Nuclear restart hearing a 'sham'! Pingtung civic groups blast lack of EIA, communication

Civic groups in Pingtung, Taiwan, have strongly criticized a public hearing held by the Atomic Energy Council regarding the restart plan for the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant (Maanshan NPP). Organizations including the Earth Citizens' Association, Green Citizens' Action Alliance, and Pingtung Community University issued a joint statement expressing outrage over the process.

The groups argue that the hearing was announced with only two weeks' notice and scheduled during peak tourist season, effectively forcing residents to blindly accept the plan. They contend that the procedural nature of the hearing, with hundreds of pages of technical documents, bypasses the principles of informed consent and environmental impact assessment crucial for the safety of the Hengchun Peninsula.

Concerns are amplified by the plant's age and design. Built in the 1980s, the Maanshan NPP has never undergone review under Taiwan's current Environmental Impact Assessment Act. Furthermore, its seismic design standard of 0.4g is significantly lower than the latest assessment of the area's maximum ground acceleration, which could reach 1.384g – over 3.5 times the original design. The groups also point out that the plant's 1970s-era design prevents the installation of modern safety features like core melt containment systems, raising serious risks for a forced restart of the aging facility.