Taiwan to upgrade nuclear plants after Japan quake

Three nuclear plants in Taiwan will update their safety and security facilities this year within the wake of Japan's Fukushima-1 nuclear plant accident, stated a spokesman with the island's nuclear authority at a press conference on Monday.

According to a report issued by Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council on Monday, nuclear power plants in Taiwan face no immediate or serious safety threats, but efforts ought to be created to cope with natural disasters that might be much more intense than the plants had been designed withstand.

"As far as we can see, the tsunami triggered by the earthquake that hit the Fukushima nuclear plant was far more serious than it was created to deal with, which reminded us to take more measures to cope with such emergencies," said Shieh Der-jhy, deputy head of the council.

The nuclear plants are required to install far more reliable option power supplies, such as a lot more backup generators and mobile generators, so the plants can survive at the very least 24 hours right after the primary power supply stops, the report stated.

Given that Taiwan suffers frequent earthquakes and faces tsunami threats, nuclear plants ought to boost waterproof facilities in key buildings, the report stated.

They are going to also need to install new cooling systems in the pools containing spent fuel rods, an area which posed an incredible threat within the Japanese nuclear crisis, it added.

All these measures will likely be finished by the end of this year, Shieh said.

A survey on potential tsunami threats to Taiwan's nuclear power plants will likely be finished in October, and more measures will likely be made in line with the survey, the report said.

In addition, Taiwan Power Firm, which operates the plants, will complete seismic investigation in June next year in a bid to decide regardless of whether it really should raise the earthquake-resistant scale of the plants, based on the report.

The power company was asked to prepare a protocol for permanently shutting down nuclear plants when people's safety is threatened and conduct exercises, Shieh stated.

When asked about the German government's choice to close all nuclear plants by 2022, Shieh said conditions don't enable Taiwan to give up nuclear plants and turn to option energy.

Shieh expressed the hope that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait strengthen cooperation on nuclear security, for example establishing a mechanism to inform each other of accidents and minimize damage, he stated.

"I believe the two sides have such a frequent understanding and will work toward this," he said.

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