Environmental advocates and supporters yesterday gathered in Taipei to voice opposition to restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春), while marking the first anniversary of the nation becoming nuclear-free on May 17 last year.
Lung Chang-wei (龍昶維), an educational and cultural worker from Hengchun Township, said that people living in the township have been living in fear of a nuclear incident since construction of the Ma-anshan plant started in 1978.
As lawmakers discuss potentially restarting the plant, where to store nuclear waste has not been decided, he said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
A “nuclear-free homeland” should be a universal component of intergenerational justice, Lung added.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairman Shieh Jyh-cherng (謝志誠) said that the operating reserve margin for electricity had been largely sufficient over the past year.
The margin remained above 10 percent on 336 of the 364 days from May 18 last year to Saturday last week, he said, adding that it fell between 6 and 10 percent on 28 days.
The installed solar power capacity in Penghu County has risen to more than 84 megawatts, said former Green Party Taiwan secretary-general Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), who is also a teacher at the Penghu Community College.
That is mostly enough to meet Penghu’s peak electricity demand, weather permitting, he said.
In Kinmen County, the frequency of power outages declined significantly after it built a smart power grid and increased green power use, Pan said.
Given the outlying islands’ improved renewable energy capacity, major manufacturers that have signed on to the RE100 initiative should follow such examples to set up their own renewable energy networks, he said.
The advocates also urged the government to address the problem of where to store nuclear waste.
Lanyu Yayo Community Development Association president Sinan Mavivo said the existing nuclear waste storage site was set up on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) more than four decades ago without the consent of the local Tao community.
The problem has remained unresolved and severely violates the rights and welfare of local indigenous people, she said, adding that a bill to move the nuclear waste has been shelved at the legislature.
Tao culture is used as a diplomatic asset when the government seeks to promote Austronesian cultural exchanges, but Tao people’s homeland, Lanyu, is used as an expendable outlying island when the government needs to store its nuclear waste, Mavivo said.
The government is not respecting the Tao community when it capitalizes on their culture while ignoring their calls for their right to land, health and a safe living environment, she added.
Anti-nuclear waste advocates are calling on the government to keep its promises, said Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association researcher Yang Chun-yi (楊純宜), who is also a member of the Truku community in Hualien County.
President William Lai (賴清德) has said that nuclear plants would not be restarted without ensuring safety, resolving nuclear waste storage issues and reaching a social consensus, she said.
After multiple fires and radiation leaks, safety concerns remain at the Ma-anshan plant, while nuclear waste remains a problem, Yang said.
Hualien and Taitung counties tend to be targeted for nuclear waste storage because they are sparsely populated have less-developed economies, Hualien County native Chien Tzu-han (簡子涵) said.
However, the region is geologically vulnerable with frequent earthquakes, he said, adding that areas struck by a major quake two years ago were still being rebuilt.
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