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.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
RSS