Thousands Protest in Taiwan Against New Nuclear Plant

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Environmental activists and opposition political figures staged a protest in Taipei Sunday against the government’s plan to continue the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project, as Japan battled to bring its quake-damaged nuclear plants under control.

Dozens of environmental groups also called on the government to suspend plans to extend the life of Taiwan’s first, second, and third nuclear plants, and urged that safety checks be conducted at all the plants.

The protesters urged the government to reinforce the nuclear plants’ resistance to earthquakes. The power plants are designed to withstand earthquakes of up to magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale.

Furthermore, the government should immediately halt construction of the fourth nuclear plant, as it is located in a quake and tsunami-prone area, the protesters said.

Former Premier Su Tseng-chang, who declared his intention Sunday to seek the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential nomination, was among the demonstrators. He called for an end to the extended life of the three plants in operation.

Another former premier, Frank Hsieh, also of the DPP, said at the protest that when an advanced country like Japan could face such a serious nuclear crisis, it was only a matter of time before Taiwan would have to cope with a similar kind of danger.

A spokesperson for DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said that Tsai was not at the protest because she had other commitments in southern Taiwan but shared the views of her party colleagues.

Tsai was of the view that the allocations for the development of alternative energy should be increased, and she would be presenting her energy policy soon, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Annette Lu said Taiwan residents should push for an immediate halt to the construction on the fourth nuclear power plant, and she joined the call for an overall safety check on all nuclear power plants in Taiwan.

DPP legislator Pan Meng-An told reporters that if the government refused to suspend work on the fourth nuclear power plant for safety checks, the DPP would refuse to review the budget of the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), builder and owner of the plant, when it came up in the legislature on March 24.

Taiwan currently operates three nuclear power plants, with No.1 and 2 located in northern Taiwan’s New Taipei City, the largest city in Taiwan in terms of population, and No.3 in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan.

A fourth nuclear power plant is under construction in Kungliao on the northeast coast, also in New Taipei City. It is scheduled to begin commercial operations at the end of next the year. (By Sophia Yeh, Justin Su, Lin Szu-yu, Angela Tsai, Kuan Jui-pin and Ann Chen)

Japan Disaster Causes Venezuela to Halt New Nuclear Power Plant Construction

CARACAS, March 15 (Reuters) – Venezuela is suspending development of a nuclear power program following the catastrophe at a nuclear complex in Japan, President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.

The South American country had hoped that a planned Russian-built nuclear power plant would provide 4,000 megawatts (MW) and be ready in about a decade.

But Chavez said events in Japan after last Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami that followed it showed the risks associated with nuclear power were too great.

“For now, I have ordered the freezing of the plans we have been developing … for a peaceful nuclear program,” he said during a televised meeting with Chinese investors.

“I do not have the least doubt that this (the potential for a nuclear catastrophe in Japan) is going to alter in a very strong way the plans to develop nuclear energy in the world.”

Japan is racing to avert a new disaster after a fire broke out at a nuclear plant and sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and triggering growing international alarm.

Venezuela signed a deal with Russia last October that moved Chavez’s socialist government a step closer to its longtime goal of developing nuclear power like Brazil and Argentina.

But some experts were skeptical at the time about whether Venezuela would go through with the project, or even needed it given the OPEC member’s vast oil and gas reserves, plus solar, hydroelectric and wind energy possibilities. (Writing by Daniel Wallis, Editing by Jackie Frank)

Radioactivity Found in Japanese Farms, Spinach, Milk, Near Nuclear Meltdown

Japan’s top spokesman said Saturday that elevated levels of radiation have been found in milk and spinach near the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture.

The government has worked hard to play down rising fears. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference that although radiation levels exceeded government safety standards, the tested food does not pose an immediate health risk. It is the first time radiation has been detected in food since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami unleashed the nuclear crisis.

Worried about the Japanese Nuclear Meltdown? Get to know your radiation units and measurements

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has put together this handy little “Questions and Answers on Radiation” document. With all the news coming out of Japan and what the nuke industry cheerleaders have called the “Nuclear Renaissance” of new nuclear expansion around the world, shouldn’t you get a handle on what is behind the process? Questions and Answers on Radiation

Japan’s Earthquake Altered Earth’s Axis; Moved the Island Closer to U.S.

Last week’s devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Japan moved the island closer to the United States and shifted the planet’s axis.

The quake caused a rift 15 miles below the sea floor that stretched 186 miles long and 93 miles wide, according to the AP. The areas closest to the epicenter of the quake jumped a full 13 feet closer to the United States, geophysicist Ross Stein at the United States Geological Survey told The New York Times.

The world’s fifth-largest, 8.9 magnitude quake was caused when the Pacific tectonic plate dove under the North American plate, which shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet. The quake also shifted the earth’s axis by 6.5 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward by about two feet. As Japan’s eastern coastline sunk, the tsunami’s waves rolled in.

Nuclear Meltdown in Japan; Tens of Thousands Protest Nuke Plants in Germany

Demonstrators in Stuttgart formed a human chain reaching 27 mile for a protest against extending the life of nuclear power plants in Germany. The protest was planned before the current nuclear crisis in Japan but took on new form in light of those events.

Organizers said events in Japan had proved atomic power was an uncontrollable and risky technology.

Nuclear policy is a key issue in German regional elections this year.

About 60,000 people turned out for the protest, according to organizers. Police said the number was in the tens of thousands.

The demonstrators formed a human chain between Stuttgart and the Neckarwestheim nuclear plant, waving yellow flags with the slogan “Nuclear power – no thanks”.

Japan: 8.9 Earthquake Spawns Deadly Tsunami, Evacuation Near Nuclear Reactor, and Fire at Oil Refinery

Image from NHK television. Following an earthquake and tsunami, flames rise from the 220,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery in Ichikawa, near Tokyo Friday, March 11, 2011, amounting to a shut down of 20 percent of the country's refining capacity."

Japan was struck by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, unleashing a 13-foot tsunami that washed away cars and tore away buildings along the coast near the epicenter.

Residents near a Tokyo Electric Power Co. nuclear reactor were ordered to evacuate because of a possible radiation leak as Japan’s strongest earthquake in a century shut power plants and oil refineries.

The tsunami waves slammed Japan’s eastern coast, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

Raw video of the tsunami wave hitting an airport