A coalition of environmentalist groups gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of a Legislative Yuan resolution to freeze nuclear plant projects and budgets.
The groups called on the government to scrap the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) and eliminate nuclear power in the nation.
A draft resolution proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus aiming to abolish all nuclear power plant construction and withdraw the budget for nuclear power was put to a vote on May 24, 1996, and the legislature voted 76-42 in favor of the resolution, with the DPP garnering support from the New Party, nuclear-free advocate Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎) said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
However, that same day Taiwan Power Co announced that General Electric Co won a bid to build the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and the Executive Yuan returned the resolution to the Legislative Yuan on Oct. 18, 1996, he said.
“The government has spent NT$282.9 billion [US$8.65 billion] on the plant as of last year — more than double its original budget of NT$112.5 billion — and maintenance of the sealed plant costs the nation NT$1.2 billion per year without generating a single unit of electricity,” Taiwan Environmental Protection Union founding chairman Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said. “If the Executive Yuan had approved the resolution, the nation could have saved a large sum of money.”
The legislature can make decisions in line with public opinion and the Cabinet has to understand and respect the decisions, Shih said.
Yenliao Anti-Nuclear Self-Help Association secretary-general Yang Mu-huo (楊木火) said the site chosen for the plant is on a faultline, making it more susceptible to tsunami and earthquakes than the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門).
The government should scrap the mothballed plant to prevent future administrations from starting it, while it could sell parts to recover some of the cost, Yang said.
“Looking back at the past two decades of the anti-nuclear movement, it really did achieve something,” DPP Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) said.
“The DPP government aims to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, which is a goal that needs as much social support as ever,” Chen said.
Nuclear energy accounts for 12 to 16 percent of Taiwan’s total power generation, while more than 75 percent is supplied by fossil-fuel plants, but the public does not have a say in deciding the nation’s energy portfolio, Taiwan Renewable Energy Alliance director Kao Ju-ping (高如萍) said.
“The legislature should revise the Electricity Act (電業法) to allow people a choice of energy source and make the nation an energy democracy,” Kao Ju-ping said.
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