Taiwan plans to maintain its energy policy of operating nuclear power reactors until the end of their desinged lifespan, and by using other energy sources to fill gaps in the energy supply, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“Taiwan will stick to its nuclear power plant timeline. Despite differing opinions, we do not plan to shut down those reactors before of the end of their designed life cycles,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told reporters in Taipei.
The state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has drafted several measures to secure a stable power supply, including electricity allocation plans to manage water shortages caused by climate change and surging energy costs resulting from the war in Ukraine, Wang said.
Photo: Ching Lin, Taipei Times
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday said that its government is considering using nuclear reactors beyond their designed lifespans along with restarting idled nuclear power reactors to manage a power crisis.
“My understanding is that Japan plans to make some arrangements about the idled reactors that were shut down following the Fukushima disaster in March 2011,” Wang said.
The government has decided to shift from nuclear power and move toward green power to cut carbon emissions.
The No. 2 reactor at Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant is set to stop operation in March next year, while the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant are to close in 2024 and 2025 respectively, when they are due to reach the end of their operational lives of about 40 years.
Regulations stiputate that any adjustment to nuclear power operations be applied five years in advance, Taipower spokesman Wu Chin-chung (吳進忠) told the Taipei Times.
“The timing has passed,” he said.
Hon Hai Technology Group (鴻海科技集團), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, yesterday said it was confident that its performance would improve in the second half of this year. Investment plans related to electric vehicles (EVs) in different parts of the world are expected to gradually start coming to fruition, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told reporters after leading a new year’s prayer at the company’s headquarters in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城). Major challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war continue to affect the global economy. However, Liu said that he expects a turnaround in
Singapore is seeing an influx of ultra-wealthy families from China looking to protect their wealth from a government that increasingly views them with suspicion. The Chinese Communist Party’s recent crackdowns on tech billionaires and tax-shy celebrities, as well as three years of “zero COVID” policies, have led many rich Chinese to look for a safe haven. Nervous over the fate of their fortunes, some of the country’s mega-rich have since booked tickets to Singapore, insiders said. The key Asian financial hub ticks all the boxes for relocating tycoons. Singapore has been ruled by one party for the past six decades, and labor strikes and
Sex worker Nina relies on an apartment in the Turkish city of Istanbul as a relatively safe space to meet clients, but the 29-year-old is worried about making enough to cover the rent after the landlord doubled the price. As a surge in inflation fuels a housing crisis in Turkey, LGBTQ+ sex workers like Nina say landlords are forcing them to accept huge rent hikes for fear of being evicted. Nina, who uses the pronouns they and them, worries about how they will pay the increased monthly rent of 8,000 Turkish lira (US$425.11) on top of rising bills. “There are gas, electricity, water,
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