Members of the Taiwan Go Go Front alliance yesterday called for suspension of plan to restart the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) and the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春).
The alliance, including the Green Party Taiwan (GPT), the Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP), the New Power Party and the Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party, issued the call after President William Lai (賴清德) on Saturday signaled he was open to restarting two decommissioned nuclear plants to meet an expected increase in energy demand driven by the artificial intelligence sector, as well as to comply with changes to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) last year, which provided a legislative basis for the continuation of nuclear power plant operations even after entering the decommissioning stage.
GPT convener and New Taipei City councilor candidate Kan Chung-wei (甘崇緯) yesterday said the amendment to the law simply establishes a legal basis for potentially restarting decommissioned nuclear power plants, it does not automatically allow their return to operation.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The move to initiate the process has come from the Executive Yuan under Lai’s direction, he said, urging the government to stop blurring the issue and misleading the public.
The two nuclear power plants are in geologically active areas and there are as many as 5 million people living within 30km of the Guosheng power plant, he said.
There has yet to be a regional evacuation plan and the final disposal sites for low-level and high-level nuclear waste remain unknown, he added.
“[We] strongly urge the president to instruct the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan Power Co to withdraw the restart plan and to revisit the issue only after the three principles have genuinely been met,” he said.
TSP Chairman Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥) said energy policy shapes a society’s broader vision for environmental, social and economic sustainability and should be guided by science — not ideology.
Policies therefore can evolve as conditions change, he said.
However, the risks posed by aging reactors, seismic fault lines and unresolved nuclear waste disposal plans persist, he said.
The government’s assertions that “nuclear safety is assured, waste disposal is resolved and a social consensus exists” lack supporting evidence, he said.
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