A group of academics yesterday urged voters to reject a referendum seeking to overturn the government’s policy to phase out nuclear energy, citing risks of nuclear disasters.
The group, led by Academia Sinica academicians Lin Ming-chang (林明璋), National Chung Hsing University environmental engineering professor Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉潔), National Taiwan University geoscience professor Chen Wen-shan (陳文山) and several other academics, earlier this month launched a petition advocating their position.
As of yesterday, the petition had collected 559 signatures from academics, the group told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liu Li-jen, Taipei Times
The referendum, one of 10 to be held alongside the nine-in-one elections on Saturday next week, asks voters whether they agree to scrap Article 95, Paragraph 1 of the Electricity Act (電業法), which stipulates that all nuclear power generation facilities must cease operations by 2025.
The article was introduced in January last year as a result of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) campaign pledge to create a “nuclear-free homeland.”
If the referendum is passed, three nuclear power plants that are scheduled to be decommissioned between the end of this year and 2024 would continue to operate and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, which has been mothballed since 2014, could be activated for the first time.
“The referendum pegs its hopes on old nuclear power plants scheduled for decommissioning and the unfinished Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, even though little has changed since 2014: The plants still face risks of earthquakes and tsunamis, and some of them are in the Taipei metropolitan area,” the academics said in a joint statement.
“The government has yet to make plans for the final disposal of nuclear waste, Taiwan Power Co still has a poor safety record and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has yet to pass safety tests,” the statement said.
With extreme weather events becoming more frequent, the risk of a nuclear disaster is also increasing, it said, urging the public to vote “no” in the referendum and support clean energy sources as alternatives to nuclear power.
Taiwan is “not ideal for nuclear plants,” considering it has 33 active faults, with some near the three operating nuclear plants and more suspected off the coast near the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, Chen said.
Nuclear plants would continue causing safety concerns among nearby residents even after they are decommissioned, he said, adding that the three operating nuclear plants could end up being used as warehouses to store spent nuclear fuel if the government fails to solve the problem of nuclear waste disposal.
“If the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant were to experience a nuclear disaster like the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant did in 2011, areas within a 20km radius of the plant would have to be permanently evacuated. This would include Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan and parts of Hsinchu, affecting a population of 8 million,” Tsuang said, adding: “It is something the nation cannot afford to happen.”
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