Tokyo-based writer Liu Li-erh (劉黎兒) yesterday warned fellow Taiwanese about the perils of nuclear power by describing them as “sleeping on top of 230,000 nuclear bombs.”
Liu, who has lived in Tokyo for more than 30 years, made the remarks in a speech about nuclear power safety at an event organized by the Eball Foundation, which is headed by Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Liu said that her calculation was based on the size of the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US near the end of World War II.
“A nuclear reactor produces on a daily basis radioactive materials equivalent to three to four times the amount contained in the Hiroshima atomic bomb,” she said.
“Taiwan has six operating nuclear reactors. So every day that nuclear power is generated, Taiwan produces nuclear waste materials equivalent to 20 times the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima,” Liu added.
In the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, which led to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, Liu has became an outspoken critic against nuclear energy and has published three books advocating that Taiwan should stop using nuclear power.
Liu said that the international community has raised several warnings about the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) since the Fukushima disaster.
She added that more than 220,000 people took part in anti-nuclear demonstrations held across Taiwan on March 9 this year.
“This shows that people do not want Taiwan to become the next Fukushima,” she said.
“Nuclear power safety concerns all people in Taiwan. We must learn from the lessons of the Fukushima disaster,” she added. “If nuclear power is not stopped, I fear that our next generation may not have a future.”
Construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant started in 1999 and the facility was scheduled to become operational in 2015. Construction is about 90 percent completed and has become the subject of an intense political struggle, because opposition groups have demanded that it be stopped and that nuclear power be abandoned.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS