Civil groups yesterday urged legislators to invest the time and money needed to extend the lifespan of the nation’s nuclear power plants into other energy infrastructure instead, amid a drive by opposition lawmakers to use reactors as a relatively clean power source.
Nuclear power is not a solution to Taiwan’s energy or carbon emissions problems, the groups said, a day before the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee is scheduled to review proposed amendments to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法).
Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan member Cheng Tai-chin (鄭泰鈞) told a news conference at the demonstration that the lawmakers’ bid to reactivate obsolete reactors recklessly endangers public safety.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It would cost an estimated NT$110 billion (US$3.38 billion) to keep the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County online, a figure that only includes the expenses for sourcing reactor parts and handling nuclear waste, Cheng said.
The environmental impact assessment and reactor inspections necessary for safely operating a power plant take at least five years, meaning that Taiwan would get no power from any reactor before 2030, he said.
The billions that would be spent on nuclear energy — if the lawmakers’ proposal became reality — could be put to better use by building renewable energy infrastructure, Cheng said.
Legislators and entrepreneurs repeatedly call nuclear power a type of green energy, but the RE100 renewable energy initiative does not recognize that claim, he said, adding that many Taiwanese tech companies and other heavy energy users are members of the initiative.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) said the risks of nuclear mishaps are higher in earthquake-prone Taiwan.
The nation has no safe areas to evacuate people to should a significant nuclear incident occur, she said, adding that economic growth should not take precedence over safety.
Energy saving, energy storage technology, renewables and improving energy management are all viable alternatives to nuclear power, she said.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) should have a chance to show the price tag for keeping nuclear power before lawmakers amend the act, Mom Loves Taiwan secretary-general Yang Shun-mei (楊順美) said.
Taipower’s public statements from 2014 say the company believes that extending the service life of the nation’s three then-active nuclear power plants would cost NT$35 billion to NT$40 billion, she said.
That figure has likely risen as the number of reactor components that need to be replaced must have increased since that time, Yang said.
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