Environmentalists yesterday called on the public to join an annual parade on Sunday to protest against nuclear power, after Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) application to restart a nuclear reactor was approved.
The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) on Monday approved the state-run utility’s application to restart the No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District (萬里), New Taipei City, after a one-month review.
If restarted, the No. 2 reactor is expected to generate 985 megawatts of electricity, adding to the 2,868.4 megawatts produced by the No. 1 reactor and two reactors at Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), Pingtung County, Taipower data showed.
Photo: CNA
The theme for this year’s parade is “Face the cost of nuclear power and reverse the future of energy,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said yesterday, adding that this year marks the seventh anniversary of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
From 1pm on Sunday, participants are to march from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, pass the 228 Memorial Park and the Legislative Yuan and return to the boulevard, the alliance said.
The Cabinet has not broken its promise of “a nuclear-free homeland by 2025” as long as the nation’s six nuclear reactors are decommissioned by their set dates and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) remains mothballed, alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said.
However, it has not done its utmost to seek alternative power sources or advance its management of the electricity supply and demand, he said.
Groups opposed to nuclear power have been campaigning to raise public awareness about nuclear safety this month.
The alliance on Thursday last week launched its third “No Nuke Film Festival” and screened five films about movements from around the world that oppose nuclear power, including Voices from Chernobyl and Fukushima Fishermen.
Japanese photojournalist Naomi Toyoda, who has taken photographs of Fukushima since the nuclear disaster, was invited by Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan to give a speech at Kaohsiung’s Hotel Yam today.
His photographs are to be displayed at National Sun Yat-sen University’s Sizihwan Tunnel (西子灣隧道) in Kaohsiung on Saturdays and Sundays until March 25, the group said.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
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