The two new Cabinet appointees who will be most closely involved with the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四) continued yesterday to demonstrate their strong support for the resumption of the project.
Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) head Lin Jun-yi (林俊義) yesterday handed over the reins of leadership to Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), saying that success in environmental protection work depended not on any particular individual but on a "professional team like the EPA staff."
The decision on whether or not to redo the nuclear plant's environmental impact assessment (EIA) is now one of the big challenges facing Hau.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Yesterday afternoon Hau visited the different party caucuses in the legislature to solicit support for himself in his new position as EPA head.
DPP legislators, however, reminded Hau of the need to be impartial when he considers the assessment.
When Hau announced that he would take the EPA post on March 4, he stressed that his support for the resumption of construction of the plant would not waver.
Hau later responded to the DPP legislators' remarks at the New Party caucus office.
He said he wanted to stress that "on the EIA issue, the EPA will behave in accordance with the law."
It had previously been widely reported that Hau had said that he would not consider redoing the plant's assessment because he believed that calls for it to be redone were simply a delaying tactic on the part of the DPP.
Since the Cabinet reshuffle was finalized, the DPP caucus in the Legislative Yuan has called upon both Hau and new Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Chairman Hu Chin-piao (胡錦標) to take heed of censures related to the plant issued by the Control Yuan in 1999.
That Taipower (
The appointment of Cabinet figures in favor of the plant has further reduced the likelihood that the decision to resume construction will be reversed.
AEC Chairman Hu said yesterday that a planned final repository for low-level radioactive waste on Wuchiu island (烏坵鄉), Kinmen County, might be one solution to the waste problems.
Hu said that AEC officials were confident in radioactive waste disposal technologies and that he would seek support for the plan from Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
In terms of environmental protection, however, whether Taipower will receive approval for the repository remains to be seen.
The EPA reviewed the assessment for the repository on March 5 for the first time.
However, because the meeting was chaired by a former EPA political appointee, deputy administrator James Lee (李界木), who was about to step down with former EPA head Lin, no final decision was made.
The EPA's EIA committee members, however, told the Taipei Times yesterday that most of them were far from satisfied with the assessment proposal.
They demanded that Taipower supply further information within one month.
"Some of us actually suggested in the meeting that the report should have been killed," Yang Chao-yueh (楊肇岳), one of the committee members, told the Taipei Times.
ESCALATING TENSIONS: The US called for restraint and meaningful dialogue after Beijing threatened Taiwanese independence advocates with the death sentence The US on Monday condemned China’s “escalatory and destabilizing language and actions” toward Taiwan after Beijing last week announced new guidelines to punish supporters of Taiwanese independence. Asked about the guidelines, which included the death sentence for “diehard” independence advocates, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said: “We strongly condemn the escalatory and destabilizing language and actions from PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials.” “We continue to urge restraint and no unilateral change to the status quo,” he said at the press briefing. The US urges China to “engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan,” Miller said, adding that “threats and legal
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
WATER CONCERNS: The CWA encouraged people to conserve water, as fewer typhoons would bring less rain, and the plum rain season brought in only 60% of average rainfall About two to four typhoons are forecast to come close to Taiwan between now and November, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, as it also forecast that extreme heat would persist throughout the week, only dropping by 1°C after Friday. The number of typhoons is slightly lower than the average of three to five, reflecting a weakening El Nino weather pattern and the possibility of a La Nina pattern approaching, CWA Weather Forecast Center Director Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良) told a news conference in Taipei. While typically fewer typhoons develop under such conditions, their routes would be more likely to pass near