Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged President William Lai (賴清德) to take nuclear energy seriously, after Lai on Wednesday said that Pegatron Corp chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) would serve as a deputy convener of his National Climate Change Response Committee.
Prior to his appointment, Tung had said that the government should extend the service years of the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City and the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County.
New-generation nuclear reactors should also be installed in Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, both of which are in New Taipei City, he added.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
However, that stance is contrary to Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) views, which has long advocated for a “nuclear-free homeland.”
Lai should seriously consider nuclear energy if he is hiring Tung, Ma wrote on Facebook yesterday.
“Nvidia Corp cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) announced during his recent visit to Taiwan that he has planned to expand his investment in Taiwan, but he is worried whether it would have sufficient electricity to power the operation of a supercomputer,” Ma wrote. “Little did people expect there would be a power outage in Neihu Science Park. Huang’s fear has come true.”
The DPP has been against the development of nuclear energy since former DPP chairperson Lin I-hsiung’s (林義雄) time, he said.
“For decades, the party has been including the anti-nuclear movement as one of it policy platforms. However, ever since Tung, whom the party respected, came out in support of the development of nuclear energy, the DPP all of a sudden does not know what to do,” Ma said.
Twenty-eight EU members in 2022 passed a resolution to recognize nuclear energy as green energy, which was a huge blow to those opposing its use, Ma said.
More countries are following the EU’s footsteps, Ma said, adding that supporting nuclear energy is leading the trend.
“I met former US secretary of energy Ernest Moniz at the inauguration party of former Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes. I asked him whether a nuclear accident, such as the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2013, would hurt the development of nuclear energy, to which Moniz replied: ‘Remember, our enemy is coal, not nuclear,’” Ma wrote.
Lai should have the public’s welfare in mind and face power shortages — a national security crisis — with honesty, so they do not need to spend the entire summer worrying about power, Ma said.
Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) also questioned the practicality of the National Climate Change Response Committee in a radio interview.
“If there is a power outage, who should be held accountable, the premier or the committee set up by the president?” Hsiao asked.
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