homeland. ……
“Nuclear waste represents pain in the heart of New Taipei (citizens),” said Hou, after the city has co-existed with two nuclear power plants for nearly four decades.
He also argued that nuclear waste should never be stored in a heavily populated city, and he urged the central government and Taipower to find a permanent storage location as soon as possible, a mission the utility has struggled with for years.
New Taipei is the most populous city in Taiwan with a population of 3.99 million as of November, government statistics show.
Even if the decommissioning of the Jinshan power plant were to start on time, it would still be a long process.
Under Taipower’s plan, it would involve eight years to shut the plant down, 12 years to dismantle it, three years to inspect its final condition and two years to restore the land. http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201812030020.aspx
December 4, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
decommission reactor, Taiwan |
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More than 3,600 people died from causes such as illness and suicide linked to the aftermath of the tragedy. OVER 180 TEENAGERS and children have been found to have thyroid cancer or suspected cancer following the Fukushima nuclear accident, new research has found.
A magnitude 9.0 quake – which struck under the Pacific Ocean on 11 March 2011 – and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage in Japan and took the lives of thousands of people……..
Cancer concerns
The accident at the nuclear power station in 2011 has also raised grave concerns about radioactive material released into the environment, including concerns over radiation-induced thyroid cancer.
Ultrasound screenings for thyroid cancer were subsequently conducted at the Fukushima Health Management Survey.
The observational study group included about 324,000 people aged 18 or younger at the time of the accident. It reports 
on two rounds of ultrasound screening during the first five years after the accident.
Thyroid cancer or suspected cancer was identified in 187 individuals within five years – 116 people in the first round among nearly 300,000 people screened and 71 in the second round among 271,000 screened.
The overwhelming common diagnosis in surgical cases was papillary thyroid cancer – 149 of 152 cases.
Worker death
In May, Japan announced for the first time that a worker at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant has died after being exposed to radiation, Japanese media reported.
The man aged in his 50s developed lung cancer after he was involved in emergency work at the plant between March and December 2011, following the devastating tsunami.
The Japanese government has paid out compensation in four previous cases where workers developed cancer following the disaster, according to Jiji news agency.
However, this was the first time the government has acknowledged a death related to radiation exposure at the plant, the Mainichi daily reported.
The paper added the man had worked mainly at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and other atomic power stations nationwide between 1980 and 2015.
Following the disaster, he was in charge of measuring radiation at the plant, and he is said to have worn a full-face mask and protective suit.
He developed lung cancer in February 2016. https://www.thejournal.ie/thyroid-cancer-fukushima-nuclear-4364292-Dec2018/
December 3, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Fukushima continuing, health |
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Bach: Olympics will show Fukushima’s recovery NHK World The president of the International Olympic Committee says the Tokyo Games will be a chance to show the world how far people affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami have recovered.
Thomas Bach spoke to reporters in Tokyo after being briefed about preparations for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
He said he cannot remember seeing a host city as prepared as Tokyo in all respects.
He also referred to his first trip to Fukushima City, where the baseball and softball events will be held. He met with local high school students during the trip………..https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181202_26/
December 3, 2018
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Japan, spinbuster |
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TEPCO center in Fukushima educates public on nuke disaster
By HIROSHI ISHIZUKA/ Staff Writer
November 29, 2018 TOMIOKA, Fukushima Prefecture–Tokyo Electric Power Co. will open a center here on Nov. 30 to educate the public about the 2011 nuclear disaster and the ongoing decommissioning process in a facility that formerly promoted nuclear power……http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201811290052.html
December 3, 2018
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Education, Japan |
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Holtec’s Singh plans to build $680 million factory to boost nuclear power in India, The Inquirer, by Joseph N. DiStefano, November 26, 2018 On a flower-decked table in Mumbai, India, last week, a Holtec International delegation led by Krishna P. Singh, the India native and triple-degree Penn grad, joined with a group headed by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, of Maharashtra, India’s second-most populous state, to sign a memo of understanding allowing Holtec to build a factory the company says will “give India autonomous capability” to make systems and parts for “the country’s planned expansion of nuclear generation.”……….
The company didn’t provide a proposed timetable or the cost of the plan. The Indian Express newspaper said Holtec “is keen to invest $680 million,” or 48 billion India rupees. “The objective is to build a facility on the lines of the capacity and capability of Holtec’s plant in the U.S.,” the Express added. Holtec has two newly-constructed factories on the Camden waterfront, and a former Westinghouse plant near Pittsburgh, among other U.S. facilities.
The agreement sounds “consistent with the US-India nuclear relationship in general,” said Michael Horowitz, political science professor at Penn. “The US-India civil nuclear agreement, signed in 2005, removed constraints on nuclear trade between the US and India” and encouraged people in both countries who hoped to build and supply nuclear power stations………
Singh said then that he hoped to install, in the Philadelphia area, “large capital equipment” to be used “for building nuclear plants in India to meet that nation’s exploding need for clean energy.” Singh is now prepared to go further, building heavy equipment in an India factory. ………
Singh, whose principal residence is in Hobe Sound, Fla., works with politicians in the United States as well as India. George Norcross, the insurance broker, Cooper Health chairman, and South Jersey Democratic leader, sits on Holtec’s board. And former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a Republican who recently announced that she was stepping down as ambassador to the United Nations, was a special guest at the 2014 dedication of the Singh Nanotechnology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. At that event, Haley told me that her family and Singh’s were friends, both tracing their roots to Gujarat.
Singh, a former co-owner with Norcross of The Inquirer, had previously given $50,000 to the Movement Fund, a group backing Haley’s political campaigns. Other donors included Trump, who gave $5,000, and Foster Friess, a former Chadds Ford resident and founder of the Brandywine growth-stock mutual funds, who gave $250,000. Friess was defeated in the Republican primary for governor of his adopted state of Wyoming in August.
Holtec has in the past gotten so close to government that the company got hurt. In 2010 the U.S. government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority assessed Holtec a $2 million “administrative fee” after a TVA employee pleaded guilty to failing to report $54,000 that he had collected from a Holtec subsidiary at the company’s direction, the industry publication Platt’s Nuclear Fuel reported at the time.
TVA also temporarily barred Holtec from competing for federal contracts, the first time the agency did that to a contractor since its founding in the 1930s. But two years later the authority awarded Holtec a 10-year, $298 million contract to continue supplying the agency with uranium-fuel casks, after the company agreed to implement a new ethics program. November 26, 2018 Joseph N. DiStefano | @PhillyJoeD | JoeD@phillynews.com http://www2.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/holtec-krishna-singh-nuclear-camden-maharashtraa-20181126.html
December 1, 2018
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India, politics international |
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Why Insisting on a North Korean Nuclear Declaration Up Front is a Big Mistake, 38 NORTH BY: SIEGFRIED S. HECKER, NOVEMBER 28, 2018, My reply to the frequently asked question if Kim Jong Un will ever give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons is, “I don’t know, and most likely he doesn’t know either. But it is time to find out.” However, insisting that Kim Jong Un give a full declaration of his nuclear program up front will not work. It will breed more suspicion instead of building the trust necessary for the North to denuclearize, a process that will extend beyond the 2020 US presidential election.
However, the time it will take to get to the endpoint should not obscure the progress that has already been made. Since this spring, Kim Jong Un has taken significant steps to reduce the nuclear threat North Korea poses. He has declared an end to nuclear testing and closed the nuclear test tunnels by setting off explosive charges inside the test tunnel complex. He also declared an end to testing intermediate- and long-range missiles including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). I consider these as two of the most important steps toward reducing the threat North Korea poses and as significant steps on the path to denuclearization.
Whereas the North still poses a nuclear threat to Japan and South Korea as well as US military forces and citizens in the region, the threat to the United States has been markedly reduced. In my opinion, North Korea needs more nuclear and ICBM tests to be able to reach the United States with a nuclear-tipped missile. Freezing the sophistication of the program is a necessary precursor to rolling it back in a step-by-step process.
At the September 2018 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, Kim also told President Moon that he would commit to dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear complex if the US takes commensurate measures—unspecified, at least in public. The Yongbyon complex is the heart of North Korea’s nuclear program. Shutting it down and dismantling it would be a very big deal because it would stop plutonium and tritium production (for hydrogen bombs) and significantly disrupt highly enriched uranium production.
Yet, Kim’s actions have been widely dismissed as insignificant or insincere by both the left and the right of the American political spectrum. In many of these quarters, the sincerity of Kim’s denuclearization promise is judged by whether or not he is willing to provide a full and complete declaration and to agree on adequate verification measures. But Kim’s willingness to provide a full declaration at this early stage tells us little about his willingness to denuclearize. Moreover, I maintain that insisting on this approach is a dead end, certainly as long as Washington continues to apply “maximum pressure” instead of moving to implement the steps on normalizing relations that President Trump agreed to in the June Singapore statement.
A full declaration is a dead end because it is tantamount to surrender, and Kim has not surrendered, nor will he. A complete account of North Korea’s nuclear weapons, materials, and facilities would, in Kim’s view, likely be far too risky in that it would essentially provide a targeting list for US military planners and seal the inevitable end of the nuclear program and possibly his regime.
Furthermore, a declaration must be accompanied by a robust verification protocol. That, in turn, must allow inspections and a full accounting of all past activities such as production and procurement records as well as export activities. And, once all these activities are complete, an inspection protocol must provide assurances that activities that could support a weapons program are not being reconstituted. This would be a contentious and drawn-out affair.
It is inconceivable that the North would declare all of its nuclear weapons, their location, and allow inspections of the weapons or of their disassembly up front. But in addition to the weapons themselves, a nuclear weapon program consists of three interlocking elements: 1) the nuclear bomb fuel, which depending on the type of bomb includes plutonium, highly enriched uranium (HEU), and forms of heavy hydrogen—deuterium and tritium; 2) weaponization—that is, designing, building and testing weapons, and; 3) delivery systems, which in the case of North Korea appear to be missiles, although airplane or ship delivery cannot be ruled out. Each of these elements involves dozens of sites, hundreds of buildings, and several thousand people.
Let me give an example of what is involved just for verification of plutonium inventories and means of production. ………..
It should be apparent that the declaration plus commensurate verification of the amount of plutonium North Korea possesses, which I believe is only between 20 and 40 kilograms, will be an enormous job. I cannot see it being accomplished in the current adversarial environment and certainly not within the timeframe that has been specified by the US government.
A similar sequence of declarations, inspections, and verification measures would have to be developed for the other bomb fuels, namely HEU and the hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium. Verification of HEU inventories and means of production will be particularly contentious because very little is known about the centrifuge facility at the Yongbyon site. As far as we know, my Stanford colleagues and I are the only foreigners to have seen that facility, and then only in a hurried walk-through in 2010. In addition, there exists at least one other covert centrifuge site.
The situation is even more problematic for the second element of the North’s nuclear program, that of weaponization, which includes bomb design, production, and testing because we know nothing about these activities or where they are performed. Although we have some information regarding the nuclear test site at which six nuclear tests were conducted, we do not know if there are other tunnel complexes that have been prepared for testing.
The third element includes all of the North’s missiles and its production, storage and launch sites and complexes. These will also represent a major challenge for complete and correct declarations, inspections and verification.
Once all of the elements have been declared and the dismantling begins, then the focus will have to change to verifying the dismantlement and assessing the potential reversibility of these actions—a challenge that is not only difficult, but one that must be ongoing. ………
At this time, the level of trust between Pyongyang and Washington required for North Korea to agree to a full, verifiable declaration up front does not exist. Hence, my colleagues Robert Carlin and Elliot Serbin and I have suggested a different approach. Negotiations should begin with an agreed end state: North Korea without nuclear weapons or a nuclear weapon program. Civilian nuclear and space programs would remain open for negotiation and possible cooperation. But all facilities and activities that have direct nuclear weapons applicability must eventually be eliminated.
Rather than insisting on a full declaration up front, the two sides should first agree to have the North take significant steps that reduce the nuclear threat it poses in return for commensurate movements toward normalization—the details of which would have to be worked out during negotiations. …………
The Trump team claims progress is being made but insists on maintaining maximum pressure. The North’s Foreign Ministry has pointed outthat the “improvement of relations and sanctions are incompatible.” Also, most US North Korea watchers are either wedded to old think that you can’t negotiate with Pyongyang or they are determined to prove President Trump’s claims on North Korea wrong.
With nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula dramatically reduced, it is time to find out if Kim’s drive to improve the economy will eventually lead to denuclearization. He may determine that his nuclear arsenal poses a significant hindrance to economic development that outweighs the putative benefits it confers. Washington and Seoul should work together to encourage rather than inhibit this potential shift. https://www.38north.org/2018/11/shecker112818/
December 1, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
North Korea, politics international |
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Reuters 29th Nov 2018 , The French government has informed Japan that it plans to freeze a next
generation fast-breeder nuclear reactor project, the Nikkei business daily
reported on Thursday. Japan, which has been cooperating with Paris on the
fast-breeder development in France, has invested about 20 billion yen
($176.27 million) in the project, the report added. The French government
will halt research into the Astrid (Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor
for Industrial Demonstration) project in 2019, with no plans to allocate a
budget from 2020 onwards, the report said, without citing sources.
https://www.reuters.com/article/france-nuclearpower-astrid/update-1-france-to-freeze-fast-breeder-nuclear-reactor-project-nikkei-idUSL4N1Y41OU?rpc=401&
December 1, 2018
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France, Japan, technology |
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China, vying with U.S. in Latin America, eyes Argentina nuclear deal, Cassandra Garrison, Matt Spetalnick, BUENOS AIRES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) 29 Nov 18 – Argentina and China are aiming to close a deal within days for the construction of the South American nation’s fourth nuclear power plant, a multi-billion dollar project that would cement Beijing’s deepening influence in a key regional U.S. ally.
Argentina hopes to announce an agreement on the Chinese-financed construction of the Atucha III nuclear power plant during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit on Sunday following the summit of leaders of G20 industrialized nations in Buenos Aires, Juan Pablo Tripodi, head of Argentina’s national investment agency, told Reuters in an interview.
The potential deal, reportedly worth up to $8 billion, is emblematic of China’s strengthening of economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Argentina. It is part of a wider push by Beijing into Latin America that has alarmed the United States, which views the region as its backyard and is suspicious of China’s motives.
………. The negotiations on Chinese financing of the Atucha III nuclear power plant are a key cause for concern for the U.S. government, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters.
Atucha III would be one of the biggest projects financed by China in Argentina, according to the Reuters review of Chinese state funding data…….. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-china-insight/china-vying-with-u-s-in-latin-america-eyes-argentina-nuclear-deal-idUSKCN1NX0FE
December 1, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
China, marketing, SOUTH AMERICA, USA |
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Nikkei Asian Review 30th Nov 2018 The French government has informed Japan it will halt joint development of
advanced nuclear reactors, Nikkei has learned, dealing a blow to the fuel
cycle policy underpinning much of the East Asian country’s energy plans.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/France-halts-joint-nuclear-project-in-blow-to-Japan-s-fuel-cycle
December 1, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
France, Japan, politics international |
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How climate change 
, BBC News , 26 November 2018
November 27, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
ASIA, climate change, health |
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New scare as quake hits nuclear disaster city By JONATHAN BUCKSA powerful earthquake has struck the Japanese nuclear disaster zone of Fukushima.
Daily Mail 25th Nov 2018 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6425835/New-scare-quake-hits-nuclear-disaster-city.html
Measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, the quake, which hit the Japanese city at about 11.30pm local time on Friday is not believed to have caused major damage.
One Twitter user said it could be felt as far away as the country’s capital 150 miles to the south-west: ‘It was an earthquake? I felt that too! I’m staying in Tokyo and I just felt my whole Airbnb shake!’
Another said he felt a ‘long rattling in Yokohama’ – which is even further away from the Fukushima region. Despite the earthquake, no tsunami warning had been issued last night.
More than 100,000 people were displaced from the city in 2011 after a 15-metre tsunami sparked by a major earthquake led to a massive explosion in a nuclear plant.
About 18,000 people were killed by the tsunami while the explosion was said to have been the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
November 25, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Japan, safety |
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Reuters 22nd Nov 2018 , Vietnam’s National Assembly voted on Tuesday to abandon plans to build
two multi-billion-dollar nuclear power plants with Russia and Japan, after
officials cited lower demand forecasts, rising costs and safety concerns.
The estimated investment needed for the projects had doubled since 2009 to
nearly 400 trillion dong ($18 billion), state media Tien Phong quoted Le
Hong Tinh, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s science, technology
and environment commission, as saying earlier this month.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-politics-nuclearpower-idUSKBN13H0VO
November 25, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, Vietnam |
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IOC chief ‘impressed’ at Fukushima recovery progress https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sport/ioc-chief–impressed–at-fukushima-recovery-progress-10965390, 25 Nov 18
Olympics chief Thomas Bach said Saturday he was impressed at the “great progress” made in the reconstruction of Fukushima, in a visit to the region devastated by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster
TOKYO: Olympics chief Thomas Bach said Saturday (Nov 24) he was impressed at the “great progress” made in the reconstruction of Fukushima, in a visit to the region devastated by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Amid hopes that hosting events will help revive the region, International Olympic Committee President Bach visited a stadium set to hold baseball and softball matches during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
During his visit, he told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he was “very much impressed” by the “great progress”.
“The Fukushima region is the suitable place to show the power of the Olympics, the power of sports,” Abe said, reiterating his hopes of showing the world the recovery of Fukushima and other disaster-hit areas during the sporting event, for which Tokyo is the designated host city.
Fukushima has also been chosen as the starting point for the Olympics torch relay.
The passing of the flame is scheduled to start on March 26, 2020, and the torch will head south to the subtropical island of Okinawa – the starting point for the 1964 Tokyo Games relay – before returning north and arriving in the Japanese capital on Jul 10.
The March 2011 tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea quake, killed around 18,000 people and swamped the Fukushima nuclear plant, sending its reactors into meltdown and leading to the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Tens of thousands of people evacuated their homes. Authorities have been working to rebuild the region, about 240 kilometres north of Tokyo, although areas near the crippled plant remain uninhabitable because of radiation dangers.
November 25, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
Japan, spinbuster |
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Anti-nuclear group undeterred by passing of pro-nuclear referendum http://m.focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201811250029.aspx By Wu Hsin-yun, Ku Chuan and Evelyn Kao Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Taiwanese on Saturday voted against the government’s policy of phasing-out nuclear power by 2025, prompting an environmental group opposed to nuclear power to reaffirm its support for the phasing out of all nuclear power plants.
The anti-nuclear group National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform said in a statement issued Sunday that it is wrong to return to nuclear power and promised to continue to campaign for an end to the use of nuclear power in Taiwan.
The statement came after Taiwanese voted in 10 referendums alongside Saturday’s local government elections, including one that asked: “Do you agree with abolishing the first paragraph of Article 95 of the Electricity Act, which means abolishing the provision that ‘all nuclear-energy-based power-generating facilities shall cease to operate by 2025’?”
As a result, 5,895,560 votes were cast in favor of repealing the nuclear phase-out, and 4,014,215 against the initiative, according to the Central Election Commission.
For a referendum to pass, the number of voters in favor of a proposition must exceed the number who vote against it, and reach a minimum of 4,939,267 votes, or one quarter of the 19,757,067 voters eligible to cast votes in the referendums.
Commenting on the referendum result, the anti-nuclear group said that not all those who voted in favor of stopping the nuclear phase-out are unconditional supporters of nuclear power, but rather some lack confidence in Taiwan’s energy transformation.
The result does not mean those who voted in favor of repealing the nuclear phase-out do not support the government’s nuclear-free, carbon reduction and renewable energy policy, the group said.
Currently, the decommissioning of the No. 1 and No. 2 nuclear power plants in New Taipei is underway and cannot be reversed according to the law, the group said.
The result of the referendum is most likely to impact the No. 3 nuclear plant in Pingtung and possibly postpone its decommissioning, it added.
However, as the No. 3 nuclear plant is near the active Hengchun fault line, the group said the geological environment is not suitable for extending the operational life of the nuclear plant to be or installing new units at the plant.
Taiwan can not withstand a nuclear disaster and the passage of the referendum does nothing to guarantee safety, the group noted.
The group stressed Taiwan is on the path to a nuclear-free homeland and carbon reduction and should not return to nuclear power and coal-fired plants.
Under the Referendum Act, a law repealed in a referendum has to be rescinded three days after the result is officially announced by the Central Election Commission, Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said Sunday.
This means the first paragraph of Article 95 of the Electricity Act will be removed.
However, “the government’s goal of making Taiwan a nuclear-free homeland by 2025 remains unchanged,” Kolas said, adding that in practice it may not be possible to postpone the phase-out of the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 nuclear plants.
According to the law, applications for postponement are required to be submitted 5-10 years before the scheduled retirement dates of nuclear plants, Kolas said, adding that any such applications cannot be made within the statutory time period.
As to whether the currently-mothballed No. 4 nuclear power plant will start commercial operations, Kolas said it is estimated any such reversal would take 6-7 years and cost NT$68.8 billion (US$2.22 billion).
Even if the nuclear plant is activated in 2019, it would not be ready to begin commercial operations in 2025, when the government’s goal of a nuclear-free homeland will be achieved, at which point Taiwan will have no need for nuclear power, she noted.
November 25, 2018
Posted by Christina Macpherson |
politics, Taiwan |
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In this file photo dated Aug. 27, 2018, senior officials of the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s major political party, hold a press conference in Taipei to state their opposition to lifting a ban on food imports from Fukushima and four other Japanese prefectures. The banners read “oppose nuclear food.” (Mainichi/Shizuya Fukuoka)
TAIPEI (Kyodo) — A referendum on maintaining a ban on food products from five Japanese prefectures, imposed after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, saw the restrictions kept in place on Saturday, dealing a major blow to the government of President Tsai Ing-wen and the island’s relations with Japan.
For a referendum to deliver a decisive result in Taiwan, the “yes” vote must account for more than 25 percent of the electorate, or about 4.95 million voters.
The Central Election Commission website showed that more than 15 million of the 19.76 million eligible voters cast their ballots. More than 6 million voters approved the initiative, well over the 25 percent required.
The referendum is legally binding and government agencies must take necessary action.
The result dealt a significant blow to the Democratic Progressive Party government which proposed easing the ban after coming to power in May 2016, but backed away when the main opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) questioned the new government’s ability to ensure the safety of the imported products.
Government officials responsible for the policy declined to comment on Sunday, only saying it is a matter for President Tsai to decide.
Tsai announced her resignation as DPP leader on Saturday following her party’s disastrous defeat in key mayoral elections that day, races viewed as indicators of voter sentiment ahead of the next presidential and island-wide legislative elections in 2020.
Some worry that the result of the referendum on Japanese food imports will have a negative impact on the island’s relations with Japan. Taiwan’s representative to Japan, Frank Hsieh, said the initiative was a KMT scheme aimed at undermining bilateral relations between Taiwan and Japan at a time when the two are seeking closer ties as a way of protecting themselves from an increasingly belligerent China.
He also warned that if the referendum is successful, Taiwan would pay “a grave price” that will affect all its people.
China is the only other country still restricting comprehensive imports from Fukushima Prefecture and nearby Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi, and Chiba prefectures.
The referendum, initiated by the KMT, was one of 10 initiatives put to a vote in conjunction with Saturday’s island-wide local elections.
Voters approved two other referendums initiated by the KMT. One sought to stop the construction of new coal-fired power plants or the expansion of existing ones, and the other asked voters if they wanted to phase out thermal power plants.
Beijing will be happy about the result of a referendum on the name the island uses when competing at international sports events. It had sought to change the name used to participate in future international events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan.”
The CEC website showed that more than 8.9 million cast their ballots. About 3 million of the eligible voters approved the initiative, less the 25 percent needed for the referendum to count.
The referendum was highly unpopular among athletes, who were worried that a successful outcome would hamper their right to compete, as the International Olympic Committee resolved in May that it would stand by a 1981 agreement that Taiwanese athletes must compete as “Chinese Taipei.”
The IOC had also warned that Taiwan would risk having its recognition suspended or cancelled if the referendum was successful.
China was annoyed by the proposal and pressured the East Asian Olympic Committee to revoke Taichung’s plan to host the 2019 East Asian Youth Games.
Beijing said that if the referendum was successful, it would not sit idly by and would “definitely respond,” without elaborating.
There were also five referendums relating to same-sex marriage — three initiated by opponents of same-sex marriage and two by supporters.
The CEC website showed that all three of the anti-same sex marriage initiatives passed, while both the pro-same sex marriage referenda failed.
The result also puts the Tsai government in an awkward position as Taiwan’s highest court, the Council of Grand Justices, ruled 18 months ago that the government must, within two years, amend the Civil Code or enact a special law legalizing gay marriage.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181125/p2g/00m/0in/010000c?fbclid=IwAR0ZlvV-JO_PHes83Gn8mutF6jKkFBzyx6iAYPJPw_2FA-tSqx3W71k9y2c
November 25, 2018
Posted by dunrenard |
Taiwan | Contaminated Food, Fukushima Food Ban, Fukushima Radiation |
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nuclear-news 