Finance Minister Taro Aso prepares to attend a meeting of the Suga Cabinet. (Koichi Ueda)
TAIPEI Finance Minister Taro Aso’s comment about treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant prompted a reaction from Taiwan, which had been low key about Japan’s decision to dump that water into the ocean.
Aso came under fire abroad when he said last week it would be safe to drink the water that will be released into the ocean from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The water will be treated first but will still contain tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. Aso, who is also the deputy prime minister, said the water will be so diluted of tritium that it would be drinkable.
Fukushima monitoring plans unveiled
CONTINUOUS PROBE: The Atomic Energy Agency would seek to join international efforts, which might be difficult due to China’s participation, an agency official said
Staff writer, with CNA
The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) is planning to spend more than NT$500 million (US$17.77 million) on early warning, monitoring and research activities focused on the waters around Taiwan, the council said yesterday.
The statement came after Japan on Tuesday last week announced that it plans to release processed wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into the ocean in several years.
However, the council said that it had made preparations for such a move ahead of Tokyo’s announcement.
KMT urges recall of envoy to Japan
By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to remove Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) from office over comments on the Japanese government’s plan to release processed wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into the ocean.
The discharge is to begin in two years, Tokyo said on Tuesday last week.
“From my personal standpoint, protesting Japan’s release of wastewater from the nuclear power plant is a very simple and natural thing,” Hsieh wrote on Facebook on the day after the
announcement. “However, from the standpoint of representing Taiwan, I have to consider that the wastewater from Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants is also discharged into the sea.”
Taiwan to allocate NT$500 million to monitor Japan s radioactive water
04/22/2021 05:45 PM
Photo courtesy of Kyodo News
Taipei, April 22 (CNA) Taiwan s nuclear regulatory authority on Thursday pledged to spend a total of NT$500 million (US$17.6 million) over the coming years to establish a warning system to monitor the waters around the country in the wake of a decision by Japan to release treated radioactive water from a disabled nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years.
Minister of the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) said that of the total budget, NT$128 million will be spent on working with the Ocean Affairs Council on an 18-month project to establish the warning system.
Many guilty of nuclear wastewater dumping
By Paul Liu 劉振乾
On Tuesday last week, Japan announced that it would treat radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to reduce the concentration of the radioactive hydrogen isotope tritium to a 40th of the Japanese standard before releasing the water into the ocean in the next few years.
The International Atomic Energy Agency and the US government support the decision, while South Korea has expressed strong objections. In Taiwan, local media outlets reported that the Atomic Energy Council “expressed regret” over the decision.
However, nobody Taiwan included is in a position to protest.