President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should learn from his mentor, late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), and make the voice of the people his top priority and suspend construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, a lawmaker and anti-nuclear activists said yesterday.
Despite being an authoritarian, Chiang, who ruled Taiwan from 1978 to 1988, ordered the suspension of plans to build the nuclear power plant in 1985 “because people still had concerns about nuclear power,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) told a press conference.
Citing a copy of the Chinese-language United Daily News published on May 3, 1985, as proof, Tien said if Ma really saw Chiang as his role model, he should “have the guts” to order the third construction suspension in the plant’s 30-year history because “that is what Taiwanese want.”
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
After construction eventually began in the late 1990s, the second suspension was ordered by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2000.
The controversy over the plant, located in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), has been hotly discussed across the country as the opposition, anti-nuclear activists and several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members have called for the construction to be suspended, blocking an additional budget allocation for the project and stopping the plant from becoming operational.
While Ma and the KMT have said their eventual goal is a nuclear-free homeland, Ma has insisted on completing the construction and leaving the question of whether the plant should become operational for future deliberation.
Supporters who back the nuclear power plant project, which has cost more than NT$300 billion (US$10.1 billion), said a suspension would result in a huge contract breach penalty, which would have to be paid by the government and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and which would push up the price of electricity.
Tien said that suspending the construction now would cost less than retiring the plant, as a Taipower report in 2000 showed that the total cost of a suspension would be between NT$67.4 billion and NT$88.7 billion.
“The construction was resumed after Chen Shui-bian’s failed attempt and what we now know is that the project has cost an additional budget of more than NT$200 billion,” she said.
The lawmaker rejected Ma’s pledge to invite international experts to evaluate nuclear safety at the plant once the construction is completed.
Citing a document provided by Atomic Energy Council Minister Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻), Tien said that no international expert or organization would endorse nuclear safety for another country.
The decision Ma would have to make would be a political one rather than technological, said political analyst Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), who witnessed Chiang’s surprising policy change as a reporter.
“If Chiang was president today, I think he would have made the same decision,” Yang said.
Nuclear activists also offered arguments to counter nuclear power supporters’ claims of rising electricity prices once the nation’s nuclear power plants are phased out.
Global nuclear power output has been staying at about the same level since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and statistics show that the number of retired nuclear reactors rose in two peaks — after the Chernobyl accident and after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan in 2011, Green Party Taiwan convener Pan Han-sheng (潘翰聲) said.
Green Consumers Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) said Taipower had overestimated the cost of electricity production per megawatt-hour for natural gas and underestimated that for nuclear power, adding that electricity output in Taiwan has been twice that of demand.
“I would say that the electricity price would not increase as Taipower claims, even if operations at all four nuclear power plants are suspended,” he said.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) told a separate press conference that he plans to propose an amendment to the Atomic Energy Act (原子能法) which stipulates that new nuclear reactors cannot be made operational before a regional referendum of residents in a 50km radius of the reactor eligible to vote has been held to vote on the issue.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the
Environmental groups yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan, seeking to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) conditionally approved in February for the Hsieh-ho Power Plant’s planned fourth liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station off the coast of Keelung. The appeal was filed jointly by the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association and the Keelung City Taiwan Head Cultural Association, which together held a news conference outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei. Explaining the reasons for the appeal, Wang Hsing-chih (王醒之) of the Protect Waimushan Seashore Action Group said that the EIA failed to address
RSS