Environmental groups on Sunday called for a referendum on the nation’s nuclear power plants as a nuclear crisis in Japan continues.
At a meeting of environmental non-governmental organizations at Guandu Nature Park (關渡自然公園), participants said a national referendum would allow citizens to decide whether they want to keep Taiwan’s nuclear power plants or not.
“Any radiation fallout absorbed by human bodies can cause cytopathic effects and other potential threats to human health,” Gloria Hsu (徐光蓉), a member of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, said at the annual meeting.
In November 1978, the Austrian government abandoned a newly built nuclear power station after 51 percent of the electorate voted against nuclear power in a referendum, the union’s founding chairman Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said, adding that Taiwan can follow in Austria’s footsteps.
By law, anti--nuclear activists can seek to collect signatures to propose a referendum. About 86,600 signatures, or the equivalent of 0.5 percent of all registered voters in the last presidential election, would be required to validate a proposal, the Referendum Act (公民投票法) stipulates.
After that, the referendum organizers must collect another 866,000 signatures, or 5 percent of all voters, for a referendum to be put on the ballot.
Taiwan currently operates three nuclear power plants, with two located in New Taipei City (新北市) and one in Pingtung County. A fourth nuclear power plant is under construction in Gongliao District (貢寮), also in New Taipei City. It is scheduled to begin commercial operations at the end of next year.
The issue of whether to abolish nuclear power came to the forefront in Taiwan after March 11, when a powerful earthquake struck Japan and unleashed a tsunami that damaged the country’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, causing radiation to leak.
Thousands of demonstrators, including former premiers Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), took to the street last month calling on the government to end its reliance on nuclear power.
Although the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is for the most part in favor of retaining the nuclear option, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has said it would support plans for a referendum and seek to halt construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Meanwhile, in her second TV advertisement for her presidential bid, the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) focused on her plans for a nuclear-free homeland.
“If we start to work hard now, our children’s future can be free of fear. Having a non-nuclear homeland requires some effort and needs some time, but with persistence and determination, our children can see that dream come true. Persistence — for our next generation,” Tsai says in the 30-second ad, which started running on cable news channels yesterday.
Tsai has said that if she were elected president next year, she would seek to end operations at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant as part of her plan to phase out nuclear energy by 2025.
She also proposed decommissioning the three operational nuclear power plants between 2019 and 2025.
Tsai said the shutdowns would be subject to conditions, including whether Taiwan could adequately replace the electricity produced by the plants with other power sources, such as by building renewable energy capacity and achieving better efficiency at coal-fired power plants.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS