Although the process to mothball the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant began on Wednesday, it could be activated at any time in the future, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview that was aired on Friday.
The nuclear power plant, situated along the northeastern coast in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), could be reopened after a few adjustments are made if it was decided to operate the facility in the future, Ma said in response to questions on nuclear energy.
In the interview with Taipei-based Chinese Television System that was taped on Thursday, Ma said that the plant was being mothballed because of a strong wave of antinuclear sentiment.
“No words related to nuclear energy can win support,” he said.
However, Ma said he was convinced that the public would gradually discover that nuclear energy cannot be quickly replaced by sources of renewable energy.
Coal and natural gas could be used as substitutes for nuclear power, he said, but warned that the additional carbon emissions generated could have serious consequences.
The president said that the nations signing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are to hold their 21st meeting in Paris in December, and a legally binding and universal agreement on climate change is expected to be achieved.
Such an agreement would pose a severe challenge to Taiwan, Ma said, even though his administration’s performance in promoting energy conservation and the reduction of carbon emissions has “not been too bad.”
Three of the four energy-related bills submitted by the administration have been passed by the Legislative Yuan, Ma said, with only an energy tax bill still pending before the lawmaking body.
An amendment to the Energy Administration Act (能源管理法) and a proposal to introduce the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例) were passed in 2009, and lawmakers approved the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act (溫室氣體減量法) on June 16.
Built at a cost to date of NT$283.8 billion (US$9.1 billion), the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was nearly completed when work on the project was suspended late in April last year amid protests reflecting concerns over the safety of nuclear power that had been growing since Japan’s nuclear disaster in March 2011.
To preserve the plant as a potential energy option, preparations to mothball the nuclear power plant were completed by Tuesday and the storage phase officially began on Wednesday.
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