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No point seeking halt to 4th nuke power plant project: Taipower

ROC Central News Agency

2011/03/24 20:18:10

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) It is meaningless to demand a halt to the construction of the nation's 4th nuclear power plant as fuel rods had not yet been installed at the facility, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said Thursday.

Some 126 systemic tests were being carried out at the plant to determine when to install the fuel rods, Taipower Chairman Chen Kui-ming said in response to lawmakers' demand that the project be discontinued.

Legislators have also asked Taipower to explain its policy on extending the service life of the first three nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power safety has become a major concern in Taiwan in light of the crisis at Japan's Fukushima Diichi Nuclear Power Station, which was heavily damaged in an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami on March 11.

But Chen said Taiwan would collapse if all three operating nuclear plants were closed down now.

As to the safety of the fourth, which is being built on the northeastern tip of the island, Chen said there was simply no risk of a nuclear accident occurring before the installation of fuel rods.

The systemic tests on the plant were just like medical checks on a person, he said.

"We won't know if a person is sick until his medical check-up report has been completed," he said.

When the nuclear power plant's test report comes out, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) will determine whether it is safe to install the fuel rods, which means the AEC will act as a safety valve, according to Chen.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ming-wen said he suspected that Taipower may have violated safety rules by filing an application with the AEC to install fuel rods at the fourth nuclear power plant.

In response, Hsu Huai-chiung, deputy general-manager of Taipower, said Taipower did that in 2008 at a time when the plant was originally scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2010.

Under the law, Taipower was required to file the application 14 months prior to the start of commercial operations, he said.

Amid environmental and other concerns about the project, Premier Wu Den-yih has asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Science Council (NSC) to conduct a study on marine safety in the vicinity of the plant, which is located between two seismic fault lines in the coastal area.

To this end, the NSC had commissioned an ocean survey vessel Haiyen No.5, which was near completion, Wu said.

Greater effort should be made to build a fleet of such ships, which would enhance the nation's ocean study capability, he added. (By Lin Shu-yuan, Hsieh Chia-chen and S.C. Chang) enditem /pc