Campaigners against nuclear power yesterday condemned a proposed reactivation of the No. 1 reactor at the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門), saying the proposal is unjustified and unnecessary because the government has done nothing to reduce power consumption.
The proposal was made by Premier Lin Chuan (林全) and Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) as a possible solution to a looming power crisis, but it drew heavy criticism from environmental groups and lawmakers.
The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform yesterday held a news conference to condemn the proposed reactivation, saying that Lin did not listen to requests to rule out the aging reactor as a possible source of extra power.
Campaigners reiterated the risks of reviving the long-shuttered reactor, which has been out of operation since December 2014, because limited space in the reactor’s spent fuel pool cannot guarantee a complete withdrawal of nuclear fuel rods from the reactor in the case of an emergency.
They detailed a 13-step plan to reduce power consumption during peak seasons, saying the government focused on boosting power supply without attempting to reduce consumption, which they said was what caused the nation to face a potential power crisis.
The measures include requiring government agencies and schools to reduce consumption, incentivizing industries to reduce consumption, replacing high-energy-consuming devices to boost energy efficiency and deploying energy management professionals to investigate and improve energy efficiency of large power consumers.
“While those measures would have an immediate effect on power consumption, the Democratic Progressive Party administration has done little to reduce electricity consumption,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said.
“The government has sought to restart the reactor, which only contributes 1.7 percent of the nation’s total power generation, while it allows power consumption to continue to soar during peak hours, which is what has caused a potential power crisis,” Hung said.
A comprehensive plan and enforcement strategy for power management is lacking in the administration’s energy policy, while a flexible electricity pricing mechanism for industries is the only consumption reduction incentive the administration and Taiwan Power Co have put forward, but local governments are not familiar with the pricing mechanism and do little to promote the incentive measure, thereby practically nullifying the incentive, Hung said.
Residential and commercial power consumption accounts for 65 percent of the nation’s total power consumption, and requiring malls and hotels to turn down air conditioners on weekday afternoons is a practical way to reduce consumption, he said.
The government has not acted differently from its predecessors by taking power shortage as a leverage to force the public to accept nuclear power when the nation still has sufficient power generation capacity, Northern Coast Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance chief executive Kuo Ching-lin (郭慶霖) said.
“We were looking forward to a new government that would bring about changes, but the new Cabinet is behaving in essentially the same way as the former government. I am under the impression the nation is still under Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] rule,” Kuo said.
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