On March 7, the Ministry of Economic Affairs posted an item on its Facebook page that latches onto the current popularity of Under the Dome (穹頂之下), a documentary about air pollution in China filmed by Chinese journalist Chai Jing (柴靜). The ministry’s post uses the threats posed by smog and global warming to hint that nuclear power is an energy option for Taiwan.
This kind of propaganda is way off the mark. While smog and global warming are visible and tangible problems, nuclear radiation is an even greater hidden threat. This logic of using one monster to replace another monster is just as ridiculous as arguments made a few years ago that the proposed Kuokuang Petrochemical plant in Changhua County could somehow balance out the pollution caused by Formosa Petrochemical Corp’s naphtha cracker in Yunlin County.
Nuclear power is definitely not a clean source of energy. Japan has still not managed to stop highly radioactive water leaking out of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant’s broken-down reactors. The sea, soil, underground water and air are all getting polluted and more and more people are suffering from cancer. More than 150,000 evacuees cannot return to their homes. The cost of dealing with the disaster comes to an estimated NT$3 trillion (US$95 billion), and the harm done to future generations is hard to estimate.
Is the threat posed by atomic radiation not great enough? Accidents keep happening at Taiwan’s three aging nuclear power plants. The state-run Taiwan Power Co and the Atomic Energy Council have still not proposed a plan for the final disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste.
There is nowhere to put the high-level waste. Sending it abroad for processing would be costly and there remains the danger of transporting it. Furthermore, in 20 years’ time, the nuclear waste would be sent back to Taiwan anyway. As for low-level waste, it is still being stored on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and poisoning the people who live there.
Nuclear power is unsafe and expensive, and nuclear waste is creating a harmful legacy that will plague countless generations. For the sake of future generations and a nuclear-free homeland, nuclear power must be firmly rejected.
If the economics ministry is serious about addressing air pollution and global warming, it should reduce the use of coal power and facilitate the transition of high-polluting and energy-intensive industries into something more environmentally friendly instead of merely striving to promote nuclear power.
A visionary and responsible government should strongly encourage energy conservation, reduce the carbon footprint, develop recyclable energy and expedite industrial transition, for that is the only way to reshape a nation’s energy situation.
The government should set out active and precise energy conservation goals, which should be complemented by laws, regulations and policies, such as raising energy conservation standards, levying energy taxes, providing reasonable electricity prices, improving electricity efficiency management and the like. Such measures would greatly reduce the nation’s energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The government would then be doing more than just making moral appeals in the hope that industry will voluntarily cut down on energy consumption.
In recent years, the price of natural gas has continued to decline. Hence, now is the time to start using idle natural gas power plants and reduce the use of coal-fired energy, thus greatly improving the air quality in central and southern Taiwan as well as reducing carbon emissions.
In the meantime, the government should set a higher goal for the development of recyclable energy, amend unfair laws and regulations, and allow a variety of new energy sources that are not heavily concentrated in a few locations and are more encouraging for local communities to take part in, making Taiwan a real green energy island.
Energy-intensive industries such as the petrochemical, steel, electronics and cement industries have enjoyed extremely unreasonable subsidies. In addition, they produce environmental pollution and health risks. Thus fossil fuel subsidies should be eliminated so that industry will be motivated to adopt energy conservation technologies and lessen pollution, helping Taiwan transition into a green economy that caters to social justice and environmental sustainability.
On Saturday, Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan held simultaneous antinuclear protests. The protesters championed a new vision for energy, the rebirth of Taiwan and healthy living, which is exactly what people want from a green and sustainable future. However, the government remains reluctant to abandon nuclear power and continues to miss opportunity after opportunity to reform the nation’s energy situation.
How can a government so mired in misconceptions lead Taiwan forward? It is time for the public to use their votes to oust the ruling party in next year’s elections.
Tsai Hui-sun is executive secretary of the South Taiwan Anti-Nuclear Action Alliance.
Translated by Julian Clegg and Ethan Zhan
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