The Automatic Energy Council (AEC) , the highest authority of nuclear power management in Taiwan, has expressed doubt that the newly built Fourth Nuclear Power Plant can start full operations in late 2011 as scheduled, a spokesman for the council said Tuesday. Although the plant has begun operating on a trial basis, some equipment has still not been installed. 'There is a distance to go before full operations can start, ' said Chen Chih-ping, an official of the AEC's Department of Radiation Protection. The plant's operator, the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), announced a preliminary schedule saying that the No. 4 nuclear plant -- situated in Taipei County's Gungliao township in northern Taiwan -- will start commercial operations at the end of 2011. Taipower Vice President Hsu Hwei-chiung said the trial phase has begun and will last for about a year, during which all the facilities will be tested. It is expected that the power plant -- formally named the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant -- will begin initial power generation in December, when the fuel rods are loaded, he added. Hsu, however, also pointed out that the planned schedule for full operations could be delayed by many factors, including possible glitches in the digital control equipment and generators. The modern power plant has more than 130 separate systems, all of which have to undergo testing, Hsu noted. 