Potential sites picked for radioactive waste disposal

Under consideration are Taitung County’s Nantien village, Pingtung County’s Hsuhai village and offshore Penghu County’s Dongjiyu islet — all of which are remote and sparsely populated communities.

The Aug. 29 announcement of the three potential sites marks a significant step forward in the country’s desperate and controversial drive to build a permanent disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste from its three existing nuclear power plants and a fourth one now under construction, as well as radioactive waste from medical, academic, industrial and agricultural institutions.

Over the years, Taiwan has accumulated some 200,000 barrels of such waste, 97,672 of which are stored at a temporary dump opened in 1982 on scenic Orchid Island, also known as Lanyu, off Taiwan’s southeastern coast.

The rest is being kept at the three nuclear power plants in operation and at a national nuclear energy research institute.

Taiwan is one of only six countries among the 34 using nuclear energy that have not set up a permanent disposal facility for low-level waste. At present, 77 such facilities are in operation around the world, with 71 using shallow land disposal and six using cavern disposal.

State-run Taiwan Power Co. first faced a site dilemma in the mid-1990s, as the Tao people on Lanyu protested vociferously over the waste dump in their backyard and insisted that the stored waste be removed.

The utility twice launched drives to find new dump sites in the late ‘90s, but both failed because of opposition from residents of potential sites, environmentalists and anti-nuclear energy advocacy groups.

To cope with people’s resistance to having a nuclear waste dump located in their communities because of health and safety concerns, the government decided to draft legislation that sets siting criteria,processing and suitability requirements,and future operational regulations.

The legislation was passed in May 2005, providing Taipower with a legal basis to override the objections of angry residents to start site surveys.

The process, however, has remained far from smooth, beset by continued resistance from local residents around the potential sites.

After suffering many setbacks, Taipower offered a NT$30 million subsidy to each village considered a potential site, in exchange for permission to conduct geological surveys and evaluation studies to determine the locations’ suitability to host a disposal facility.

Merely identifying the potential sites, however, does not mean actually establishing a radioactive waste facility will be easy.

Financial incentives provided for in the legislation, along with technological advances, should in theory make it easier for Taipower to find a site and come up with a construction plan that is acceptable to local communities.

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