The government has announced it will pay NT$2.55 billion (US$83.5 million) in compensation to the indigenous people of Orchid Island.
The island, off Taiwan’s southeast coast, has been used as a storage site for low-level nuclear waste since 1982. The last shipment of waste arrived in 1996. The island now has more than 97,000 55-gallon steel barrels of waste, including contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, equipment and tools, and reactor water treatment residue.
A fact-finding commission reports that the island’s indigenous Tao People were not informed of the decision to use their home as a dumping site beforehand, and that the Tao People never gave their consent for the operation. The commission has concluded that the government must pay the Tao People compensation.
On Friday, the economics ministry said that a fund will be set up to manage the compensation money.
President Tsai Ing-wen traveled to Taitung County, where the island is located, Friday to hear a report on the compensation issue. She said the government hopes the fund will benefit the Tao People and help Orchid Island move towards sustainable development. She also said that the government will continue working to provide transitional justice to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.