Mon, Sep 20, 2010 page3

• Activists mull coming age of nuclear power

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
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  Nuclear power is not a good option for energy production, even as some advocate a “nuclear renaissance” to curb carbon emissions, anti-nuclear activists and academics said at a forum on Saturday.

  Speaking on the first of the two-day “No Nuke Asia Forum,” Lee Heon-seok, a representative of South Korea’s Energy Justice Action, said that concerns about climate change had led countries worldwide to promote carbon emissions reduction and renewable energy.

  Against this backdrop, nuclear power, once seen as a threat to the environment, has resurfaced as a feasible option for some, including Japan and South Korea, because it does not generate high emissions levels.

  Lee said South Korean President Lee Myung-bak announced in 2008 that the country would increase the share of total energy production accounted for by nuclear power in South Korea to 59 percent by 2030, even though that share has steadily declined since its peak of 58 percent in the 1980s, to 35 percent today.

  Nuclear power, however, still presents a wide range of problems, said Kao Cheng-yen, a professor of environmental engineering at National Taiwan University.

  Citing Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US vice president Al Gore, Kao said that the construction of a nuclear power plant was the most costly and time consuming of all power generating methods.

  “The construction of [Taiwan’s] Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has cost NT$273.7 billion [US$8.6 billion], far exceeding the project’s original budget of NT$169.7 billion, he said.

  “A nuclear power plant carries its own security management risks and increases the risk of nuclear proliferation,” he said.

  While pro-nuclear advocates say nuclear power does not release carbon dioxide and does not contribute to global warming, its radioactive waste creates many environmental and safety issues because it cannot be treated with existing technology, Kao said.

  In a poll conducted by Shih Hsin University in December, nearly 70 percent of Taiwan’s population favored the notion of replacing nuclear power with renewable energy, a view echoed at the forum by Chance Wu, the research and development director of Hi-VAWT Technology Corp.

  In a speech examining Taiwan’s alternative energy policy, Wu urged the government to step up efforts in the field.

  The industrial sector, he said, consumes more than half of the energy in Taiwan, which depends on fossil fuels for more than 90 percent of its total energy supply and renewable energy for less than 0.5 percent of the total.

  Biomass is Taiwan’s first alternative energy priority, followed by wind and solar power, Wu said.

  “But we still need to adjust the industrial structure and eliminate high energy-consuming industries,” he said.

  The government has pledged to start implementing a renewable energy policy this year and plans to invest NT$45 billion over the next five years to boost the green energy industry, but there remains plenty of work to be done.

  According to the fifth Climate Change Performance Index released by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe last December, Taiwan ranked 47th among 57 countries, down from 32nd the year before. Taiwan’s performance was rated as “poor” for both years.
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