A Japanese nuclear scientist and researcher says that if a nuclear accident occurred at one of northern Taiwan’s nuclear power plants, about 30,000 people would die within a short period of time and up to 7 million people could develop cancer from exposure to the nuclear radiation.

Hiroaki Koide, a nuclear reactor specialist who has been an assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute since 1974, spoke yesterday at a civic nuclear-free forum and met environmental protection groups in Taipei over the weekend.