As many as 65 percent of respondents are not confident about the nation’s nuclear security should an earthquake of the same magnitude that struck Japan on March 11 hit Taiwan, a poll conducted by the Taiwan Thinktank showed yesterday.
Amid fears that radiation from damaged nuclear power plants in Fukushima, Japan, could spread across the region, the Taiwan Thinktank conducted a survey on the public’s confidence in nuclear security in the country.
Asked if they feel confident about the safety of nuclear plants should Taiwan be hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake, 65 percent answered “no,” while only 21 percent said “yes.”
Answering the question on whether they have confident in the government’s ability to handle disasters, only 26 percent of the respondents were confident, while 62 percent said they were either “not very confident” or “not confident at all.” Meanwhile, nearly 80 percent of respondents believed that the government “is not ready” to handle such a powerful earthquake, along with a tsunami, were such a disaster to occur in Taiwan tomorrow.
Questioned on whether the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), should continue, 58 percent said that construction should be suspended, while only 27 percent said it should continue.
In addition, 75 percent of respondents said they do not believe that nuclear power plants in the country “sit safely on the rock like a Bodhisattva,” as Atomic Energy Council Deputy Minister Huang Tsing-tung (黃慶東) described them during a legislative meeting on Monday.
Citing the results, Taiwan Thinktank executive director Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said at a news conference held to release the results that if the public harbors so many doubts about nuclear power plants, then the government should allow the public to decide future nuclear policy through a referendum.
Former Environmental Protection Agency minister Chang Kuo-long (張國龍), now a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Physics, said that while most people think the Chinese government does not respect human rights, Chinese authorities have ordered that the construction of nuclear power plants be suspended.
However, that the government, under the leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), insists on developing nuclear energy and is continuing with the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant shows that it is an irresponsible government, he said.
Former minister of transportation and communications Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) said the government had failed to inform the public about what to do if radioactive substances reached Taiwan.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant professor at Soochow University’s Department of Political Science, compared the situation in Japan following the earthquake to that of New Zealand, which was also hit by a severe earthquake last month.
He said that even though New Zealand was also hit by a serious earthquake, it did not have a nuclear crisis like Japan because the country did not have any nuclear power plants.
“What happened to the myth that we’ve been told about nuclear energy being high-tech and safe?” Hsu said.
In related news, several environmental and civic groups are to organize a rally against nuclear power in Taipei tomorrow afternoon, to demand that the government stop plans to expand the nation’s three existing nuclear power plants and the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
The rally will begin at 1:30pm at the intersection of Shanxing S Road and Xinyi Road, followed by a parade.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOA IOK-SIN
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS