• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Safety review reveals no major concerns at nuclear power plants: AEC

ROC Central News Agency

2012/02/20 22:27:39

By Huang Chiao-wen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) A second-stage review of Taiwan's three operating nuclear power plants revealed no major or immediate safety concerns, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said Monday.

But the council did point to minor deficiencies that state-owned utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), the operator of the nuclear plants, needs to address, including strengthening the facilities against possible tsunamis, flooding and earthquakes.

One of the suggestions made by the AEC was for Taipower to purchase additional mobile generators and fire-fighting equipment to upgrade the reliability of the supply of electricity to the facilities.

In its review of Taipower's contingency plans, the AEC said the utility needs to revise and expand emergency evacuation areas from five kilometers to eight kilometers.

The AEC also recommended that Taipower set up additional facilities for contingencies in an emergency, including an iodine tablet storage warehouse, and temporary and long-term shelters.

In addition, it suggested purchasing more protective gear, expanding monitoring of radioactivity, and setting up multiple disaster contingency mechanisms.

The AEC said the safety review was ordered by the Cabinet in the wake of the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following a massive earthquake and tsunamis that battered northeastern Japan in March 2011.

The Fukushima plant crisis was triggered in part by natural disasters that exceeded the assumptions designed into the facility's safety features, the AEC said, and fears are that Taiwan's plant could face similar problems because of the country's vulnerability to earthquakes.

The review is being conducted to ensure that the safety features at Taiwan's plants conform to their design specifications and to strengthen the plants' ability to resist natural disasters exceeding the original design capacity, the AEC said.

Taipower completed the first-stage safety review on existing contingency mechanisms, procedures and designs last June.