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Nuclear decision fails to win over public, poll finds

Opponents of the cancellation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant outnumber those who support the Cabinet's decision by almost 40 percent, DPP surveys released yesterday showed.

An overwhelming majority would, however, back cancellation of the project if they could be sure that their electricity supplies would be guaranteed, the survey found, suggesting that both the party and Cabinet have to prove to the public that power supplies will not be endangered by the cancellation of the project if they want to garner public backing for the decision.

A poll of 1,198 people conducted in the wake of Fridays decision showed that 47.5 percent of the respondents disapproved of the Cabinet's decision to halt the project, while 33.3 percent supported the Cabinet's move.

The DPP, however, was not disheartened by the results, pointing out a similar poll on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 had found a gap of 26 percentage points between the two sides. That this has now narrowed to 14 percentage points has been taken as evidence that the DPP's message was getting across.

DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said the figures showed that "as long as the DPP continued to work hard to launch anti-nuclear campaigns to shift public opinion on the plant, the anti-nuclear sentiment will gain the upper hand."

The DPP will launch a series of anti-nuclear campaigns to shift public opinion, and the latest campaign, starting today, includes TV commercials as well as the circulation of 20,000 copies of an 80-page anti-nuclear pamphlet, Wu said.

But the poll's findings also suggest that Taiwanese seek not so much convincing of the dangers and problems associated with nuclear power as much as they want reassurances that scrapping the project will not lead to power shortages or blackouts.

When asked whether, if no blackouts were to happen or alternative power supply measures were well in place to solve power shortage problems, they supported the nuclear power plant project, 58.4 percent of respondents said they preferred scrapping the project, while only 29.9 percent still supported continuing the construction.

"This indicates that the alternative power supply package is a crucial factor that influences public opinion on the project. If the public has confidence in the alternative package presented by the government, then the anti-nuclear proportion [of the population] will rise sharply," said Chen Jun-lin (陳俊麟), director of the DPP's survey center.

But the survey did not ask if the public had confidence in the alternative power supply package.

The government has promised that Taiwan has ample power for another seven years even without the plant, in direct contradiction of statements by the Taiwan Power Co made during the previous KMT administration.

Although the public might not be strongly behind canceling the nuclear plant project, it is not very supportive of attempts by the opposition to "punish" the government for its action, the survey found.

Over half of the respondents (56.1 percent) were opposed to the threat by some opposition parties to hold up the central government's 2001 budget bill, while 26.1 percent said they supported the measure.

Also, 48.4 percent said they had no confidence in Taipower's ability to handle a nuclear disaster while some 33.6 percent said they were confident that Taipower could manage such a crisis very well.

Over 77.1 percent of the respondents said that the government should obtain the approval of residents in Kungliao township (貢寮鄉) in Taipei County, where the controversial plant is located, before beginning construction of the power plant.
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