Nuclear power proponents yesterday said they would launch new referendum proposals to extend the operation of nuclear power plants and relocate nuclear waste stored on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), after the government said it would decommission the reactors on schedule.
A majority of voters on Nov. 24 last year voted in favor of abolishing Article 95-1 of the Electricity Act (電業法) — which states that all nuclear power generation facilities must halt operations by 2025 — in a referendum held alongside the local elections.
However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Jan. 31 said it has no plans to extend the 40-year permits of the operational nuclear reactors or resume the construction of the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, sparking criticism.
The Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門) has started decommissioning, but the municipality is opposed to a nuclear waste storage for the plant proposed by Taiwan Power Co.
Meanwhile, the permits for four reactors at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Wanli District (萬里) and the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), Pingtung County, are to expire between 2021 and 2025, according to the Atomic Energy Council.
The council has said that applications to extend reactors’ operations must be filed five years before permits expire, but that is merely a rule set by the council, which it can adjust at will, said Nuclear Myth Busters founder Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修), who launched last year’s referendum about the Electicity Act.
To push the government to respect the electorate’s support for nuclear power, Huang and other supporters would launch three new referendum proposals to extend the three operational plants’ licenses, resume construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and relocate barrels of low-radioactivity nuclear waste stored on Orchid Island, he said.
The second proposal last year garnered more than 200,000 signatures and would be forwarded to the Central Election Commission for review next month, he said.
Critics have said that Huang does not care about Orchid Island’s residents, but he would prove them wrong by launching a referendum proposal to push the government to move nuclear waste back to the plants, he said, adding that nuclear waste can be safe if it is properly stored in a secluded location.
The proponents would have more discussions with Orchid Island’s Tao people about how they should launch the nuclear waste proposal and announce an initial plan later this week, said Liao Yen-peng (廖彥朋), a nuclear power supporter and Chinese Society of Medical Physics member.
Separately yesterday, opponents of nuclear power called on the government to decommission the plants according to schedule, saying that their locations near fault lines continue to pose a danger to local residents.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to