Taiwan moves ahead with nuclear power plant

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Wednesday March 17, 5:36 am Eastern Time

Taiwan moves ahead with nuclear power plant

TAIPEI, March 17 (Reuters) - Taiwan's atomic energy watchdog 
issued final permits on Wednesday to complete the island's fourth 
nuclear power station, opposition to which had sparked riots 
outside parliament in 1996.  

The Atomic Energy Council said its extensive review of the 
proposal, amassing 9,000 pages of documentation over nearly two 
years, concluded that the US$4.8 billion project featuring U.S. 
reactors ``adequately ensured public health and safety.''  

The cabinet council said one of the plant's twin, light-water reactors 
would enter service in July 2004 and the second a year later, 
adding some 2,700 megawatts to the heavily industrialised island's 
thirsty power grid.  

The reactors and generators will be supplied by U.S. giant General 
Electric Co (NYSE:GE - news) under a US$1.8 billion contract. The 
plant's superstructure has been under construction for three years 
outside the capital Taipei.  

The approval to proceed caused hardly a stir but opposition forces 
were expected to rally in coming days.

Taiwan saw one of its worst outbreaks of political violence in years 
in November 1996 when the ruling Nationalist Party overwhelmed 
strong parliamentary opposition to adopt a budget for the plant, 
sparking a night of fiery rioting.  

The regulatory go-ahead does not ensure clear sailing for Taiwan's 
nuclear power industry, which already uses fission to generate 
about a quarter of the island's electrical needs.  

One pressing problem cited by environmentalists is what to do with 
Taiwan's nuclear waste.

Taipei raised international eyebrows in 1997 with a deal to send low-
level waste to impoverished North Korea, reportedly netting the 
Stalinist hermit state several hundred million U.S. dollars. Those 
shipments have not taken place.  

Premier Vincent Siew, mindful of the growing anti-nuclear mood, 
vowed in May 1998 to hold the number of nuclear power stations at 
four until 2020, though he indicated that new reactors likely would 
be added at existing plants.  

Vice Premier Liu Chao-shiuan subsequently affirmed that new 
generating units could be squeezed into the four plants if needed 
but said this remained a last resort.  

Taiwan has embarked on an ambitious liberalisation of its energy 
sector, approving nearly a dozen privately owned power
stations that will burn fossil fuels.

Each of Taiwan Power Co's three operating nuclear plants has two 
reactors, which collectively generate about one quarter of 
Taipower's current output of 21,900 MW.  

To keep pace with economic growth, officials say output must rise  
to 36,000 MW early in the next century.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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