AEC: Radiation from Japan Not Detected in Taiwan

AEC: Radiation from Japan Not Detected in Taiwan

Source: United Daily News

March 31, 2011

The massive earthquake and tsunami which struck Japan on March 11 caused explosions at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, resulting in radiation leaks.  Slightly elevated levels of radiation have been detected in one country after another in Asia, but no radiation has reportedly been detected in Taiwan, raising suspicion among the public.  Yesterday both the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reassured the public that the 50 radiation detection stations around Taiwan had detected no elevated levels of radiation, showing that everything was normal.  AEC Vice Minister Huang Ching-tung reiterated that “no harmful levels of radiation have been detected so far.”

Cheng Ming-dean, director of the CWB's weather forecasting center, stressed that even if the wind blew from Japan towards Taiwan, the public did not need to worry for two reasons: 1) The radioactive fallout would dissipate in the atmosphere and cause little threat; 2) The major problem at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant involved water contamination, and there have been no more explosions.   Water contamination in Japan could not affect Taiwan.

The nuclear crisis in Japan has not been resolved, a number of countries have moved their embassies out of Tokyo.  Asked when the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan and its branch in Yokohama would be evacuated, Thomas Hou, Vice Foreign Minister, stated yesterday that if the radiation levels in Tokyo reached 300 microsievets per hour, all staff and dependents would be evacuated to Osaka.

Huang Ming-lung, secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry’s East Asian Relations Commission, stated that our mission in Tokyo and its branch in Yokohama had a staff of 120.  The Foreign Ministry would need to arrange additional accommodations in Osaka because the branch in Osaka could only accommodate just an additional 20 or so staff members.

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