Press Release: Taiwan Anti-Nuke March
From: Taiwan Anti-Nuke Action Coalition
Date: 1998-4-24

TAIWAN'S 11th ANNUAL MARCH REMEMBERING THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER MARCH ON APRIL 26, 1998 TO DEMAND A NUCLEAR-FREE ASIA!

On Sunday, April 26, 1998, the Taiwan Anti-Nuclear Action Network, a coalition of over a dozen organizations, will hold a march to protest: continuing government construction of a fourth nuclear reactor; new nuclear dump sites planned for indigenous peoples' lands in south Taiwan; sale of Taiwan's nuclear waste to North Korea despite international outrage; and, again, a decade after the Atomic Energy Commission said the problem is all solved, discovery of new (1994) housing in which radiation-contaminated steel rebar has been used.

The marchers will gather at 1:00 pm at the main gate of National Taiwan University, at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Hsinsheng South Road. The parade will go north on Roosevelt Road, to Hoping West Road Section 1, to Fuchou St., to Nanchang Rd., to Aikuo West Road, to Chungshan South Road, to Katagalan Avenue (formerly Chieh Shou Rd). It will pass the Taipower building, the vicinity of the home of the President, and the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial, and end in front of the Presidential Palace. People from all sectors, interests, and political groups are welcome to participate, including non-citizens who live in Taiwan and are likewise concerned about their own health and safety. The march will be peaceful, accompanied by its own monitors and traffic managers.

Please come to march with us on this twelfth anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster!

Taiwan is a densely-populated island, less than 400 km. long, with a population of 22 million. The two nuclear reactors on the north coast are less than 30 km. from the metropolitan area of Taipei, holding a population of five million. The fourth nuclear energy plant, already delayed over a decade due to adamant protests in the national legislature and by the local inhabitants of Kung Liao, is still under construction, with the reactor to be sited barely half a kilometer from the town. It is also less than 30 km. from Taipei. In non-binding referendums held in Taipei County and City in 1994 and 1996, more than half the voters spoke out against completion of Nuclear Plant No. 4. AN ACCIDENT ON THE SCALE OF CHERNOBYL WOULD KILL MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AND MAKE TAIWAN VIRTUALLY UNINHABITABLE! CAN WE RISK DISASTER ON THIS SCALE?

Even smaller releases of radioactivity are destined to damage the lives and health of hundreds of thousands of people. The daily maintenance record of Taiwan's nuclear reactors to date has been abysmal. The cooling intakes have been several times obstructed by accumulations of dead fish. Deformed fish are often found in the ocean near the cooling outlets. Taiwan is subject to severe earthquakes, and Reactor No. 2 is built over a fault line. Almost none of Taiwan's public projects, including military projects, are built to specification, due to crony contracting and corruption. Taiwan's Atomic Energy Commission has a record of coverup and obstruction ?it found mysterious radiation emissions in residential housing in 1985, but informed no one and did no investigation until it was forced into disclosure due to the discovery of the radiation by citizen groups. 105 buildings, including schools, have been found to be contaminated with radioactive steel. Is it any wonder we are skeptical about the government's reassurances of safety?

Moreover, Taiwan's economic development does not depend on further expansion of energy ?foreseeable needs could be met by a modest increase in industrial energy efficiency. WHY RISK OUR LIVES AND THOSE OF OUR CHILDREN? Why is the government in such a rush to push through ill-considered and mega-bucks projects like this, while it fails to carry through the ordinary safety and sanitation measures that would be expected for a country of modest means? While it fails to build sewage systems, and heaps of garbage and industrial waste accumulate even on the banks of streams in protected drinking-water catchment areas?

While perhaps 30% of Taipei's children suffer from respiratory ailments due to serious air pollution? Is this government protecting its people, or lining its pockets (e.g. the recently-revealed kickbacks on military purchases from France)?

The contract for the reactor of Nuclear Plant No. 4 has been won by General Electric of the U.S., in cooperation with Hitachi,Mitsubishi, and Toshiba of Japan. We are also urging an international boycott of these companies to protest their contribution to present nuclear contamination and their ambitious plans for future joint expansion in Asia ?with no solution for nuclear waste disposal in sight.

The April 26 march follows on a series of activities that have been held in recent months. In mid-March 1998 five Western conservation and energy experts visited and critiqued Tainan's Binnan Industrial Complex plan and Taiwan's energy policy in general.

In late March Ainu anti-nuclear activists came from Japan to see nuclear plants and waste storage sites planned on the land of Taiwan's indigenous peoples. In early April the Taiwan Medical Professionals Association held legislative hearings and a conference on radiation health damage, with the participation of two victims of the Hanford, Washington State, plutonium-production facility. This international participation has made a great impact in Taiwan, and has been a crucial part of our anti-nuclear efforts. We will be pleased to hear from you who read this message, and hope you have ideas for further international links.

Taiwan Anti-Nuke Action Coalition
Taiwan Anti-Nuke Actions is organized by tens of Taiwan environmental and anti-nuke groups.

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