Solar panels can produce 300 times more toxic waste per unit of electricity generated than nuclear reactors, Michael Shellenberger, president of the US-based group Environmental Progress, told a forum in Taipei yesterday, while presenting an open letter to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The forum was held by Climate Vanguards and the Chung Hwa Nuclear Society at National Taiwan University.
There used to be a tug-of-war between pro and anti-nuclear groups, but the anti-nuclear camp has gained favor ever since the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster in Japan, former Environmental Protection Administration minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said in the first panel discussion with Shellenberger.
Debates about energy policy have become ideological rather than scientific, Wei said, adding that nuclear power is the best option for the nation’s transformation from a “brown” economy bolstered by fossil fuels to a “green” economy.
Shellenberger questioned the legitimacy of the claim of causation between the disaster and the nation’s decision to phase out nuclear power.
Even though thousands of people died in the earthquake, no deaths were directly caused by radiation leaks, Shellenberger said.
Presenting an open letter to Tsai, Shellenberger said that the nation’s phase-out of nuclear power is based on misinformation.
Replacing nuclear with fossil fuels can threaten public health, given that Taiwanese are exposed to unsafe levels of air pollution, he said.
Natural gas is also not a good substitute for nuclear sources, considering the heavy casualties of the gas explosions in Kaohsiung in 2014, he said.
As for development of renewables, the nation would need to build 617 solar farms as large as its biggest proposed farm at a cost of US$71 billion just to replace its nuclear reactors, he said, adding that few people consider disposal of solar panels.
He advised Tsai’s administration to hold a national referendum on the future of nuclear energy, just as South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a “citizens’ jury,” which last week voted to resume construction of two nuclear plants.
Following a similar vein, physicist and pro-nuclear activist Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修) said that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party should tell people the real cost of phasing out nuclear power by revealing the facts.
While the nation hopes to generate 50 percent of electricity from natural gas, 20 percent from renewable sources and 30 percent from coal by 2025, gas-fired power and renewable production are costly and risky, he said.
Nuclear power and renewables should coexist and supplement each other, or the nation will face more power outages and higher electricity prices, he said.
Taiwanese should have fully understood the merits and defects of different energy sources before deciding to phase out nuclear energy, Huang added.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS