Nuclear power opponents yesterday invited President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to participate in a parade on Saturday next week to stand up against nuclear waste disposal.
Tsai was approached because her administration came up with the “nuclear-free homeland by 2025” policy and because three nuclear power plants in New Taipei City are near Taipei, National Anti-Nuclear Action Platform spokesperson Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) told a news conference outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.
In February, Hou said that he was not opposed to using nuclear power, but safety was his chief concern, after former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) had earlier that month announced that he would consider starting up the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant if he is elected president next year.
Photo: CNA
Chu’s remarks drew criticism due to his previous opposition to storing nuclear waste in New Taipei City, at Shihmen District’s (石門) Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant and in Wanli District’s (萬里) Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant.
Mom Loves Taiwan secretary-general Yang Shun-mei (楊順美) said that the New Taipei City Government was likely incapable of responding to a nuclear disaster, adding that the evacuation of people proved difficult after a colored-powder dust explosion at the Formosa Fun Coast water park in Bali District (八里) in 2015.
Ko should evaluate whether the Taipei City Government could evacuate residents in the event of a nuclear disaster at the Jinshan or Guosheng plants, which are only about 40km away, Yang said.
Taiwan Renewable Energy Alliance director Kao Ju-ping (高茹萍) urged Tsai to defend her ideal of phasing out nuclear power and developing renewable energy by joining the parade, even though her policy of a nuclear-free homeland was scrapped after a majority voted in favor of a pro-nuclear referendum on Nov. 24 last year.
Simultaneous parades against nuclear power are to be staged on Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard and in Kaohsiung’s Aozihdi Forest Park (凹仔底森林公園), the National Anti-Nuclear Action Platform said.
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