Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) and nuclear power supporter Liao Yen-peng (廖彥朋) yesterday debated a referendum on scrapping the government’s “nuclear-free homeland by 2025” policy in a discussion broadcast by Formosa TV (民視).
The referendum, initiated by Liao and other nuclear power supporters, asks people whether they agree to abolish Article 95-1 of the Electricity Act (電業法), which stipulates that all nuclear power generation facilities should be decommissioned by 2025.
The referendum is one of 10 to be held alongside the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections. The Central Election Commission has approved five televised debates about each referendum.
Liao, a member of the Chinese Society of Medical Physics, opened the debate by saying that a power outage on Aug. 15 last year aggravated the conditions of critically ill patients by destabilizing the power supply at hospitals, which would not have happened had the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant been operational.
The plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) was most recently mothballed in 2015 during the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Solar power is not as “clean” as some people claim, given that many developers are installing panels on wetlands, including in habitats of black-faced spoonbills in Chiayi County, Liao said, adding that chemicals used in solar panels pose another serious threat.
Nuclear waste is disposable, just like the waste produced by medical radiology, he said.
Tseng, who represented the Cabinet, said there had been local campaigns against nuclear power for more than 20 years, and the Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) of 2002 had already stipulated that nuclear power should be abolished before a timeframe was set in the Electricity Act last year.
The referendum would not help reduce air pollution, as its initiators have claimed, given that they propose to generate 20 percent of the nation’s power at nuclear facilities and 40 percent at coal-fired power plants, while the government plans to reduce the ratio of coal-fired power from 47 percent to 30 percent by 2025, he said.
Finland is the only country that can build a repository for radioactive nuclear waste due to its special geological features, which Taiwan does not have, he said, adding that Liao took the matter too lightly.
Taiwan Power Co in 2013 estimated that to finish the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the government would have to spend more than NT$50 billion (US$1.63 billion at the current exchange rate), an amount that should be several times higher now, Tseng said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS