More than 280 law practitioners yesterday launched a petition against a referendum to scrap the policy for a nuclear-free homeland by 2025, a gesture echoing another petition organized last week by more than 500 academics.
The referendum, initiated by Nuclear Myth Busters founder Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修), asks if people agree to abolish Article 95-1 of the Electricity Act (電業法), which stipulates that all nuclear power generation facilities should stop operations by 2025.
It is one of 10 referendums to be held alongside the nine-in-one local elections on Saturday.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
As of yesterday morning, the petition had gathered 283 signatures from 121 lawyers, 46 law academics and more than 100 law students and law practitioners, the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association said.
The 2002 Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) stipulates that the government must propose plans to make Taiwan nuclear-free, but the 2025 timeframe was last year written into the Electricity Act, association lawyer Tsai Ya-yin (蔡雅瀅) said, adding that no delay should be allowed.
New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌); Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and Chou Chun-mi (周春米); as well as members of the Environmental Rights Foundation, the Taiwan Law Society and National Taiwan University’s Policy and Law Center for Environmental Sustainability also signed the petition.
Huang, who on Friday last week represented opponents in a televised debate with referendum advocate Liao Yen-peng (廖彥朋), said that voters should first answer the question: Where should nuclear waste — especially highly radioactive waste — be stored?
Scientists raised the question more than four decades ago when more nuclear power plants were being constructed, but even the groups trusted by nuclear power supporters — Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) and the Atomic Energy Council — have yet to propose any waste disposal solutions, he said.
Even if the referendum is passed, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮), which was again mothballed in 2015 before construction was complete, could not be immediately started, Huang added.
According to council regulations, a proposal to update a nuclear power generator’s operating permit should be filed five to 15 years before the permit expires, Environmental Jurists Association chairman Chang Yu-yin (張譽尹) said.
Of the nation’s six nuclear power generators at three operating plants, only the permits for the two units at Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant could be extended within the given timeframe, as they expire on July 26, 2024, and May 17, 2025, Chang said, adding that it was too late to extend the permits for New Taipei City’s Jinshan plant in Shihmen District (石門) and the Guosheng plant in Wanli District (萬里).
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS