Power and passion

Driving along the windswept Northern Coastal Highway, between the seafood haven of Audi (澳底) and the resort town of Fulung (福隆), it is easy to miss Yenliao (鹽寮) -- after all, there is virtually nothing there in the way of human habitation.

But the area, in which the township of Kungliao falls, has become notorious as the site of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四).

Yenliao is located within the Northeast Coast National Scenic Area Administration (東北角海岸國家風景區管理處), which takes care of northern Taiwan's most attractive and popular stretch of coastline. This area, which has traditionally relied on fishing to eke out a precarious living, has been the focus of considerable construction activity. On the face of it, this might seem to be a source of future prosperity. Along with subsidies and the increased local spending that comes from the nuclear plant's construction, the central government is also pushing tourism development.

"It is unfortunate that the geological factors that make this area beautiful [the massive outcrops of volcanic rock] also make it ideal for the location of a nuclear plant," said Tseng Kuo-chi (曾國基), secretary of the scenic area administration. "The first two nuclear plants are located on the Kinshan (金山) and Wanlin (萬里) coastline. The third plant is in Kenting," Tseng said with an embarrassed shrug. These are all areas rich in tourism resources.

Looking up from the Yenliao Beach Park (鹽寮海濱公園), the tall cranes, now abandoned, at least temporarily, make a strange backdrop to what Lo Che-chi (羅哲紀) hopes will be the future of tourism on Taiwan's northeast coast.

Lo is the director of Today Tomorrow (今明), a management firm which has taken over the design and operation of the beach park, which has been defunct since 1997. The project to revive the resort began last year, and has proceeded with little regard to the construction of the nuclear power plant no more than 100m away.

In the design of the resort, "we do not intend to encourage people to bathe in the sea water," Lo said. With this in mind, he felt confident that whether the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant goes ahead or not, the beach park will be able to attract tourists. "Most Taiwanese don't like beaches anyway," he said, "especially when they have a lovely environment like this with shade and bathing pools."

"In any case, if we judge from other places [such as Nanwan in Kenting, which is located next to the Third Nuclear Power Plant], the completion of the plant will not affect tourist numbers here."

As for the people who actually live in Kungliao, they have mixed feelings about what the development of the northeast coast is likely to bring. Wu Shu-chin (吳淑真) of the Haihsianchiao Seafood Restaurant in nearby Audi laments the loss of business from people connected with the power plant construction project.

"With more money and more opportunities, the construction brought many young people back to Yanliao," Wu said. "And the subsidies [provided by Taipower for people in the region] mean that our children could receive a better education." For Wu, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant represented economic opportunity for a poor and underdeveloped area. "I don't think more than a third of the local people are anti-nuclear," she said. "Better education will give our children a better future."