Tawian’s Ministry of Economic Affairs recently announced three proposed sites for nuclear waste. Two of these sites are located near indigenous communities in the counties of Pingtung and Taitung in southern Taiwan.
As TITVWeekly explains in the following 2-minute news brief, the governments of all three counties have said they will conduct environment evaluations and hold referendums on the issue before proceeding. A location will be chosen in 2011.
Members from the Nantian community of Taitung County have begun to express concerns over the possibility of living next door to a nuclear waste dump. They say they should have been told about it a long time ago, and now they want detailed information to make an informed decision on whether or not they want the dump. Other members from the community just want to benefit from the dump.
The third largest county on the island, Taitung holds the largest population of indigenous people in Taiwan.
If you want to learn more about the dangers of nuclear waste sites, please see here