Brussels, 07/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - None of Taiwan's four nuclear power plants need to be closed but the EU recommends improvements on safety due to the plants' location in an earthquake zone.
The EU peer review of the nuclear stress tests conducted by Taiwan on its nuclear power plants since 2012 has concluded that the safety standards applied in Taiwanese nuclear power plants are “generally high and in conformity with international state-of-the-art practices”, the European Commission stated on 7 November. The comprehensive safety assessments conducted by the Taiwanese nuclear operator and the regulator did not indicate any safety shortcomings which would require the immediate shutdown of any of the power plants. Nevertheless, the EU peer review carried out by the European Nuclear Safety Regulators' Group (ENSREG), with the participation of staff from the European Commission, points out that improvements are “strongly recommended” due to Taiwan's geophysical location which increases the risk of extreme natural hazards such as earthquakes, flooding and tsunamis, like those at the origin of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan.
Alongside the stress tests and peer reviews conducted on all EU nuclear power plants in 2011 and 2012, comprehensive nuclear risk and safety assessments, on the basis of the EU stress tests model, were also performed in many other countries of the world - such as in Switzerland and Ukraine (both of which fully participated in the EU stress tests), Armenia, Turkey, Russia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, South Africa and Brazil. The European Commission is currently holding discussions with Armenia and Turkey about carrying out peer reviews of their stress tests. (EH/transl.fl)