A national referendum on activating the long-mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) is set for Aug. 28, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Friday.
The Referendum Act (公民投票法) stipulates that national referendums can only be held once every two years, starting from this year, and only on the fourth Saturday of August.
Polling stations would open from 8am to 4pm, the commission said.
The agency is to announce the referendums on May 27, hold presentations on the referendum questions from May 28 to Aug. 27 and announce the number of voters eligible for the referendums by Aug. 24, it said.
The result of the referendums would be announced on Sept. 3, although unofficial results should be known the night of the vote, it said.
So far, only the nuclear power plant referendum initiative, launched by nuclear power proponent Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修), has met the endorsement threshold required to be put to a vote.
It asks: “Do you agree that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be activated for commercial operations?”
The plant, which was close to completion before being shelved in 2014, has been a focal point in debates over nuclear power.
Supporters have lauded it as a clean and relatively cheap energy solution to the problems of air quality and rising electricity costs.
Critics warn of the safety hazards of using the plant in particular and nuclear power in general, citing the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.
Several initiatives remain in the works, including one to eliminate the restriction that referendums can only be held on the fourth Saturday of August in odd-numbered years.
For a referendum to pass, at least 25 percent of eligible voters must cast their ballot for it, setting a relatively high turnout threshold in a nonelection year, and it must also garner more votes in favor than opposed.
Initiating a referendum in Taiwan requires meeting endorsements in two phases — the first round requires signatures from at least 0.01 percent of eligible voters in the most recent presidential election, while the second round requires signatures from 1.5 percent of eligible voters.
There were 19.31 million eligible voters in last year’s presidential election.
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716