Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday agreed after a round of negotiations to ask Premier William Lai (賴清德) to deliver an oral report at the legislature in Taipei on May 10 about Wednesday’s shutdown of the No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里).
Shortly after a legislative meeting began, members of the KMT caucus flocked to and occupied a podium where Lai was scheduled to answer questions from lawmakers.
They vowed to obstruct the proceedings until Lai agrees to give a report on Wednesday’s incident.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
They criticized the DPP administration for allowing the incident to happen, its “failing” energy policy and its plan to hike electricity prices next month.
The incident is believed to have been caused by the sensitivity of a steam valve in the reactor being set too high, prompting the unit to trip after rising pressure triggered the safety mechanism.
Lai and several members of the KMT and DPP caucuses later held closed-door negotiations on how the government should respond to the incident.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
In the afternoon, KMT lawmakers agreed to disperse to allow the question-and-answer session to proceed.
During the session, Lai confirmed that the caucuses had made an arrangement for him to brief lawmakers on May 10 about the incident.
Asked by KMT Legislator Yosi Takun (孔文吉) whether the incident was indicative of negligence on the part of state-run Taiwan Power Co and the Atomic Energy Council, Lai said the two agencies must be more careful when dealing with nuclear reactors.
Prior to the meeting, the premier told reporters that the government would make safety its top priority, respect professional decisions and follow standard operating procedure in its effort to bring the reactor back online.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS