Premier Jiang Yi-huah says fuel rods will not be loaded into the reactor of the fourth nuclear power plant.
Jiang made the comments in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. He also dismissed talk that fuel rods will be loaded in June as rumors. The Cabinet said that safety checks on the power plant will be completed in the second half of this year. It also said that fuel rods will not be loaded before a referendum decides whether to keep the power plant.
Construction on the fourth nuclear power plant began in 1999 but remains incomplete. Opponents of the plant say it is located in an earthquake-prone area. A series of accidents during construction has also raised safety concerns.
The Cabinet stressed that the results of safety checks conducted by the Taipower Company, the power plant’s operator, will be sent to the government’s Atomic Energy Council for review. It also said that after that, the safety reports will be checked by experts with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the United States.