Nuclear Experts from Germany, UK, France, Japan Visiting Taiwan to Review Nuclear Facilities

The experts from the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) are inspecting Taiwan's nuclear power plants at the request from the Taipower, state-owned power generation company.

From Focus Taiwan (2/15/2012):

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) Four foreign nuclear energy experts are visiting Taiwan to review local nuclear power generation facilities but have not yet made any suggestions for improvement, state-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) said Wednesday.

"The experts arrived in Taipei Feb. 6 from Germany, Britain, France and Japan, respectively, and are scheduled to stay until Feb. 18," Taipower spokesman Lee Hung-chou told CNA.

As a member of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), Taipower is entitled to seek technical support mission from the London-based organization, Lee said.

Taipower can apply for up to four WANO support missions every year since it has four nuclear power plants, Lee said, adding that the company twice applied for such missions last year.

Taipower has conducted thorough safety checks and taken measures to reinforce safety at its nuclear plants following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan last year, and Lee said the experts were invited to review those new measures.

Over the past few days, he said, Taipower staff have taken the four experts to the country's three nuclear power plants in operation and the fourth one under construction.

According to a bilateral confidentiality agreement, Taipower cannot disclose any opinions or suggestions expressed by WANO specialists without the organization's prior consent, Lee said.

"As the experts are still in the process of inspection, they have not yet made any definite suggestions," Lee said, adding that Taipower will unveil the content of their final report only after obtaining the WANO's agreement.

(By Huang Chiao-wen and Sofia Wu)

Here's a photo of Taipower's No. 3 Nuclear Power Station, right on the popular Nanwan beach where tourists can swim in the water with discharge from the nuke plant (as it appeared in the Age, 4/29/2008 in the article titled "Swimmers dive in to nuclear reactor cooling water", quoting Reuters):

It's really cute with windmills. Nice sand hills. Not a problem! say locals.

(H/T Enformable)

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