New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) and a coalition of environmental groups yesterday said that a referendum proposal opposing the government’s policy to phase out nuclear power by 2025 is unrealistic, given the lack of technologies and facilities for managing radioactive waste.
The referendum proposal received a boost on Friday last week, when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) endorsed it and handed out petitions at Taipei Railway Station.
Ma said he supports using nuclear energy before it can be replaced by cleaner energy, adding that nuclear energy is a form of “green energy” and that managing radioactive waste is “not difficult.”
Anti-nuclear groups yesterday accused Ma of spreading incorrect information about nuclear energy and urged people to not support the referendum.
“Former president Ma should stop talking nonsense. His remarks that nuclear energy is a form of green energy and that radioactive waste management is not difficult are ridiculous,” Hsu told a news conference in Taipei.
There are no permanent storage facilities for radioactive waste, most of which is still stored in dry casks at the Guosheng and Jinshan nuclear power plants in New Taipei City, he said.
Ma should try and understand problems caused by radioactive waste and “stop spreading misleading information,” he added.
Around the world, there has not been a single successful depository for the permanent storage of high-level radioactive waste, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairman Liu Jyh-jian (劉志堅) said.
Even in the US, where there is plenty of land, spent fuel rods are stored at temporary facilities, he added.
“The government has no plans for the final disposal of radioactive waste, and transporting it to another country can be expensive and equally as difficult,” he said.
Ma’s remarks suggest that he is unaware of the costs and risks associated with nuclear energy, he added.
“Ma’s comment that managing radioactive waste is not difficult is an international joke,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said.
While certain nuclear energy advocates have cited recycling nuclear fuel rods as a solution, the process is not cost-effective, she said, adding that it is not a new technology and many nations have given up on it because of the high cost.
Ma should stop making irresponsible comments and realize that he partly caused the problem by failing to properly handle the issue during his presidency, Tsuei said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS