Restarting the use of nuclear power in Taiwan would pass the nuclear waste problem to the next generation and is not in line with environmental justice, several anti-nuclear groups said yesterday, citing the country’s proneness to natural disasters and the lack of a nuclear waste disposal site.
President William Lai (賴清德) earlier in the day signaled that he was open to restarting two decommissioned nuclear plants to meet an expected increase in power demand driven by the artificial intelligence sector.
Taiwan in May last year ended operations of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County, the last active nuclear facility in the nation.
Photo: CNA
Lai confirmed that work has begun to secure approvals for restarting the decommissioned Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) and the Ma-anshan power plant, adding that state-owned Taiwan Power Co has launched the preparatory procedures and is expected to submit a restart plan to the Nuclear Safety Commission by the end of this month.
Nuclear safety, nuclear waste disposal and public consensus are the three key factors to be considered by the commission, Lai said.
Homemakers’ Union and Foundation Taichung branch director Geng Ming-yi (耿明誼) said nuclear waste remains an unsolved issue in Taiwan.
A 2019 survey showed that 60 percent of the public opposed having nuclear waste stored near their communities, she said.
It is unclear where the waste would be stored if Taiwan restarts nuclear power plants, she said.
“How, then, can nuclear power be restarted without addressing this? Doing so would pass the problem to the next generation, disregarding Taiwan’s future and environmental justice,” she said.
Taiwan Academy of Ecology chairman Liu Hung-chang (劉烘昌) said anti-nuclear groups had put in a lot of effort to make Taiwan a “non-nuclear homeland,” but nuclear power is set to be restarted in such a hurry.
Taiwan is not well-suited for nuclear power plants, given its frequent earthquakes, typhoons and fragile geology, he said.
Most importantly, a solution for storing nuclear waste has yet to be found, he said.
“How, then, can nuclear power be safely restarted? A fire at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant last March underscores the need to take nuclear safety seriously,” he added.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS