Taiwan agrees to shut down nuclear waste dump in Orchid Island
A 25-year-long battle in Taiwan between the area's government and indigenous people has culminated with the government agreeing to shut down a nuclear waste dump in Orchid Island by 2016. The island, about 65 km off Taiwan's southeast coast, is home to indigenous communities and has long been used to dump nuclear waste by Taiwan. The indigenous communities have been protesting against the dumping site since the 1980s.
The Taiwan-government owned Taiwan Power Co insists that the waste at the site contains low levels of radiation but the ngo Greenpeace has called it "a soup of highly radioactive poisons'.
The company will choose a new site in 2011 and will move the dump five years later, followed by a site cleanup through 2024.