Environmentalists, members of the public and academics gathered yesterday to ask presidential candidates to discuss the issue of a nuclear-free homeland during the televised debates for the Jan. 14 presidential election.
To get a clear and open message from the candidates is important, said the Yilan Charlie Chen Foundation, the organizer of a platform that promotes discussion on nuclear issues. There has been too much flip-flopping on the commitment to scrapping construction of the country’s Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, it said.
“We want candidates representing the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] and Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] and People First Party to prove they are serious about our concerns,” foundation chairman Charlie Chen said.
Other organizations at the event — the Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and others — proposed that the debates should be held in one of the country’s nuclear power plants, so candidates could “face the fear themselves.”
Taiwan has three operational nuclear power plants. The issue of whether to continue building the fourth plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City, how to handle nuclear waste disposal and phase out nuclear power have been hotly debated in the run-up to the January elections.
Three televised debates have been scheduled for Saturday next week, Dec. 10 and Dec. 17.
Meanwhile, at a separate setting, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said his government was prepared to offer consumers a choice between using green electricity and electricity generated from conventional sources.
As the costs involved in renewable power generation are higher than conventional power generation, consumers who choose green electricity will need to pay higher prices, Ma said, adding that the government would announce the wholesale price for renewable energy every year and use it to set retail prices.
He made the comment while meeting a private group that promotes the use of green electricity.
State-run Taiwan Power Co would also be required to use the revenue generated from green electricity sales to develop renewable power generation, Ma said.
He also reaffirmed the government’s goal of gradually making Taiwan nuclear-free, saying that his government needs to ensure that there will be no power shortages and electricity rates remain at a reasonable level.
In related news, DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reaffirmed her commitment to a “nuclear-free homeland” at the launching of her regional campaign headquarters in Chiayi yesterday.
Tsai has promised to work for a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025. She said her vision for a nuclear-free homeland would not include an extension of the operational life of the three operating nuclear plants, and she would support the construction — but not eventual operation — of the fourth plant.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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