Notable case, Taoyuan District, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Former RCA plant, Taoyuan
臺灣美國無線電公司（RCA）桃園廠
A television components factory of the Radio Corporation of America, active in Taoyuan from 1970 to 1992. For years spent chlorinated solvents were poured into wells dug on the premises: the groundwater stayed polluted for decades, and the lawsuit by former employees with cancer is Taiwan's best known environmental and labour case.
At a glance
- Status
- Remediation under way
- Area
- 7.2 ha on land1
- Activity
- 1970–1992
- People affected
- 1,375 (2001)2
- Media
- soil, groundwater
- Kind of site
- chemical works, illegal dumping
- National list
- Listed 2004土壤及地下水污染控制場址、整治場址
- Area. Surface of the plant (Chinese-language Wikipedia). The groundwater plume extends beyond the perimeter; its extent is not in the sources read.
- People affected. Former employees with cancer according to a 2001 count (Chinese-language Wikipedia); 216 dead. Over its years of operation RCA employed between 20,000 and 30,000 people in Taiwan.
Contaminants
Organic compounds
National list
Remediation site (整治場址)Taiwan
Taiwan – control sites and remediation sites (Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act) (土壤及地下水污染控制場址、整治場址)
- Listed
- 2004
- Official id
- H00001
About this list
Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act (Articles 2 and 12): the local authority announces a 'control site' (控制場址) where pollution from an identified source meets the control standards; if the preliminary assessment finds a serious danger to health and the living environment, it becomes, with the central authority's approval, a 'remediation site' (整治場址). A site is delisted (公告解除, Article 26) once concentrations fall below the standards or the approved goals.
One row per site code, with its latest announcement; when delisted land is announced again, the new announcement has another code (e.g. N00967 and N13969). Nine sites in ten are single farmland plots (農地, site_type), almost all already delisted, and many share coordinates. Groundwater use restriction areas, a different kind of announcement, are left out. Contaminants are those of the announcement, without concentrations; there is no per-site page.
Status
Remediation under way
According to Chinese-language Wikipedia, two verification rounds on all 167 wells of the site (November 2024 and March 2025, wet and dry season) found groundwater below the control standards, and the remediation completion report was filed in July 2025. Whether the site has been delisted was not checked.
Story
RCA opened its main Taoyuan plant in 1970, on about 7.2 hectares, to make electronic components and television tuners. In 1986 the company passed to General Electric and in 1988 the plant to France's Thomson, which discovered the contamination in 1991, closed the factory in 1992 and sold the land to a property developer.
On 1 June 1994 the legislator and former head of the environment agency Chao Shao-kang revealed that the plant had for years disposed of spent solvents by pouring them into wells dug for the purpose. Investigations found 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1-dichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichloroethylene in neighbours' wells. Residents were given bottled water and connected to the mains. Employees had drunk groundwater in the factory and in the dormitories.
General Electric and Thomson spent over 200 million Taiwan dollars on the soil, whose clean-up ended in 1997, but stated that they could not restore the groundwater. The site was listed in 2002 and 2004; in 2005 the environment agency named RCA as the responsible party. The groundwater was later treated by biological reductive dechlorination.
The class action by former employees, begun in 2004, led in 2015 to a first award of 564.45 million Taiwan dollars, raised on appeal in 2017 to 718.4 million for 486 people; the Supreme Court later dismissed the company's appeal. All facts in this and the preceding paragraphs come from Chinese-language Wikipedia.
Timeline
- 1970RCA opens the Taoyuan plant.
- 1992Thomson closes the plant and sells the land.
- 19941 June: the dumping of solvents into wells is made public.
- 1997Soil clean-up completed; the groundwater remains contaminated.
- 2004The environment agency lists the site for groundwater remediation; former employees start the class action.
- 2017Appeal: 718.4 million Taiwan dollars to 486 people.
- 2025July: the groundwater remediation completion report is filed.
Health
According to a 2001 count reported by Chinese-language Wikipedia, at least 1,375 former employees had developed cancer and 216 had died. The same article notes that, of the solvents found, only trichloroethylene is classed by IARC as a definite carcinogen, with sufficient evidence for kidney cancer, and that the link with other cancers remains debated; the court nonetheless accepted causation by reversing the burden of proof.
Remediation
- 1996excavationSoil clean-up paid for by General Electric and Thomson, completed in 1997; according to English Wikipedia about 7,600 m³ of soil was removed.
- 1994alternative water supplyBottled water and mains connection for residents; ban on using groundwater.
Plants and fungi at this site
Microbial bioremediationField scale
Full-scale enhanced reductive dechlorination in groundwater: monthly injections of molasses into 146 wells to create anaerobic conditions and stimulate the dechlorinating bacteria already present underground. The method was chosen after pilot tests of two techniques. The description comes from the consultancy Roux, which does not name RCA but describes an 18-acre former television factory in Taoyuan: the identification needs confirming.
Outcome Over four years of operation the mass of tetrachloroethylene fell by more than 98% and that of trichloroethylene by more than 95% (a figure from the firm that ran the work, not from an independent study).
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Populus × generosaHybrid poplar (P. trichocarpa × P. deltoides)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: field
- Populus × canadensisCanadian poplar (P. deltoides × P. nigra)Chlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Fungi
- Trametes versicolorTurkey tailChlorinated solvents (TCE, PCE, chloroform)Evidence: laboratory
Nearby
Sources
- 臺灣美國無線電公司污染案 (RCA Taiwan pollution case), Wikipedia (zh), 2026
- RCA Corporation, section Environmental issues, Wikipedia, 2026
- Chlorinated Solvents & Groundwater Remediation (project sheet), Roux Associates
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.