Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), the government owned enterprise that operates Taiwan's six nuclear reactors, secretly negotiated a contract with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to dump nuclear waste in an abandoned mine in North Korea. The first shipment is scheduled to leave Taiwan by the end of February.

The trans-boundary export of nuclear waste is one of the most irresponsible acts of the global nuclear industry. Because of ill-considered plans to build and operate nuclear reactors, governments and industry are confronted with the problem of nuclear waste. There is no environmentally safe method of managing these wastes, and yet the nuclear industry continues to produce them. This is just one reason why Greenpeace is opposed to nuclear energy in all countries.

The decision of Taipower to conclude a nuclear waste dumping deal with the DPRK is exploitation, plain and simple. North Korea is in an economic crisis, and in the short term desperately needs funds to buy food and other essentials for her people. But in the longer term North Korea could face environmental disaster and the much greater costs of dealing with poisoned, contaminated land and water supplies, increased rates of cancer and other health problems.

Please add your voice to the global protest, and call on Taiwan to cancel this contract. You can either fax or mail your letter to the Chairman of the Taiwan Power Company and send a copy to the Taiwan Representative Office nearest to you.

Print out a draft letter: to the Chairman of the Taiwan Power Company

Send a copy to the Taiwan representative office near you

Taipower, which operates six reactors of US design (GE and Westinghouse), is confronted with the problem faced by the nuclear industry worldwide - what to do with a growing mountain of nuclear waste. In Taiwan, spent nuclear fuel removed from the reactors is stored in crowded pools at the reactor sites and the remaining waste, improperly dubbed "low-level" has been dumped on Lan Yu (Orchid) Island, a small island 40 miles off the southwest coast occupied by the Yami, an indigenous Pacific people. The Yami have valiantly struggled to halt the dumping of nuclear waste by Taiwan.

Press Release:   17 December 1997: GREENPEACE DEMANDS THAT TAIWAN OFFICIALLY CANCELS RADIOACTIVE WASTE SHIPMENTS TO NORTH KOREA

Press Release:   15 May 1997: TAIWAN POWER COMPANY MISREPRESENTS RADIOACTIVITY OF NUCLEAR WASTE TO BE SENT TO NORTH KOREA

Press Release:   3 April 1997: TAIWAN NUCLEAR WASTE SHIPMENT: GREENPEACE CALLS FOR RESPONSIBLE ABOVE-GROUND MONITORED STORAGE IN TAIWAN.

Press Release:   14 February 1997: PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS JOIN TOGETHER AT TAIWAN MISSION TO PROTEST TAIWAN'S PLAN TO DUMP NUCLEAR WASTE IN KOREA.

More Press Releases

Greenpeace Statement Against Taiwan's Plan

A History of the Radioactive waste Crisis in Taiwan