"Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) A fuel oil spill that polluted waters off northern Taiwan after a gravel vessel ran aground will not pose a safety hazard to the country's No. 2 nuclear power plant, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Tuesday. Andy I-fu Shen, deputy director of the EPA's Department of Water Quality Protection, said the spill had not yet spread to waters near the power plant, which is located about 10 kilometers down the coast from where the vessel met with disaster. 'The movement of the spill might be determined by seasonal winds and coastal currents,' Shen said, adding that the EPA worked with state-utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) and the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to lay down oil containment booms as a precautionary measure. The No. 2 nuclear power plant draws some of its cooling water from the nearby ocean. The concern is that the fuel oil could contaminate the water used by the plant and damage the plant's cooling system itself. Shen said the authorities have also prepared oil-absorbent sheets near Dawulun Port, Wanli Port and Waimushan Port -- the areas under biggest threat from the spill -- and will make use of them once the fuel oil closes in on the shoreline. The spill occurred early Monday morning after the 'Jui Hsing,' a Panama-registered gravel vessel, ran aground near Keelung Harbor due to stormy weather. As of early Tuesday afternoon, six crew members were confirmed dead." (By Lee Hsin-Yin) https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1725204 Reading this article I was a bit stunned how light-hearted the government seems to treat the danger of a nuclear contamination of the ocean and the ground around Keelung that is definitely given through the oil spill flowing towards the power plant. Understandably, after Fukushima people are a bit itchy about the whole issue of nuclear catastrophes and of course the Taiwanese government doesn’t want hysteria to arise. But the worries are justified; disregarding the catastrophic consequences the oil spill has alone on nature and wildlife, the threat of a nuclear accident caused by the likeliness of the oil damaging the power plant’s system is very imminent in this case and shouldn’t be euphemized out of politically promotional reasons. This incident should enforce the general debate about the abolishment of nuclear power plants in Taiwan, for it clearly shows the highly imperilling factor these devices represent. But it depends on the Taiwanese population to let the government hear their voices and let them feel their protest, in a citizenship people can reach a lot if they work together. Up until now, after being recently confronted with the huge contamination caused by the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, people should finally realize, that nuclear power is not to be supported and should be ended as soon as possible. It’s up to you, in Germany the peoples’ protest accelerated and determined the governments anti-nuclear power policy, the Taiwanese can do that as well!