Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) is to meet with local government heads of Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市) and Keelung today to discuss the controversial construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District amid growing opposition against the plant from within the pan-blue camp.
The meeting was arranged shortly after Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) voiced concern over the safety of the power plant and said that he would vote to support suspension of the plant’s construction if there was to be referendum held now.
As the three local government heads in the cities that are closest to the power plant, Hau, New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Keelung Mayor Chang Tong-rong (張通榮) are to meet with Jiang today to exchange ideas about the controversial power plant and nuclear power issues.
His opposition to the construction of the plant has not changed, and his stance will remain the same unless new information proves the safety of the plant, Hau said yesterday.
“Most Taipei residents share the same concern about the safety of the plant, and the information available now shows that the plant, after undergoing construction suspension and a change of plans, doesn’t look safe,” he said.
He urged state-run Taiwan Power Co to provide more relevant information and invite foreign experts to make a thorough inspection of the plant. He added that he would express the people of Taipei’s concern about the plant’s safety during today’s meeting.
The Executive Yuan said that the government’s plan to determine whether to halt the construction of the plant via a national referendum remained the same, and the premier would listen to opinions from the three mayors and exchange ideas on the issue.
Chu agreed that the real question should be whether the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant can operate safely, and said that today’s meeting aims to address that issue.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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