In order to establish the contribution spirit and the responsible attitude for the personnel who engage in nuclear safety related work, Taipower started to promote nuclear safety culture in full force in 1993. After a review meeting, based on implementation experiences, held for the high-ranking nuclear operation officials, a nuclear safety culture reinforcement project was set up in 1998.

    In 2008, the approaches that Taipower adopted to promote a nuclear safety culture were:

1. Substantiating measures to prevent human errors.

2. Establishing a sound operation procedure program for employees to follow.

3. Upgrading training performance and inviting personnel from relevant units to participate in nuclear safety culture seminars.

4. Promoting new knowledge of nuclear safety to every generation sector to make employees see nuclear safety a part of their life.

    In order to effectively monitor the promotion status of nuclear safety culture in nuclear power plants, 6 resultant and 6 progressive performance indicators were established. They were used to periodically follow-up and review the performance of nuclear safety culture to maintain its ongoing improvement. Quarterly reports on the execution results were submitted to MOEA and the Atomic Energy Council. The MOEA will assign personnel to conduct an on-the-spot inspection every year.

    In order to enforce nuclear power plant management and minimize the radwaste production, each nuclear power plant has set up its own specific Low- level Radwaste Minimization Program and established a special task force to reduce the production of low-level radwaste, respectively. The company sponsors programs to develop new radwaste volume reduction technologies, such as high efficiency solidification technologies (PWR-HEST, BWR-HEST) developed by Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (INER). These measures can further reduce the quantity of existing solidification, and may promote the quality of solidification simultaneously.

    In 2008, the production of solidification radwaste of the First, the Second and the Third Nuclear Power Plant were 180, 61 and 12 drums, respectively, a total of 253 drums, the lowest in recent years. The achievements in radwaste management made a great contribution to the environmental protection and the relaxation of radwaste storage pressure.

    The Nuclear Materials and Radioactive Waste Management Act”calls for the waste producer to be responsible for the management of its radioactive waste and to bear the cost thereof. Complying with the Act and its enforcement rules, Taipower submitted“The Low-Level (Radioactive) Waste (LLW) Final Disposal Plan”to the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) for review and approval. On May 24, 2006, the“Act on Sites for Establishment of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Final Disposal Facility”was signed into law and became effective. It stipulates the disposal site selection procedure and associated measures, and furthermore designates the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) as the implementing authority. After being designated as the site selection operator by the MOEA, Taipower implemented the field investigation and public acceptance activities.

    In Aug 2008, three potential sites were selected for further study, of which at least two will be recommended for local referendum.