Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday said they would reject a NT$410 billion (US$13.54 billion) aid package for Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) unless the state-run company extends the service life of the nation’s last remaining nuclear reactor.
KMT Legislator Lai Shih-bao (賴士葆) made the demand during a legislative session a day after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to extend the operating license of nuclear reactors from 40 years to 60 years in a vote split along party lines.
The Executive Yuan has proposed the subsidy to alleviate Taipower’s mounting debt.
Photo: courtesy of Democratic Progressive Party
Extending the service life of the No. 2 reactor at Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant — which is to shut down on Saturday — would cost NT$900 million, but generate NT$200 billion in economic value, Lai told Cabinet officials during the session.
US President Donald Trump is considering quadrupling the number of nuclear reactors in the US and the American Institute in Taiwan has pledged to assist Taiwan in nuclear waste disposal, he said.
The Executive Yuan should abandon its nuclear-free homeland policy, as the legislature has cleared the hurdle for the continued use of nuclear energy, he added.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Chin-tsang (何晉滄) said the Ma-anshan plant has no room to store spent nuclear fuel and a new reactor would cost at least US$10 billion.
While Ho said that renewing the service life of aging reactors would endanger public safety, Lai repeatedly said that the US “will take responsibility.”
The legislature’s demands on the state-owned enterprise were “tantamount to blackmail,” Taipower chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said.
Taipower’s evaluations indicate that delaying the deactivation of Ma-anshan’s No. 2 reactor would not be safe or economically viable, Tseng said.
Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) stipulates that operating licenses are valid for no longer than 40 years and cannot be extended without the government’s approval of an application for renewal.
Speaking at the Democratic Progressive Party’s Central Standing Committee meeting, President William Lai (賴清德) said the government could not implement the opposition-backed amendment to the law so close to the reactor’s scheduled deactivation.
The KMT’s demand to immediately extend the service life of the reactor could only be met if the government forgoes safety evaluations altogether, he said.
Ma-anshan’s No. 2 reactor produces less than 4 percent of the nation’s energy output, compared with the 27.9 percent produced by solar, wind and hydroelectric power, he said, citing electricity generation data.
Taipower’s projections show that Taiwan would not face electricity shortages into 2032, even when accounting for potential growth in the tech sector amid demand for artificial intelligence technology, the president said.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭?明) told reporters at a separate legislative meeting that Taiwan’s laws do not facilitate the safe operation of the reactor.
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, construction of which started in 1978, was built without conducting any environmental impact assessment, he said, adding that no legal mechanism exists for the government to evaluate a reactor’s safety before extending its operational permit.
The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union urged the Cabinet to compel a reconsideration of the bill, which poses a danger to public safety.
Extending the service life of the No. 2 reactor is a steep technical and legal challenge, as the facility runs on technology proprietary to the now-defunct Westinghouse Electric Corp, it said.
Although Westinghouse Electric Corp closed in 1997, it was succeeded by the Westinghouse Electric Co, which still designs, builds and maintains nuclear facilities.
The KMT’s calculations for the costs of using the reactor to generate electricity did not include the expenses related to obtaining new fuel rods or refurbishing the facility to meet modern safety standards, the union said.
When asked to comment, New Taipei City Mayor and former KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the government is responsible for ensuring the nation’s electricity supply is safe and stable.
William Lai’s administration should tell the public clearly what the nation’s energy structure would be without nuclear power, he added.
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