Slamming a proposal by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to revive the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, opponents of nuclear power yesterday urged the government to expedite the nation’s transition to renewable energy.
Ma on Wednesday told the Chinese-language Apple Daily that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy of phasing out nuclear power facilities by 2025, which was written into the Electricity Act (電業法) last year, is a hasty decision that is impossible to achieve.
Nuclear power is sufficient, stable, cheap and clean, while renewable energy’s sole merit is clean power, Ma said, adding that the nation’s foreign investment has been declining due to an energy crisis.
The Tsai administration should consider reviving the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and extend the operations of the nation’s three existing nuclear power plants, he said.
Construction of the fourth power plant was suspended for three years by the Ma administration on July 1, 2015.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has decided to transport the plant’s 1,744 fuel rods back to the US supplier within three years to seek foreign buyers starting this month.
The state-run company in 2013 estimated that it would require another NT$47.8 billion (US$1.57 billion at the current exchange rate) to finish the plant’s construction, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan consultant Tsai Chung-yueh (蔡中岳) said yesterday.
Disposing of the plant’s assets soon is the right decision to prevent further losses, he added.
The nation’s power supply has indeed been tighter over the past two years, but with more new power generators and those under repair becoming operational this month, the operating reserve margin has stayed above 6 percent this month, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said.
The nation does not face a power shortage as some nuclear power proponents have claimed; rather, the operating reserve margin should reach 14.9 percent by 2025 and keep rising, even after all nuclear facilities have been phased out, Hung said, adding the estimates were based on Taipower data.
Ma is misleading the public, especially when he says that foreign investment in Taiwan is declining, publisher and former national policy adviser Rex How (郝明義) said.
Foreign direct investment totaled US$7.5 billion last year, the third highest in 10 years, better than during Ma’s time in office, he said.
The government should be more decisive in promoting energy transformation, instead of resorting to nuclear power, which would produce more nuclear waste that it is unable to handle, he added.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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