Academia Sinica officials yesterday said they would propose an energy policy package next year aimed at reducing greenhouse gases emissions and developing nuclear-free energy amid controversy over nuclear waste management.
In a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) questioned Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) over the status of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) and relevant energy policies following the enactment of the legislation in June.
Citing an energy policy report released by the Academia Sinica in 2008 that promoted the use of nuclear energy as a means of reducing carbon emissions, Cheng asked if the institution still maintains that position, given that no acceptable way has been found to dispose of radioactive waste, and the cost of nuclear energy turned out to be higher than had been estimated.
Wong said that the new policy proposals would be based on the development of renewable energy, and include assessments of the potential viability of solar power, wind energy, geothermal power and tidal power.
Academica Sinica Research Center for Environmental Changes director Wang Pao-kuan (王寶貫) said that the development of nuclear energy has safety implications and the package would likely not propose nuclear energy as a way to combat greenhouse gas emissions.
The package would take into account the decommissioning of the nation’s three operating nuclear plants and the sealing of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), which has not yet been completed, Wang said.
Wong said the carbon emission reduction goals to be reached at the UN’s Climate Change Conference in Paris in December could well affect Taiwan, even though the nation is not a member of the UN.
Taiwan’s competitors could impose trade restrictions should the nation fail to commit to emission reductions, Wong said.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
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