Groups urge public to abolish nuclear power this year

Groups urge public to abolish nuclear power this year
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/02/24/2003584215

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter / Taipei Times Staff reporters

This year will be the most crucial year in the fight to abolish nuclear power in Taiwan, anti-nuclear groups said at a forum in Taipei yesterday, citing reasons that included the possible insertion of fuel rods in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).

“Other reasons are that since the [three] active nuclear plants are fast approaching their planned retirement dates and the government is always stalling on its promises to decommission the plants, the problem of nuclear waste treatment could become a tipping point this year,” Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), a member of the Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance’s executive committee, told the forum hosted by the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform.

Wang said activists fear the government may try to extend the active plants’ operational life span.

He said that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has already extended the original capacity of the spent fuel pools at the three active plants by increasing storage density. The capacity of the pool at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) was extended from 3,030 bundles to 5,514, while the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) had its 5,040-bundle capacity pool raised to 7,544 and the pool at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan (馬鞍山) went from handling 1,492 bundles to 2,328.

On Saturday, Taipower announced that the spent fuel pool at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant will meet its storage capacity at the end of the year, so it urgently needs the government to approve its plan to build a dry-storage facility.

However, Wang said that Taipower is merely trying to force the government and the public to approve the dry-storage facility.

He added that dry cask storage of spent fuel is not only controversial, because the feasibility of taking spent fuel rods from the pools are a safety concern, but also that it is doubtful that the proposed facility — which is meant to be used for mid-term storage — will not eventually be made into a final disposal site, given that Taipower has broken its promises many times in the past.

“Taipower bounced its checks on removing low-level radioactive waste from Lanyu (蘭嶼), which was originally planned for 2002, then extended to 2016 and last year once again pushed back to 2021,” Wang said. “If Taipower cannot deal with low-level radioactive waste disposal, how can we trust it to properly deal with spent nuclear fuel?”

Green Citizens’ Action Alliance director-general Lai Wei-chieh (賴偉傑) said it is frustrating to see how the government “threatens the public and shirks its responsibility” to continue using nuclear power, rather than developing alternative energy policies.

Lai said anti-nuclear groups are worried that fuel rods will be inserted at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant as part of test runs during the safety inspections currently being conducted by the Atomic Energy Council that Taipower has said will be completed by June.

Moreover, even though the council has not approved Taipower’s ultimate response measures, the company and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have already promised the public that a nuclear disaster can be prevented in the event of an emergency situation, Lai said.

“The government should devise institutional electricity-saving measures, such as dispersing electricity demand during peak hours, or improving power usage effectiveness, rather than morally pressuring the public to save electricity,” he said.

The groups urged the public to attend a parade set for March 8 to promote the “total abolition of nuclear power, face the problems of nuclear waste, terminate the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and created a nuclear-free homeland.”

Anti-nuclear alliance planning mass demonstrations around Taiwan on March 8 (FTV’s English news)

Anti-nuclear alliance planning mass demonstrations around Taiwan on March 8 
2014/02/23
(FTV’s English news)

An anti-nuclear alliance vowed a nationwide protest on March 8. to express opposition to nuclear power. The alliance is worried a safety report concerning the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will be sent to the Atomic Energy Council for review in June. Thus paving the way for the plant to begin tests and operations as early as September.

Last year’s March 9, anti-nuclear rally continues to be a fresh memory in the minds of many people. And now, nearly a year later, many are concerned about a possible power plant security report for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to be submitted at the end of June which has led many anti-nuclear groups to be unhappy.

Wang Chung-ming
North Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance
Why do I believe that this year is the key? This is because if we have no way to force the government to develop a suitable policy to deal with nuclear waste, they could simply extend current operations, and delay the decommissioning of (plants) by a few years.

Many are also worried that the fourth nuclear power plant could begin initial testing in September at the earliest. Anti-nuclear groups have yet to achieve any consensus with government officials about nuclear waste, with lack of agreements regarding Lanyu’s nuclear waste issues, as well as decommissioning old nuclear power plants, and a general lack of specific planning. All of these concerns are leading to general dissatisfaction, with anti-nuclear activists now planning to take to the streets on March 8. Upwards of a hundred anti-nuclear activist groups will take to the streets in protest.

Hung Shen-han
Green Citizens' Action Alliance
This year's protest will be similar to those last year, taking place in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Taitung. There will be parades to warn the government not to act like there are delays though continue construction with the attitude that it will succeed (in operating the plant).

Many environmental groups around Taiwan will join together on March 8 to express their joint opposition to nuclear power.

Premier pledges to act on environment

Premier pledges to act on environment http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/11/30/2003578004 
By Shih Hsiu-chuan and Lee I-chia / Taipei Times Staff reporters

A much-talked-about documentary depicting how the nation’s environment has been ravaged prompted Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to demand that Cabinet officials “take an iron fist” to environmental problems, Executive Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said yesterday.

Chien told a press conference following an intergovernmental meeting that Jiang has ordered Cabinet members to carry through “forcefully” policies that have become necessary because environmental preservation is a task that “allows for no delay.”

The Cabinet yesterday held the first meeting of an ad hoc task force led by Chien and attended by vice heads of related government branches.

Jiang ordered the establishment of the task force after he attended a screening of the film Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above (看見台灣) by Chi Po-lin (齊柏林) that documents Taiwan by using aerial photography.

Government agencies were divided into five teams to work on 16 major national conservation issues exposed by the documentary and will present an initial report to Jiang in one month, Chien said.

Among the issues were illegal mining of gravel and sand, sediments in water reservoirs, land subsidence induced by pumping excessive underground water, excessive hillside development and river pollution, he said.

The task force categorized the 16 issues into four topics — mining of sand and gravel, management of coasts and hillsides, environmental quality and development in sensitive areas — with government branches related to each of the topics being assembled in a group to work on the issues, Chien said.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior were in the fifth group, charged with ensuring necessary enforcement measures take place to crack down on illegal activities that damage the environment, he added.

The task force will meet every two weeks to draft short, medium and long-term solutions to environmental problems, Chien said.

“We will take a holistic approach and not just focus on the 16 problems,” he added.

Earlier yesterday about a dozen representatives from environmental groups protested outside the Executive Yuan and accused the government of continuing environmental destruction.

The film shows how state land is being excessively developed, and the damage caused by illegal gravel mining or inappropriate land use, but the Cabinet is still trying to amend laws that would loosen restrictions on development in reservoir water catchment areas, the protesters said.

Taiwan Environmental Protection Union founding chairman Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said that if the government really watches the film and “sees Taiwan” (the literal translation of the film’s Chinese name), it would cancel the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, retire nuclear plants currently in operation, stop destroying high-quality farmland and stop any development in water catchment areas, among other measures.

Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), spokesman for a self-help group against land expropriation for the Danhai New Town phase-two project, said the vacancy rate is already very high in the new town’s phase-one area, yet the government still wants to develop the 1,168-hectare second-phase area that will include 871 hectares of farmland or forest land, “which will destroy natural ecology and human rights.”

New Taipei snubs environmental study in project

The China Post
New Taipei snubs environmental study in project
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taipei/2013/09/05/388117/New-Taipei.htm
By Joy Lee ,The China Post
September 5, 2013

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- New Taipei yesterday announced that construction of the Tamsui-Taipei expressway will continue despite a court revoking its environmental impact assessment (EIA).

The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled to revoke the approved EIA conducted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on June 22, 2011 for the construction of the expressway.

The New Taipei City Government said that the construction will continue and more information will be provided for the EPA's reference to allow it to propose another EIA.

EPA Minister Shen Shih-hung said that he has not received the court verdict yet, so he cannot comment on this issue.

Yeh Jiunn-horng (葉俊宏), the director-general of the EPA Comprehensive Planning Department, said that after the EPA receives the court verdict, the officials will talk to lawyers about whether an appeal should be filed or another EIA be conducted.

Environmentalists Wang Chung-ming and Tsui Tsu-hsin, who filed the appeal, said that the EPA should follow the court's instructions and not file an appeal.

Wang and Tsui said that the New Taipei Government should stop expressway construction and land expropriation and come up with another development plan for the Tamsui area that will also protect the environment.

Chang Yu-yin, the lawyer who represents the environmental protection organizations, said that the expressway will be built along the Mangrove Nature Reserve, but the expressway is less than 1 meter away from the reserve, which places the mangrove reserve at great risk.

“The verdict shows that the judge values the idea of environmental protection,” Chang said.

Some Tamsui residents, however, were not satisfied with the court's verdict.

A resident surnamed Liu said that the expressway could be the solution to the severe traffic jams during rush hours and weekends.

“I am stuck in traffic jams every day and on weekends,” Liu said, “and with this verdict, there will be no solution to this problem.”

According to New Taipei City Government, the Tamsui-Taipei expressway, which is scheduled to be finished in 2016, is a 4.7-kilometer-long expressway that will be built along the Tamsui riverbank and the Mangrove Nature Reserve and National Wetland.

Local residents filed a petition to the Cabinet's Petitions and Appeals Committee but the petition was denied. With help from environmentalists and lawyers, they filed an administrative litigation to the Taipei High Administrative Court, which led to the its decision to revoke the EIA of the expressway construction.

According to New Taipei City Government, housing prices of the Tamsui area depend on the expressway construction because more and more people are moving to or visiting the Tamsui area, causing traffic jams during rush hours and weekends. Light rail construction has begun in the Tamsui area and is expected to be completed in 2018.

Construction Could Continue: Lawyer

A lawyer said that even though the EIA is the key point to launching a construction project, as long as the development activity permission is still valid, the construction could still be carried out.

According to the lawyer, the court's verdict to revoke the EIA will cause a problem for the government in terms of the construction of the expressway, and it is up to the EPA to decide if the EIA should remain valid or to follow the court's verdict and revoke the EIA.

Environmentalists hail ‘Tambei’ ruling

Taipei Times
Environmentalists hail 'Tambei' ruling
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/09/05/2003571385/2

ROAD RAGE:Local residents and environmentalists vigorously oppose the Tambei Expressway project, as it would encroach on the Mangrove Forest Preservation Area

By Jason Pan  /  Staff writer, with CNA

Environmental groups yesterday hailed as an important victory a decision by the Taipei High Administrative Court rejecting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the proposed Tamsui-Taipei expressway construction project in New Taipei City (新北市).

Although the ruling can still be appealed, environmental activists were happy with the court’s decision and called on the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to withdraw the EIA and not appeal.

The New Taipei City Government had proposed building a "Tambei Expressway" (淡北道路 Tamsui-Taipei Expressway) along the eastern shore of the Tamsui River.

At present, Highway No. 2 is the only major artery linking Taipei to New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) and the northeast coastal area. It is clogged with heavy traffic on weekday rush hours, as well as on weekends and holidays.

The road runs along the narrow Zhuwei Corridor (竹圍走廊), which is geographically confined by the Tamsui River to the west and the Tatun Mountains to the east. The Taipei MRT Tamsui Line runs in this corridor, from Zhuwei MRT Station northward to Tamsui MRT Station.

Local residents and environmentalists vigorously opposed the expressway project, as it would encroach on the nearby Mangrove Forest Preservation Area.

After the EPA convened meetings to evaluate the project’s environmental impact, the EIA committee announced its conditional approval for the expressway in July 2011.

However, local residents Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) and Chen Fu-chi (陳福齊) organized a petition in August of that year seeking to nullify the EIA report on the grounds the project would negatively impact an important and sensitive natural environment and therefore it required a second-stage EIA.

However, the Executive Yuan’s Petitions and Appeals Committee rejected their petition in February last year.

Wang and members of the Green Party Taiwan filed a lawsuit with the Taipei High Administrative Court in April last year.

Local residents called yesterday’s decision a major victory.

"We hope every EIA case in the future can be evaluated and scrutinized in a thorough and prudent manner. It must be done with participation and input by local residents to protect their natural environment," Wang said.

Other residents were delighted with the decision, saying justice had been served, but New Taipei City Councilor Tsai Chin-hsien (蔡錦賢) was disappointed.

"We have wasted three or four years already. With the construction set to start, the court decision has negated years of effort by many people," Tsai said.

"The court did not respect the wishes of local residents. It is an unreasonable ruling, as the court does not understand the suffering of local residents due to frequent traffic jams," the independent councilor added.

EPA Department of Comprehensive Planning head Yeh Chun-hung (葉俊宏) said his office would study the court judgement and would appeal if there is a possibility of overturning the decision.

He said the EPA could return to a first-stage EIA or go into second-stage EIA, pending its appraisal of the judgement.

Meanwhile, Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said the city government respected the court ruling and would not begin construction unless the project passes an EIA.

The New Taipei City Government, on the other hand, said it would continue construction and would provide the EPA with more information as a basis for a second-stage EIA.

Additional reporting by Lai Hsiao-tung and Wu Liang-yi

Groups protest Soil and Water Act amendment

Groups protest Soil and Water Act amendment
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/08/17/2003569911

SLIPPERY SLOPEIf the amendment is passed, about 1.72 million hectares of reservoir catchment area would be opened for development, the groups said

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Several environmental organizations yesterday filed a petition with the Control Yuan, asking it to investigate the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s proposal to amend the Soil and Water Conservation Act (水土保持法), which would loosen the restrictions on development in reservoirs’ catchment areas.

Before submitting their appeal, the representatives from 40 civic groups held up photos of mudslide disasters and rivers filled with mud, and shouted slogans.

The act was passed in 1994, stipulating that all development activities are prohibited in designated special soil and water conservation areas within reservoir catchment areas.

The proposed amendment would reduce the development prohibited areas to areas that “need special conservation,” restricting the prohibited development activities from all types to only four, and granting local governments the authority to alter designated special soil and water conservation areas.

Groups fear the proposed amendment would put nearly all reservoir catchment areas at risk of pollution.

According to the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau’s statistics, there are more than 100 reservoirs in the country and the combined size of reservoir catchment areas is about 2.05 million hectares, accounting for about 78 percent of the nation’s mountainous areas.

If the amendment is passed, about 1.72 million hectares of reservoir catchment area would no longer be under the strict protection of being designated as soil and water conservation areas, the groups said.

Taiwan Water Conservation Alliance spokesperson Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said the proposed amendment will likely turn most of the reservoir catchment areas into ordinary hillside land, and development activities in these areas may threaten water quality and land safety.

Hsu Chan-shuan (徐嬋娟), who leads the Flood Management Watch, said that following a typhoon in 2006 that brought large amounts of mud into the Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) and caused residents in Taoyuan to be left without clean water for a number of days, lawmakers at the time swiftly passed budgets of NT$25 billion (US$832 million) for the Shihmen Reservoir and NT$116 billion for other easily flooded areas to improve water and soil conservation.

“However, if this amendment is passed these reservoirs will see further development activities and the government will have to spend even more money to make up for the disasters caused by them,” she said.

“The government should amend laws to protect the public, but the proposed amendment is in fact loosening laws,” Green Party Taiwan member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) said. “Basic needs, such as water and food, should not be sacrificed for economic benefits from development activities… and the government should not have to spend more money to make up for the destruction caused by disasters.”

Opening up areas for development means more trees will be cut down, resulting in landslides after heavy rain, Taiwan Tree Protection Alliance convener Chang An-chi (張安琪) said.

“The government needs to ensure people’s right to life. We want to drink clean water, not waste water,” she said, adding that companies that benefit from the development activities are unlikely to maintain a healthy balance between protecting the environment and maximizing their economic benefits, “while the public will have to endure the consequences of polluted water and a damaged environment.”

Government panned for nuclear waste decisions

Government panned for nuclear waste decisions
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/07/30/2003568511 
Tue, Jul 30, 2013
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Before meeting with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) in Taipei yesterday afternoon, members of local civic groups living near nuclear waste storage sites said that they are dissatisfied with the government’s unilateral decisionmaking process and urged it to have real negotiations with the public.

The groups — from New Taipei City (新北市), Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island), and Taitung and Pintung counties — said in front of the Executive Yuan that during their first meeting with Jiang on April 3, he promised to establish a negotiation forum comprised of government and civic representatives to discuss policies for final disposal of radioactive spent fuel.

However, Taitung Anti-Nuclear Alliance Secretary-General Su Ya-ting (蘇雅婷) said there were no communications regarding the forum for several months afterward, and when the alliance finally received a notice for yesterday’s meeting, its agenda had already been set.

“We feel as if the government has already decided the policies and we are only being asked to come and endorse their plans,” Su said, while showing a copy of the meeting agenda.

“Moreover, while Minister Without Portfolio Steven Chen (陳士魁) was assigned as the forum’s convener, he has been transferred to another position, leaving us even more concerned about whether the forum can really function,” she added.

Sinan Mavivo, secretary-general of the Tao Foundation, said people living in Lanyu are very concerned about the low-level nuclear waste which has been stored on the island since 1981, but the Ministry of Economic Affairs has kept delaying its removal and refused to reconvene its steering committee for the Lanyu storage site’s relocation.

“We ask the government, Taiwan Power Co and the ministry to remove the nuclear waste immediately,” she said. “We don’t need them to talk about formulating a new schedule for relocation and related inspections; we just ask them to remove it now.”

Green Party Taiwan member Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘) said the government has failed to finalize locations for building permanent nuclear waste repositories for the past seven years, but has kept using the matter as an excuse to postpone the promised removal of nuclear waste from Lanyu.

The party urged the government to decouple the two issues and deal with the Lanyu storage facility’s relocation immediately.

Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance chairperson Hsu Fu-hsiung (許富雄) said a dry cask storage facility for highly radioactive spent fuel waste from the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen District (石門), New Taipei City (新北市), is due to go into testing next month, but the alliance fears that salt corrosion may cause radioactive leaks because the storage site is near the ocean.

Although Taipower has claimed the site is only for temporary storage, local residents are concerned that once spent fuel rods are placed in storage, there may be no likelihood of Taipower moving them to a final disposal site, Hsu said. He added that residents should be allowed to decide whether they want the facility in the area via a referendum.

“It is a fact that disposal of nuclear waste is an intractable problem in Taiwan, so we want to tell the government that while the problem remains unresolved, it shouldn’t allow nuclear power plants to operate, as they are adding to disposal problems,” Wang said.