Taipower draws fire over nuclear power costs

Legislators and environmentalists attacked Taipower (台電) yesterday over what they said was the corporation's deliberate attempts to mislead the public by suggesting nuclear power was economically the most favorable energy policy.

At a panel discussion held at the Legislative Yuan, Lai Shih-chang (賴世章), a Taipower vice president, presented a comparative list of unit costs for the consumer for each of the various power station types, showing that nuclear power was the cheapest for Taiwan.

But the accuracy of Lai's information was severley criticized by energy analysts and legislators attending the discussion.

"You [Taipower officials] have underestimated the total cost of nuclear plants because `hidden' expenses such as decommissioning costs, radioactive waste management and disposal practices are in fact very high," said Li Ping-cheng (李秉正), an economist at Tamkang University.

Decommissioning costs estimated by the US Department of Energy have clearly shown that nuclear energy is not economical, Li said.

KMT Legislator Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) asked Lai if he could guarantee the accuracy of the information he presented.

"If other economists also find that Taipower has fabricated information to strengthen its policy [on adopting nuclear energy], would you be willing to resign?" Jao said, adding that attempting to deceive the Legislative Yuan was totally unacceptable.

"You should direct your criticism at Taipower's chairman, who should be held responsible for such a mistake, if indeed one is evident," Lai said, while maintaining that Taipower's information was trustworthy.

Environmentalists attending the talks argued that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project should have been shelved because Taipower had released too much what of what they called "false information."

"During the past 20 years, Taipower has continually failed to provide concrete data on cost issues to refute the arguments presented by antinuclear activists," said Chang Fu-tsung (張福淙), an accountant and activist from the New Environment Foundation (新環境基金會).

DPP Legislator Lai Chin-lin (賴勁麟) said that Taipower should have taken foreign experience into account when deciding its nuclear strategy.

"Advanced countries such as the US and UK had estimated total decommissioning costs based on the cost of maintenance, surveillance and component replacements," Lai said while outlining Taipower's apparent oversight of such fundamental issues.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs' committee charged with reevaluating the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project has conducted weekly meetings since June to decide the plant's future. It was expected a decision would be made about the future of the plant by the middle of September.

The DPP's Policy Research and Coordination Committee initially lobbied Premier Tang Fei (唐飛) over the cost issue on Aug. 7.

The committee presented its findings after conducting research with the assistance of Professor Chen Mo-shing (陳謨星), head of the Energy Systems Research Center at the University of Texas at Arlington in the US.