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Native Taiwanese Demand Removal Of Nuclear Waste From Scenic Island
Lanyu (AFP) Apr 30, 2002 Hundreds of native Taiwanese plan to hold a protest Wednesday demanding the government remove tens of thousands of barrels of low-radiation nuclear waste from their island. The protestors from the Yami tribe, backed by conservationists and lawmakers, say they will march to the storage site owned by the state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) on Orchid Island, 44 kilometers (26.4 miles) off the southeastern county of Taitung. Taipower has stored low-radiation nuclear waste at the scenic spot since 1982, but the indigenous islanders say the government and company must honour their promises to shift the waste. "Our homeland will remain a wasteland if the nuclear waste continues to stay," a protest organiser, Li Chin-mei, told AFP on Tuesday. She alleged that several members of the tribe -- one of many that had the run of Taiwan before the immigration of mainland Chinese centuries ago -- had been diagnosed with cancer linked to the nuclear waste. "If we do not get any positive official response, we may also blockade the storage site," Li warned. She vowed the protestors would remain at the site until May 20 -- President Chen Shui-bian's first anniversary in power -- if the government fails to honour Chen's manifesto pledge to remove the waste. Taipower had promised to move the 97,000 barrels of waste before the end of this year, but says it cannot act yet. "Taipower may not be able to give a clear answer as we have yet to find a suitable venue to establish a permanent dumping site," a Taipower official said. Premier Yu Shyi-kun apologized to the Yami tribe earlier this month for failing to keep the promise. Taipower wants a permanent dump on Wuchiu, an island off China's southeastern province of Fujian, where it says up to 160,000 barrels of low-radiation waste could be stored. The plan is strongly opposed by Wuchiu residents and by Beijing. Since its first nuclear power plant started operations in 1987, Taipower's three nuclear plants have generated 180,000 drums of low-radiation waste. Taipower had agreed in 1997 with North Korea that the communist state would store the waste, but the plan was dropped after pressure from South Korea and international conservationists. Taipower has also been in talks with Russia and the Marshall Islands, a Pacific state, to set up an overseas nuclear waste disposal ground. The nuclear power debate has intensified in Taiwan in recent years. In October 2000, President Chen's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) halted building work on a nuclear plant without consulting parliament, as required by Taiwan's constitution, triggering a major political crisis. The DPP, which had promised to scrap the project in its campaign manifesto, eventually reinstated it in February last year, but parliament also compromised by pledging to eventually make Taiwan a nuclear-free island. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express Civil Nuclear Energy Science, Technology and News Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
India Calls For Action Against Nuclear Proliferators
New Delhi (AFP) Oct 24, 2005India Monday urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take action against illegal proliferators of nuclear weapons technology such as Pakistan's disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. |
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