More than two dozen researchers at the Academia Sinica released a joint statement yesterday, calling for political parties to establish a workable and reasonable mechanism for a national referendum on construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant before the facility becomes operational.
“There is still time for rational discussions before the power plant at New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) becomes operational,” said the joint statement of 25 researchers, released on the same day as an anti-nuclear rally in Taipei yesterday.
The petitioners included Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), National Taiwan University president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and former department of health director-general Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Taiwanese worry about the controversial power plant for good reasons, the researchers said.
Initiated in the 1980s, the project was suspended after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and again halted in 2000 under the Democratic Progressive Party administration. With various contractors brought in to build the plant in different stages, Taiwan’s ability to deal with a nuclear emergency would be in question, the statement said.
Additionally, the researchers said that the government has never formulated a complete set of energy policies that include plans to reduce carbon emission and to develop renewable energy sources.
Nor does the government have the know-how to process nuclear waste with current nuclear waste storage facilities in Taiwan almost at full capacity, they said, adding that methods the nation used to deal with the waste — ocean disposal or burial and exporting — were expensive.
More importantly, there are six nuclear reactors in Taiwan among the 12 most dangerous reactors listed in a 2011 Natural Resource Defense Council report as being in very high seismic hazard areas, the statement said.
“A nuclear crisis, be it the result of a natural disaster or human error, in northern Taiwan would be devastating,” they said.
While some countries not in the seismic zones listed nuclear energy as one of their solutions for carbon emission reduction, nuclear energy would be a risky option for Taiwan, the statement said, adding that the government should work diligently on risk assessment and development of renewable energy sources.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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