Anti-nuclear activists and Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) remained deadlocked Tuesday in an argument on whether a fault line exists under the country’s fourth nuclear power plant that is being built in Taipei County.
In a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan on the issue, environmentalists urged the government to halt construction of the plant, while the state-owned Taipower said there is no need for such action.
The cracks found by a Japanese geologist in a levee in Gongliao township where the plant is located are not fault lines but shear zones, said Taipower, the operator of the plant and the other three nuclear power facilities in the country.
But Wang Hsiu-chun, chairman of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, urged that an independent study be carried out before the project, known as the Lungmen Power Plant, is allowed to proceed.
Last week, Japanese geologist Shiosaka Kunio said that based on his research, which included an on-site assessment, he had determined that there is a one-kilometer long active fault line running north-south under the fishing port in Aodi Village along the coast of Gongliao township.
“An initial measurement of the laccoliths — masses of igneous rock intruded between layers of sedimentary rock — separated by the fault found that there is a 3-meter difference in height between them,” he was quoted as saying at a press conference on Sept 17.
The safety of the compound as well as that of the residents in the area would be gravely jeopardized in case of an earthquake, he warned.
But Taipower rejected the validity of Shiosaka’s findings, saying it is impossible that he could have discovered fault lines just by walking around the site.
“All of the nuclear plants in the country are built in accordance with the highest safety standards and are fully equipped to deal with emergency situations,” said Taipower vice-president S.J. Huang.
Shiosaka, who was not at Tuesday’s hearing, issued a statement, saying that he had carried out extensive research in the area with the use of high-tech equipment such as remote sensors before publicizing his findings.
“The relevant people in Taiwan should personally examine the site or study the images of the fault lines before taking issue with my research,” the geologist said.
Regardless of when the fault line was last active, it will exert tremendous force under conditions of external pressure, somewhat like smashing an ice cube with a hammer, he said.
Environmental groups said that a referendum should be held to allow the residents of Taipei County to participate fully in the debate on the Lungmen Power Plant.
“Science has proven that nuclear power is not a safe or sustainable form of alternative energy, ” Wang said. “It is not the answer to carbon emissions or global warming, but rather could produce radiation that would have a long-lasting detrimental effect on the environment.”
