A report on whether to halt construction work on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant will not be completed for at least three months, the incoming Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) told legislators yesterday.
This, however, might be a more rapid result than had originally been expected. Before going into a closed-door meeting with DPP lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Lin had told reporters that four to six months was the likely time frame for compiling the report.
After the meeting DPP legislative caucus leader Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) said that Lin had told the group it might be possible to complete the report earlier.
Lin had told the group that it was extremely important to reevaluate the project, given that the circumstances in which it was originally planned had changed.
"Although it takes time to verify some conflicting figures, we hope that we can curtail the time needed," Lin told the legislators.
The Taiwan Power Company (Taipower), as well as the Atomic Energy Council, which supervises the nuclear power industry, would be required by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to offer details and statistics related to the construction project for further examination, Lin said.
Plans for the construction of the plant -- and opposition to it -- date back to 1980, when Taipower formally presented the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project proposal.
Disputes and protests between environmental and political groups and the government have raged nearly non-stop ever since.
In 1994 the Legislative Yuan passed a special budget package for the long-delayed project.
The fate of the project in Kungliao township, Taipei County, however, has hung in the balance since the DPP's Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- who pledged during his election campaign to stop all future nuclear power projects -- won the March 18 presidential election.
The incoming Cabinet, including Lin, thus decided to set up an ad-hoc task force under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs to re-assess the project.
Lin said yesterday that the re-evaluation task force aimed to clarify the issue to the public and that he had no preconceived stance on the issue.
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