If the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant is restarted and an accident occurs, economic activity in Pingtung County might cease, Pingtung County Commissioner Chou Chun-mi (周春米) of the Democratic Progressive Party said at a protest in Pingtung City yesterday.
Chou and representatives of local agricultural, fisheries and tourism operations attended the rally, urging “no” votes in a referendum on Saturday that asks whether the plant in Hengchun Township (恆春) on the southern coast should be restarted.
Pingtung residents are opposed to the referendum, Chou said.
Photo: Tsai Yung-chien, Taipei Times
“Agriculture, fisheries and tourism are the basis of the county’s economy,” she said. “If an accident happens at the plant, no tourists would visit, and no one would buy our farm produce and seafood products.”
Pingtung residents shouldered the risk of an accident for four decades while the plant was generating electricity, and now there has been a rush to hold a referendum, she said.
Hung Ming-tsung (洪銘聰), who is secretary-general of the Kaoshu Township (高樹) Farmers’ Association, told reporters that a nuclear disaster in the south would affect all of Taiwan.
“Farmers have to endure the vagaries of the weather, but if there were to be an incident at the plant, it could ruin their livelihoods,” Hung said.
“It would also severely affect the nation’s food supply,” he said. “If a bad thing happens at the plant, it would be disastrous for Pingtung and also for the rest of Taiwan.”
Chen Yen-chih (陳彥志), owner of Sweet Shrimps Co (蝦正甜水產), said that fishers depend on the sea for their income.
“If there were an accident at the plant, seafood might be contaminated, then no one would buy from us,” Chen said.
“It is gambling with our livelihoods and the security of future generations,” Chen said. “We want to have healthy food on the table and we refuse to gamble away our future.”
At the legislature in Taipei, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) told lawmakers that if a policy directive mandates restarting operations at the plant, then Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) would have to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the facility.
It would have to present a report on the steps required to restart operations that would have to be reviewed by international nuclear energy regulatory bodies, which would have to conduct on-site inspections, Kuo said.
“President William Lai (賴清德) has been clear that nuclear energy safety cannot be decided by a referendum,” Kuo said.
Lai believes that restarting plants must adhere to “two musts” and “three principles,” Kuo said.
The “two musts” are that the Nuclear Safety Commission must carefully set out the inspection requirements, and Taipower must abide by the requirements, he said.
The “three principles” are totally safe operations, a solution for storage of spent nuclear fuel and societal consensus, he added.
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