Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday proposed that the nation’s capital be relocated outside the “evacuation zone” in the 50km radius around operational nuclear power plants.
“Of the 211 nuclear power plants operating around the world, there are only six plants that have more than 3 million people living within 30km of them, and two of them are the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Shihmen District (石門) and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in the same city’s Wanli District (萬里),” Lin Shih-chia said.
If the yet to be completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮) — also in New Taipei City — goes into operation, then that would bring the number to three, she added.
Photo: CNA
Lin Shih-chia said that Greater Taipei is the political and financial center of Taiwan, and is also where the central government’s offices are located, so if a nuclear disaster occurred at the two operational plants, the officials at the National Rescue Command Center that are meant to direct the nation during an emergency would have to be evacuated too.
“Nuclear safety is national safety,” Lin Chia-lung said, adding that the storage of high-level radioactive waste inside the power plants means that the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫), which provides most of the water for the Greater Taipei area, is constantly under the threat of contamination from nuclear leaks or accidents.
He said that the nation’s government should take into consideration that after the meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2011, the Japanese government had decided to designate Osaka as its “backup” capital in the event that a major disaster crippled Tokyo.
The legislators said that if the government wants to continue pursuing its current nuclear policy, then it should consider amending the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Control Act (核子反應器設施管制法) to provide for relocating or planning to relocate the nation’s capital to Greater Taichung, because it is further away from the evacuation zones around the two operational and one under-construction nuclear plants in northern Taiwan and the operational Ma-anshan (馬鞍山) Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union founder Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said that in both the Chernobyl disaster in the Ukraine and the Fukushima meltdown, the areas contaminated by radioactive fallout were larger than the officially designated evacuation zones. In addition, while hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated in both incidents, if such a disaster occurred in northern Taiwan, the number of evacuees would be in the millions, Shih said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or