Taiwan. Nuclear power plant referendum set to take place in August
Nuclear power plant referendum set to take place in August, Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) A national referendum on activating the long-mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei will be held on Aug. 28, after the Central Election Commission (CEC) confirmed the date that was already set in stone in the Referendum Act.
The Referendum Act stipulates that national referendums can only be held once every two years starting from 2021 and only on the fourth Saturday of August during those years.
The CEC said in a statement Friday that polling stations will be open on Aug. 28 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m………
Critics….. have warned of the safety hazards of the plant in particular and nuclear power in general, citing the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan. ……… https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202101220020
Nuclear corruption – this time it’s Taiwan
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Police on Friday last week arrested Kuo, 52, who allegedly led the operation, and questioned more than 10 people in connection with the case, including Kuo’s two deputies, both surnamed Lee (李), who were released after posting bail on Tuesday, the office said. The investigation found that Kuo’s operation, based in New Taipei City’s Jinshan District (金山), rigged bids, as well as extorted, coerced and assaulted other contractors, to win about NT$150 million (US$5.21 million at the current exchange rate) in bids related to two nuclear power plants, prosecutors said. Kuo, his two deputies and two colluding contractors were listed as suspects in the case, and could be charged with assault, attempted murder, intimidation and extortion, as well as breaches of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法). Prosecutors said evidence showed that Kuo from 2016 to last year won seven projects related to the decommissioning of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) and one project in 2017 at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里). Taipower Power Co (Taipower), which was responsible for the bidding process, is reported to have planned NT$150 billion in expenditures over 25 years to decommission the Jinshan plant. While most of the work requires advanced engineering skills, NT$30 billion has been budgeted for maintenance, material procurement, warehouse construction and other parts of the project, attracting many businesses and contractors. The investigation found that while Kuo and his friends pooled money to register a construction company, he did not have a business license or permits for the projects, but illegally borrowed a license and other documents from colluding contractors. Kuo initially persuaded legitimate contractors to join his bids by offering them a percentage of the project money, but when they refused to cooperate, he instructed his deputies and subordinates to beat them up and scare them off. In March last year, a contractor surnamed Hsu (許), who had won the bid on a landscaping project that Kuo had wanted, was invited to a dinner meeting, at which Kuo’s deputies allegedly stabbed him, leaving him with serious injuries, prosecutors said. An investigation led to Kuo and his deputies being charged with assault and attempted murder, they said. “Taipower should also be held liable for the gangsters’ bid-rigging and other illegal profiteering in this and related cases worth billions of dollars, as company officials failed in their due diligence and permitted gangsters to intimidate and use violence to secure the bids on these projects,” one Shilin prosecutor said. |
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Taiwanese protest plan to dump water from Japan nuclear plant into sea
Taiwanese protest plan to dump water from Japan nuclear plant into sea,Focus Taiwan 11/19/2020 Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) A group of Taiwanese staged a protest in Taipei on Thursday against a plan by the Japanese government to release more than a million tonnes of water into the ocean from the disabled Fukushima nuclear power plant, starting in 2022.
At the rally in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), some 20 supporters of the “Nuclear Go Zero” movement called on the ministry to push back, via diplomatic channels, against the Japanese government’s controversial plan. Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅), a lawyer affiliated with the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association in Taiwan, said at the rally that releasing “contaminated” water from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power would pose a risk to humans who might eat the many marine species that migrate in the warm current between Taiwan and Japan. Another protester, Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳), deputy CEO of the environmental organization Citizen of the Earth, said contamination of the marine ecology could last for 30-40 years, if the water is dumped into the ocean……. At a regular press briefing Thursday, MOFA spokesperson Joanne Ou (歐江安) said the Japanese government has not yet made a final decision on the issue, and MOFA will seek clarification. She said the protesters have submitted a letter that has been passed on to the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, which will relay their concerns to the Japanese government via Taiwan’s representative office in Tokyo. “MOFA is also concerned about the issue, as the maritime environment, ecological conservation, and health of our citizens may be at risk,” Ou said. (By Chang Hsiung-feng and Emerson Lim) Enditem/pc https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202011190015 |
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Taiwan furthers its departure from nuclear power, with more unused fuel rods sent back to USA
More fuel rods at fourth nuclear power plant sent back to U.S. https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202010210027
Five or six trucks carrying an unknown number of unused fuel rods from the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant arrived at Keelung Port in the early hours and were then loaded into several containers that departed for the U.S. at around noon.
However, the authorities in charge did not disclose whether this is the last batch of fuel rods being sent back to America.
A Legislative Yuan resolution that was passed in 2018 demands that state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) must send back all 1,744 unused fuel rods from the plant to America by the end of this year.
Taipower has said the task will cost NT$700 million (US$24.1 million).
In July 2018, the first batch of 160 rods was transported back to its U.S. supplier — Global Nuclear Fuel Americas, LLC — which was followed by three more similar operations as of August 2019, the Taipei-based China Times reported on Tuesday.
On Oct. 15, Atomic Energy Council Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) said 240 fuel rods at the power plant were still waiting to be transported to the U.S. — a delay caused by travel restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, disposing of the 1,744 fuel rods from the plant could save about NT$100 million in maintenance costs per year.
The government has spent NT$283.8 billion on building the plant in New Taipei’s Gongliao District, but it has been mothballed since 2014 due to public concern over the use of nuclear power.
Taiwan environmentalists mark Chernobyl nuclear disaster anniversary, call for renewables not nuclear
Anniversary of Chernobyl sees anti-nuclear appeals. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2020/04/28/2003735431
Two environmental groups issued online statements over the weekend to mark the 34th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on Sunday and call for the abolition of nuclear power in Taiwan.
The government should bolster safety mechanisms at the nation’s nuclear power plants, safely handle nuclear waste and educate the public on the risks of nuclear energy ahead of a referendum next year on whether to resume work on the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, which was caused by an explosion at the plant’s No. 4 reactor during maintenance, resulted in several thousand deaths, and the area around the plant would remain uninhabitable long into the future, it said.
The anniversary of the 1986 disaster should highlight the dangers of using nuclear power, it added.
Taiwan’s three operating nuclear power plants have been in operation for nearly 40 years, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union wrote on Facebook on Sunday.
“Can the plants still safely operate, or should they be decommissioned? Policies on the plants are a major compromise between power needs and hopes for decommissioning,” it said.
Some people are concerned that the plants could be contaminating the air or the water supply, it added.
Radioactive waste from the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan has still not been completely cleaned up, showing that coping with nuclear disasters is beyond human capability, the union said.
The dangers of nuclear power — as evidenced by the atomic bombs used in World War II, and the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters — should not be overlooked in favor of the economy’s demand for power, it said.
The government should focus its efforts on energy transformation and push for the development of renewable energy, it added.
There is a pressing need to combat climate change, but nuclear power is not a viable alternative, the union said.
“There is a cheaper, faster and safer option to reduce carbon emissions, and that is for the government to put all of its effort into energy efficiency and the development of sustainable energy,” it said.
Taiwan searches for a solution to its nuclear waste problem
The U.S. government has de-funded its deep geological repository at Yucca Mountain, and most nations have yet to begin development of similar facilities. Finland is the closest to successfully completing deep geological repository. Its Onkalo site is now in the final approval stage, and should begin accepting nuclear waste early in this decade.
Executives from U.S. startup Deep Isolation visited Taiwan last fall with an innovative solution that could serve as either interim or permanent storage. Deploying technologies developed in the oil and gas industry, it would use directional drilling approximately 1 kilometer deep and then another kilometer horizontally. The spent fuel would then be lowered down the borehole inside nickel-chromium-molybdenum alloy canisters.
Developed by University of California at Berkeley physicist Richard Muller, the solution is based on proven technologies. The canisters can even be retrieved. The company has yet to utilize the technology in an actual case, though, and Taipower may be wary of being first in the world to implement it.
In the meantime, Taiwan is continuing a search for its own site for a deep geological depository. The Atomic Energy Council hopes to have a site ready by 2055.
For now, however, the focus is on developing interim solutions for the spent fuel in the cooling pools. Both New Taipei City and Taipower are optimistic that solutions can be found.
“The election is over and the noise is quieting down, so maybe now will be a better time to solve the issue,” says Edward H.C. Chang (張學植), director of Tai-power’s Department of Nuclear Backend Management.
Taiwan govt to give $2.55 billion to Orchid Island in nuclear waste compensation
Orchid Island to get NT$2.55 billion in nuclear waste compensation, Focus Taiwan, (By Flor Wang, Elaine Hou, Lu Tai-cheng Taipei, Nov. 22 (CNA) The government will pay NT$2.55 billion (US$83.6 million) to Orchid Island residents to compensate them for infringing on their rights by maintaining a nuclear waste storage facility there over the past five decades, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced Friday.
Tsai announced the compensation at a news conference in Taitung and hailed the move as reflecting the goal of the current government to pursue transitional justice for indigenous tribes based on fact-finding efforts.
“Evidence we collected showed that the then-government decided to build a nuke waste storage in reserved lands for the Yami people on Orchid Island without their previous knowledge or agreement,” Tsai said.
She described the payment as a step toward compensating Orchid Island and its people, but said there was still a lot to do to “correct our past errors.”
The decision to position the facility to handle low- and medium-level nuclear waste from Taiwan’s nuclear power plants on Orchid Island was made in 1974 and it began receiving shipments in 1982.
The process has long been recognized as deceptive, with a report titled “Orchid Island: Taiwan’s Nuclear Dumpsite” in the newsletter Nuclear Monitor in 1993 detailing how residents were led to believe a cannery was being built.
The Executive Yuan brought up historical documents showing that former President Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Premier Sun Yun-suan (孫運璿) went ahead with the decision to build the facility without informing the local Yami people in advance.
Since residents realized in the late 1980s what was actually on the site, they have feared it would contaminate the food chain and force them off the island and also led protests against nuclear power……http://m.focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201911220023.aspx
Drones a threat to nuclear facilities
Korea Times 6th Oct 2019, National infrastructure sites are vulnerable to possible drone strikes, with a growing number of intrusions at nuclear power plants here using the small unmanned aircraft being confirmed, according to a lawmaker, Sunday.
Rep. Lee Sang-min of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said the
Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) reported 13 cases of the
illegal flying of drones near the power plants from 2015 to 19. Ten of the
13 cases occurred just in 2019 ― and six took place near the Kori Nuclear
Power Plant in northern Busan in August.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/tech/2019/10/133_276717.html
Bulletin of Atomic scientists 4th Oct 2019, A terrorist attack by swarming drones may seem farfetched, and it is important not to engage in hyperbole. However, scenarios similar to this are playing out around the world, often in a hostile manner. Once again, the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia should give pause for concern. At least 18 drones and seven cruise missiles were reportedly used to break through national defenses and strike the designated targets in Abqaiq and Khurais.
The use of these systems in swarms makes tactical sense, as it increases
the likelihood of a successful strike, by overwhelming and saturating
defenses. Drones may also be used to help identify targets, allowing
secondary systems to strike with precision. In a different, but not
unfamiliar manner, swarms have been used for saturation, spotting, and
strike purposes by both criminal gangs and terrorists.
https://thebulletin.org/2019/10/the-dark-side-of-our-drone-future/
Taiwan about to close second nuclear reactor
Taiwan to shut down 2nd nuclear reactor within days, July 12, 2019 (Mainichi Japan) TAIPEI (Kyodo) — Taiwan’s Atomic Energy Council agreed on Friday to shut down a second nuclear reactor on Monday when its 40-year operating license expires, moving the island a step closer to nuclear-free status.
The decommissioning of the No. 2 reactor of the No. 1 nuclear power plant in Shimen, New Taipei City, follows that of the plant’s No. 1 reactor, closed for the same reason last December.
Taiwan still has two other nuclear power plants, each with two reactors.
In a statement, the council said it issued the decommission license Friday to Taiwan Power Co., the builder and operator of the facility, after the state-owned power utility submitted relevant documents.
Li Chi-ssu, deputy director of the council’s Department of Nuclear Regulation, told Kyodo News that with the license, the company can now begin the lengthy process of discharging and storing spent fuel rods.
It originally planned to store them at an outdoor dry storage facility, but cannot do so due to the opposition of the New Taipei City government……….
The operating licenses of the two reactors at the No. 2 nuclear power plant in Wanli, New Taipei City, will expire in December 2021 and March 2023, and those of the other two reactors at the No. 3 facility in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, in July 2024 and May 2025. https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190712/p2g/00m/0in/095000c
No to nuclear power: Taiwan’s president reaffirms anti-nuclear stance

Tsai said at a news conference that her administration was taking efforts to promote renewable energy and reduce the need for nuclear power.
“In the past, people often said we won’t have electricity without nuclear power, or that Taiwan does not have the conditions to develop renewable energy, or even that renewable and green energy are too expensive,” Tsai said. “But after the efforts we have made since taking office, such talk has dissipated.”
She also vowed to reach her targets in reducing emissions from thermal power plants and to retire current nuclear power plants, though without giving any timeline.
“We will carry on with the targets to eliminate nuclear power and reduce carbon,” Tsai said. “We will reach the targets and Taiwan will not be short of electricity” for the island’s 23 million people.
She then joined hundreds of people who marched through the streets of Taipei, the capital, beginning at the Presidential Office Building in the city’s center, in a show of opposition to nuclear power.
Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has long opposed the nuclear industry, particularly construction of the high-tech island’s fourth nuclear plant on the tip of the island, north of Taipei. Nuclear power now accounts for about 15% of Taiwan’s electricity generation, according to the World Nuclear Association.
The main opposition Nationalist Party has promoted nuclear power as one of the best ways to provide reliable energy to the island. The issue has in the past sparked occasionally violent clashes between proponents and supporters.
$70 billion price tag for restarting Taiwan’s No. 4 nuclear plant project , and that’s not counting wastes costs
Restarting No. 4 nuclear plant project could cost NT$70 billion: AEC Focus Taiwan, 2019/03/14 Taipei, March 14 (CNA) It could cost an estimated NT$60-70 billion (US$1.94-2.26 billion) and take at least 10 years to revive the mothballed fourth nuclear power plant at Longmen in New Taipei’s Gongliao District, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) said Thursday.
However, Hsieh said that a decision to search for a final disposal repository for radioactive waste has not been reached and he declined to answer the question of when the location of a final repository can be determined, because no cities or counties in the country are willing to have such a facility in their localities.
Hsieh was responding to a legislator’s questioning about restarting the nuclear plant project during a legislative hearing, as the topic has sparked considerable debate after pro-nuclear energy activists recently proposed a referendum on the issue……..
(By Liu Lee-jung and Evelyn Kao) http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201903140013.aspx
Taiwan conference urges phasing out of nuclear power
Advocates of nuclear power have gained more momentum after most people voted in favor of abolishing the “nuclear-free homeland by 2025” policy in a referendum on Nov. 24 last year.
Attendees — including Democratic Progressive Party Legislator-at-large Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) and New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) — first prayed for victims of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster on March 11, 2011.
Phasing out nuclear power is not only a security concern, but would also curb nuclear waste, said Lee, Taiwan’s first Nobel laureate in chemistry in 1986, adding that the older generation should not leave nuclear waste to future generations for their own convenience.
The nation needs to develop small-scale renewable energy generation systems to curb fossil fuel pollution and global warming, he said.
The global community might start tracking companies’ carbon footprints in two or three years, so local firms should start cutting their use of fossil fuels, he said, reiterating his suggestion that the government implement a carbon tax to curtail emissions.
The TEPU is working on two referendum proposals, including one recommending that the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant compound be converted into a site for renewable power research and development, union founding chairman Shih Shin-min (施信民) said.
The second proposal asks: “Do you agree that any construction or extended operation plans for nuclear power plants can only begin after they are approved by local referendum voters within the 50km-radius of the plants?”
The proposals are aimed at countering two referendum proposals by nuclear power advocates that seek to continue construction of the mothballed plant and to extend the permits of three operational nuclear power plants, Shih said.
The annual parade against nuclear power is scheduled for April 27, which would focus on renewable power development, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said.
Separately, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on Facebook that the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster pushed Taiwanese to seriously consider energy issues and the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration to mothball the plant.
While people hold varied views about when the nuclear-free homeland policy should be achieved, it is the nation’s common goal to ensure that the next generation has safe power generation, Tsai wrote.
Taiwan to abolish nuclear power in 2025
Nuclear power to be abolished in 2025 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/02/01/2003709035
REFERENDUM No. 7:The government is to bar capacity expansions at coal-fired power plants and abide by local governments’ tightened environmental regulations
Although Taiwanese in November last year voted against the government’s 2025 deadline to abolish nuclear power, the energy source would still be completely removed from the nation’s energy mix after that year due to inevitable constraints, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told a news conference in Taipei.
Resistance from local governments, difficulty in procuring replacement parts for aging reactors, finding storage space for spent fuel rods and the inability to complete the stay-of-decommissioning application process have all but ruled out the use of nuclear power beyond 2025, Shen said.
Other remedies, such as reactivating decommissioned nuclear plants, are also unlikely due to the lengthy budget approval process at the legislature, Shen said, adding that General Electric Co is no longer able to provide technical support for reactors that were installed decades ago.
As for referendum No. 7, which called for the reduction of thermal power by at least 1 percent per year on average, Shen said that the goal is achievable this year and next year.
Achieving the goal would not increase the risk of energy shortages and 15 percent reserved power generation capacity could be maintained, he said.
However, energy shortages could happen in 2021 due to an anticipated rise in consumption, Shen said.
Resistance from local governments, difficulty in procuring replacement parts for aging reactors, finding storage space for spent fuel rods and the inability to complete the stay-of-decommissioning application process have all but ruled out the use of nuclear power beyond 2025, Shen said.
Other remedies, such as reactivating decommissioned nuclear plants, are also unlikely due to the lengthy budget approval process at the legislature, Shen said, adding that General Electric Co is no longer able to provide technical support for reactors that were installed decades ago.
As for referendum No. 7, which called for the reduction of thermal power by at least 1 percent per year on average, Shen said that the goal is achievable this year and next year.
Achieving the goal would not increase the risk of energy shortages and 15 percent reserved power generation capacity could be maintained, he said.
However, energy shortages could happen in 2021 due to an anticipated rise in consumption, Shen said.
The pitfalls of Direct Democracy- Taiwan’s referendum and the vote on nuclear power
How Direct Democracy Went Nuclear in Taiwan, A contentious vote on Taiwan’s nuclear future showed how the country’s public referendums went haywire. The Diplomat , By Nick Aspinwall, January 18, 2019 It only took one month for Huang Shih-hsiu, a 31-year-old nuclear energy advocate, to upend a core energy policy of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. The policy, prior to its downfall, stated that Taiwan would decommission its three active nuclear power plants by 2025.
Covert nuclear development in Taiwan was stopped, because a senior scientist feared danger
Colby Cosh: How Canada almost left the door to the nuclear club ajar … again, National Post, 14 Jan 19,
Covert nuclear development in Taiwan was finally stopped cold because a senior scientist became convinced nukes were dangerous
In November, historians David Albright and Andrea Stricker published a new book called Taiwan’s Former Nuclear Weapons Program: Nuclear Weapons On-Demand. The book pulls together the previously sketchy story of Nationalist China’s covert nuclear research, which had its roots in the postwar exodus of Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang party (KMT). Albright and Stricker describe decades of effort by the offshore Republic of China on Taiwan to play a double game with nuclear weapons. ………
The key to the story is the 40-megawatt uranium-fuelled Taiwan Research Reactor (TRR), supplied, like CIRUS, by Canada. TRR was very similar to CIRUS in design and capability. The pile went critical in January 1973, giving Taiwan an indigenous source of plutonium. Under the sales agreement, the reactor was to be “safeguarded” by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), answering to its inspectors and accounting for the whereabouts of its fuel. But Taiwanese nuclear agencies immediately began to behave suspiciously, talking to some of the slimier European industrial concerns about buying reprocessing equipment that would allow weapons manufacture
……….Covert nuclear development in Taiwan was finally stopped cold because one of the Republic’s senior scientists, Chang Hsien-yi, became convinced that nukes were dangerous to the existence of the Republic………. Email: ccosh@postmedia.com | Twitter: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/colby-cosh-how-canada-almost-left-the-door-to-the-nuclear-club-ajar-again
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