More than 523 academics have signed a statement urging the public to vote “no” in Saturday’s referendum to restart the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant.
A tectonic fault line in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township is 900m from the reactors at the facility and a protrusion from an earthquake could spell disaster, Chen Wen-shan (陳文山), a professor in National Taiwan University’s Department of Geology, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, citing 2015 and 2022 reports by Taiwan Power Co.
The geological layer on which the power plant rests is relatively young and a large earthquake might occur there, Chen said.
Photo: Hunag Yi-ching, Taipei Times
Storing spent fuel rods underground was possible in theory, but no site survey has been conducted, he said, adding that with daily compression of the Earth’s crust in Taiwan, fuel rods might become stuck and irretrievable.
Tsuang Ben-jei (莊秉潔), professor of environmental engineering at National Chung Hsing University, said that if something similar to what befell the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in Japan in 2011 happened at the Ma-anshan site, Taitung County, Kaohsiung, Pingtung County and Hengchun Township (恆春) would have a 5 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent and 70 percent chance respectively of becoming permanent exclusion zones.
Moreover, the Kuroshio current flows off Hengchun, so fisheries near Taiwan would be affected, Tsuang said.
Tai Hsing-sheng (戴興盛), a professor of natural resources and environmental studies at National Dong Hwa University, said that nuclear power does not meet the EU’s standards for financial sustainability.
A levelized cost of electricity assessment shows that nuclear power has a far higher average cost of generating electricity over the lifespan of a facility than power from renewable sources, Tai said.
The overheads of nuclear waste processing, as well as the social and economic effects of nuclear disasters, have not been factored into calculations, Tai added.
Chiu Hua-mei (邱花妹), an assistant professor of sociology at National Sun Yat-sen University, said that Pingtung County residents coexisted with the risk of a nuclear disaster for four decades.
However, most of them are unaware that the facility faced abnormalities or circumvented regulations 30 times, Chiu said.
County residents should not be forced to live with nuclear power any longer and to do so would be enacting regional injustice, she said.
On Monday, a source in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who asked not to be named, said that DPP politicians and local officials would increase campaigning to urge “no” votes in the referendum.
“We must directly confront the disinformation and false narratives being disseminated, and also remind the public that the opposition parties have changed their position on nuclear energy,” the source said.
Many leading figures in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party once opposed nuclear energy, but now they embrace it, they said.
“Their U-turn is beyond what a normal person would consider reasonable, which shows that the referendum is a mere political show,” they added.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
Taipei resident Mu Chu-hua caught some glimpses of China’s mighty military parade on YouTube on Wednesday. As she watched hypersonic missiles roll down Beijing’s Changan Avenue and troops march in lockstep, she did not feel like they posed a threat to Taiwan. Mu, a 69-year-old retiree, said she saw the parade as simply a way for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to “say thank you to the troops.” “I thought it was quite normal,” she said. “It was very cool.” China’s military parade commemorating the end of World War II was being watched internationally for insights into Beijing’s military advances and its show
RSS