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Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) said Monday that it will soon submit a water and soil conservation plan to the Taipei County Government for the construction of a new, dry nuclear waste dump for its First Nuclear Power Plant. Once the Taipei County Government approves the water and soil conservation plan, Taipower will be able to start building the interim repository near the First Nuclear Power Plant for dry storage of its spent nuclear fuel rods, said Tu Yueh-yuan, chief engineer and Taipower spokesman. The First Nuclear Power Plant, located in the county's coastal Shihmen township, has been operational since 1978 and is expected to be decommissioned in 2018, according to Tu.

he Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave conditional approval to a plan by the state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) to build a temporary dump site in Taipei County to dispose of spent nuclear fuel rods from the neighboring No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, despite strong protest from the area's residents yesterday.

The state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) indicated Monday that it will take at least six months before referendums can be held to determine if two Taiwanese townships will become low-level radioactive waste dumping sites. Taipower officials said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taipower have received a total of 138 letters raising various questions since March 16, when the ministry proposed in a bulletin that Daren Township in Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan and Wang-an Township in Penghu County off the west coast of Taiwan be designated as the radioactive waste storage sites.

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), the nation's biggest electricity producer, said it had extinguished a fire at a spare transformer at its No. 3 nuclear plant and that the station's two generating units were unaffected and operating normally. The transformer, between 100m and 200m from the plant's reactors, wasn't in use when the accident occurred, Hsu Hwai-chiung (徐懷瓊), vice president of the state-run utility, said at a press conference yesterday. 'FAULT' "Our initial investigation indicates that it was probably caused by a fault in the transformer," Hsu said. The fire broke out at around 3:15pm after a sudden surge in pressure triggered an oil leak, Hsu said. SAFE The fire was extinguished by 3:48pm without any radiation leaks or injuries, he said.

CONTAMINATED: The chief of Daren Township welcomed the proposal to build a nuclear waste facility because of the NT$5 billion in promised compensation Led by a royal descendant of an ancient line of Aboriginal Paiwan kings, residents and environmentalists yesterday staged a parade in Daren Township (達仁), Taitung County, to protest Taiwan Power Co's (Taipower) plan to build a storage facility for nuclear waste there. Taipower announced in March that Daren Township and Wangan Township, Penghu County, were the two candidate sites for the nuclear waste dumping ground. Opposed to the plan, more than 100 Paiwan and Puyuma Aborigines and environmentalists rallied outside a local elementary school yesterday morning, where they were blessed by Paiwan elders in a traditional ritual before they departed. The demonstrators then carried a cross on a two-hour march to the site selected for the facility.

Taiwan has tried and failed to sell its nuclear waste to North Korea and China. Now, the government is seeking a burial place at home. The top choice is a poor aboriginal community. When it comes to nuclear waste, most people say, "not in my back yard." But most residents of Nantian village in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung County favor building a low-level nuclear waste dump five kilometers away. Taiwan has thousands of barrels of low-level waste - mostly contaminated clothing, boots and mops used by the workers at the island's three nuclear power plants. Engineers at Taipower, the electricity monopoly, say it will take about 100 years for the harmful radiation to decay.

Taiwan has tried and failed to sell its nuclear waste to North Korea and China. Now, the government is seeking a burial place at home. The top choice is a poor aboriginal community. When it comes to nuclear waste, most people say, "not in my back yard." But most residents of Nantian village in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung County favor building a low-level nuclear waste dump five kilometers away. Taiwan has thousands of barrels of low-level waste - mostly contaminated clothing, boots and mops used by the workers at the island's three nuclear power plants. Engineers at Taipower, the electricity monopoly, say it will take about 100 years for the harmful radiation to decay.

A SMALL TWEAKING: While delays were likely for the fourth nuclear plant, the AEC said that more advanced technology would boost total output by 1.7 percent Taipower chairman Chen Kuei-ming told the legislature yesterday an additional NT$40 billion (US$1.15 billion) to NT$50 billion would be needed if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is to reach a stage where its two generator units can begin operations in 2011 and 2012. The additional funding would bring the construction costs at the Gongliao, Taipei County, plant to between NT$270 billion and NT$280 billion, Chen said.