US energy experts yesterday provided government officials with possible alternatives to nuclear energy, recommending an immediate halt to construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四廠).
Meeting with members of a Ministry of Economic Affairs task force charged with reviewing the project at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, the experts stressed that alternatives to nuclear energy could be cost-effective.
The four energy analysts, John Byrne, Edward Smeloff, Amory Lovins and his wife, Hunter Lovins, whose visit was sponsored by the US-based W Alton Jones Foundation, began their visit to Taiwan yesterday by presenting practical information on new technologies which are being developed in the energy sector.
They said that energy efficiency should be improved and renewable energy sources considered.
During the meeting, Smeloff referred to his previous experience of closing of a nuclear power plant to illustrate that alternative sources of power could cost the consumer less and yet not be a burden to the economy.
Smeloff served on the elected board of directors of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the fifth-largest publicly owned utility in the US, between 1987 and 1997.
Smeloff's comments were greeted with words of positive support from some members of the economics ministry task force.
DPP Legislator Lai Chin-lin (
"If sound cost analysis by US experts tells us that building nuclear power plants is not as cheap as Taipower (
Some members were skeptical, however, because they believe that Taiwan is a different case from other countries because of its growing population and limited land.
Wang Chung-yu (
The economics ministry's task force is expected to decide by mid-September whether to continue with the controversial power project.
The visiting energy experts also visited the ministry's Energy Commission (能源會) yesterday, saying that the huge capital investment and corresponding ecological burden of nuclear and coal plants needed to be addressed head-on to establish a more sustainable long-term power policy.
They said that it was necessary to phase out uneconomical -- including nuclear -- power plants, as part of a transition to a more market-oriented electricity system, adding that it was clearly necessary to abandon the controversial nuclear power plant project.
Energy commission officials, however, said that Taiwan was a small island, which lacked natural resources.
"Because of this situation, the project for the nuclear plant is still under debate. The fact is, however, that we're facing power shortage problems," Chen Chao-yih (
Energy commission officials told the Taipei Times that Taiwan was not falling behind the international community in the energy sector because it was working on adopting alternatives, such as wind power and methane collected from garbage landfill sites. They added that eight wind power plants will be completed by the end of 2001.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS