The government is committed to ensuring the safety of Taiwan's nuclear power plants, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said today after hearing the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) plans for inspecting the safety of the Longmen Nuclear Power Plant in northeast Taiwan.
The MOEA and the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) has brought in a team of domestic and international experts to conduct the inspections using the most rigid standards, Jiang said, stressing that there will be no nuclear power without nuclear safety.
The team was assembled under instructions from the Executive Yuan in response to public concerns over the safety of the Longmen plant, the fourth nuclear power facility in Taiwan. To keep the public apprised of the inspection progress, Premier Jiang led a group of reporters to Longmen today to listen in on the reports and details.
In its briefing to the premier, Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) indicated that the inspection team moved into the plant for training on April 2 and had mapped out the main points for each stage of inspection. During April, team members will gain a thorough understanding of the systems and equipment, and study inspection procedures for the plant's 125 systems. Thereafter, they will begin testing in accordance with the procedures.
According to Taipower, the inspection project will formally kick off in May, focusing on systems re-examination, which will include system documentation reviews, on-site inspections, and clarification of problems. After May, the team will turn its focus to systems testing, to be conducted in three stages.
The first stage will focus on safe shutdown and emergency containment functions, including control rod data and controls, the control rod drive system, standby liquid boron controls, reactor shields, earthquake detection, the main condenser system, reactor building negative pressure detection, reactor leak detection, and coolant fluid leakage and isolation.
The second stage aims to test coolant functions and major generator functions, which will cover residual heat removal, high-pressure coolant injection, reactor core isolation cooling, loss of offsite power/coolant accidents, the main turbine, the feedwater system, feedwater controls and local leakage detection.
In the last stage, the team will continue to focus on major generator and emergency containment functions, testing the safety of the steam generator as well as the structural and leakage integrity of the reactor building.
In all, the inspectors will examine the safety designs of 125 systems at the Longmen plant, said the MOEA. If all designs are found to meet safety requirements, it will prove the power plant is safe for operation; if not, faulty designs should be identified and corrected until all requirements are met. Estimated to take six to nine months, this thorough process will be carried out and signed off by the inspection team, with all results made transparent and released to the public.
The MOEA said the safety inspection team includes 45 senior personnel from Taiwan's three existing nuclear power plants. They have an average of 30 years' experience in such fields as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, instrument control, plant maintenance, fire protection and nuclear waste disposal. Possessing a wealth of experience in operation and maintenance, these inspectors have been grouped into six units by area of expertise. An additional 12 international consultants from U.S.-based General Electric Co. have also been invited to assist the units with any problems that may arise during the inspection process.
In order to ensure the plant meets the highest safety standards in the world, Taipower will invite a team from the World Association of Nuclear Operators to come to Taiwan for a technical support mission and pre-start up peer review. The AEC will also invite experts from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to carry out joint inspections. Only after the plant has met regulatory requirements and is deemed safe for operation will fuel rods be installed in the reactors.
To further increase public confidence, the MOEA will invite eight prominent nuclear scientists and engineers from within Taiwan to serve on a supervisory panel over the safety inspections. They will determine if the results reported by the safety inspection team are acceptable and, when necessary, conduct on-site assessment.
Premier Jiang reiterated that the fourth nuclear power plant is not only a major power generating facility, but is also critical to Taiwan's economic and energy future. He asked members of the inspection team to put forth their expertise and work together through this difficult time to ascertain the safety of the plant.