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Legislative body voices support for nuclear plant

The non-partisan Health, Welfare and Environment Foundation (HWEF, 厚生會) of the Legislative Yuan voiced its support for the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant as it unveiled yesterday its annual paper on policy recommendations.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and foundation president Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) claimed that many leading environmentalists have had a change of heart about nuclear power in the face of global warming and the sharp rise in energy prices.

"It is true that we do not have a sound solution yet to the problem of nuclear waste disposal," Yang said. "But right now, reducing carbon emissions is the more pressing issue."

However, not all environmentalists agreed with the foundation.

Gloria Hsu (徐光蓉), chairwoman of Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, described the foundation's position on nuclear energy as "slaking a thirst by drinking poison."

"Where are we going to put the waste?" Hsu asked, adding that energy conservation rather than nuclear energy should be adopted to reduce emissions.

Yang responded that nuclear energy was a necessary evil until alternative energy technologies, including wind and solar, mature.

The foundation releases a series of policy recommendations on health, welfare and environmental issues every year called the HWEF White Paper. In addition to its recommendation for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant to go ahead, this year's paper called for reforms to make the cash-strapped National Health Insurance Program financially solvent and to address other social welfare issues.

The paper was written by a group of academics, who crafted the policy recommendations based on their field of expertise.

Yang said their perspective was important to assist policymakers who tend to be more concerned with political rather than actual issues.

"There is too much partisanship and pandering in Taiwanese politics and too many blank checks being signed to attract votes," Yang said. "Not enough attention is being paid to issues that affect our daily life."

"We hope that whichever party wins in the upcoming presidential election, they will take the recommendations in the white paper seriously," Yang said.

Even though its members are mainly composed of legislators, the HWEF is a non-partisan organization, Yang said.

"Before me, the previous president was from the Democratic Progressive Party, and the one after me may come from the People First Party," Yang said.

The foundation has played an important role in formulating policy recommendations that have resulted in new institutions such as the national pension program, which will be instituted in December, Yang said.
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