Nuclear power must go
On Monday, the Taipei Times reported that a reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) was shut down after a cooling system failure (“Reactor fixed, Taipower awaits approval to restart,” July 24, page 1).
Earlier this year, the same power plant had to shut down its reactor due to a cooling system issue. That is two similar incidents at the same facility in one year.
Why is there no government investigation into the plant?
Last month, two more nuclear power plants had issues. Weather knocked down a power transmission tower, which caused the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) to shut down, and a water pump at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) overheated. So far this year, there have been four incidents at nuclear power plants.
Taiwan is to phase out nuclear power by 2025, but that is not a guarantee of safety. That is eight years away and a lot can happen in eight years. That is enough time for the government to investigate all nuclear power plants. Even then, there could still be a disaster.
Nuclear power in Taiwan is a ticking time bomb because of earthquakes and typhoons. All it takes is one typhoon or one strong earthquake, as what happened in [Japan’s] Fukushima [Dai-ichi nuclear power plant], to bring down a building or damage a nuclear power plant that can cause a disaster.
Taiwan could have its own Fukushima, which happened five years ago and the Japanese are still decontaminating.
The solution is to switch from fossil and nuclear fuels to renewables. The cost of solar power continues to decline, while Europe is also switching to renewables.
Yet, in the same Monday edition of the Taipei Times, Mark Lin (林明儒), owner of Taichung-based Feng Hsin Steel Co, said: “A nuclear-free Taiwan is not practical or urgent in light of global trends.”
A nuclear-free Taiwan is practical, urgent and necessary.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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