The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) must phase out the nation’s three operational nuclear power plants and stop the fourth from coming online or let the public decide the matter through referendum, experts told a forum on nuclear security yesterday.
“A decision should be made within a year so we can minimize the overall potential danger,” said Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene.
While nobody wants to see a repeat of Japan’s nuclear crisis, Chan said “several signs” pointed to the likelihood that Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants would face a crisis under similar circumstances.
While Ma said earlier this week he hoped Taipei and Beijing would cooperate on nuclear safety, Chan said nuclear security was a global matter requiring international cooperation.
“My suggestion is that Taiwan talk with the international community rather than turn to China to solve all its problems,” Chan told the forum, which was organized by the Taiwan Brain Trust (TBT).
TBT chairman Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) said the Ma administration was reluctant to stop construction at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), because it concerned massive business interests.
“The contract has been signed so the government still has to pay up if it stops work at the plant,” he said. “Unless Taiwanese speak up and tell the government what they want, the government will push its own agenda.”
Shih Shin-min (施信民), a professor of chemical engineering at National Taiwan University, said Taiwan had a chance to become a nuclear-free country.
“It is all about political will,” he said.
“While nuclear power accounts for 10.72 percent of the [nation’s] total power supply, there would still be a 28.1 percent surplus of electricity left during peak hours if we shut down three of the nuclear power plants and stop building the fourth,” he said. “At the moment, we don’t need to rely on nuclear power.”
Shih also cast doubt on assurances by the Atomic Energy Council and Taiwan Power Co, which operates the plants, that Taiwan’s nuclear power plants were safe.
Wang To-far (王塗發), a professor of economics at National Taipei University, said Taiwan had significant potential to develop renewable energy.
Taiwan can generate 5,000MW of wind power, much more than the 2,700MW the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant would produce once it comes online, he said, adding that Taiwan would have no problem producing 1GW with solar energy.
“It is possible to increase the power generated by renewable energy from 6 percent to 12 percent by 2020,” he said. “However, the problem is whether the Ma administration has the political will and determination to do so.”
Wang said the Ma administration was not enthusiastic about clean energy because it was bent on promoting nuclear power. As the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is near completion, the government has reached the conclusion that it is unnecessary to develop renewable energy, he said.
However, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has many problems, including the use of sub-standard materials and the “illegal” alteration of 700 safety-related designs, which is being investigated by the Control Yuan, Wang said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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