Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) request yesterday to reactivate a reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant was criticized by environmental groups, while legislators were divided on the issue.
Taipower applied to the Atomic Energy Council for permission to restart the No. 2 reactor at the plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), which was taken offline in May 2016 for maintenance work.
Shortly after the maintenance work began, a power surge on May 16 burned out three surge arresters in the reactor’s electricity generation system, triggering renewed criticism of Taipower’s management of the nation’s nuclear reactors and lengthening the period needed to complete the maintenance work.
Maintenance was finally completed in December last year.
The council must conduct a 30-day safety review and if it approves the company’s request, the application would be sent to the Legislative Yuan.
Green Consumers’ Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) said restarting the reactor could be difficult because it has been offline for so long.
Experience has shown that restarting a reactor can cause power outages and impact the general power supply system, Fang said, and he questioned if Taipower has sufficient backup systems in place in case of a power failure.
Taiwan Environmental Radiation Survey convener Lin Jui-chu (林瑞珠) said Taiwan was not suffering from a power shortage, so there was no reason to restart the reactor.
Taiwan’s total installed electricity capacity is about 51 gigawatts (GW) and peak usage during the past summer was about 37GW, which meant there was a power surplus of about 14GW, she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said Taipower’s request indicates that the government would not meet its promise to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should take full responsibility for such a failure and take the opportunity to review its national power policy, Lee said.
However, DPP Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) said that after the power surge problem at the reactor in May 2016, the legislature decided Taipower would be allowed to restart the reactor after it received a safety report from the council.
The DPP caucus would decide whether to support reactivation of the reactor after reviewing the report, Liu said.
New Power Party caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) called on Taipower to scrap the plan, as the government’s nuclear-free homeland by 2025 proposal is clear.
However, People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) said an unusually severe tightness in the nation’s power supply this winter made the government realize its nuclear-free homeland policy cannot be achieved as quickly as thought.
The government should clarify whether Taiwan is suffering from a power shortage and announce a timetable to resolve the problem, Chen said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS