New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday reiterated that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should not begin operation until it is completely safe.
"If the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant cannot be assured, it should absolutely not begin operation,” Chu, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said in response to a media query on growing public concerns over the safety of nuclear power plants.
“Safety is the priority, the same standard applies to the Jinshan and Guosheng nuclear power plants — if there are any safety concerns, the operation of these two nuclear power plants should be terminated immediately,” he said.
Currently, there are three nuclear power plants in operation: two in New Taipei City and one in Pingtung County. The fourth — yet to be completed — is in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
While taking Chu’s remarks as supportive of the anti-nuclear campaign, activists urged Chu and other politicians to do more than just talk.
“I think many pan-blue politicians are speaking about nuclear safety now because they can feel that an increasing number of people have turned against nuclear power,” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance deputy secretary-general Hung Shen-han (洪申翰) said. “Chu said the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should not begin operation until its safety can be guaranteed, but I don’t think that’s possible, given Taiwan’s unstable geological composition and population density.”
“So I think they should simply say no to nuclear power and do something to put an end to it,” he added.
Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲), a member of Green Party Taiwan’s Central Executive Committee, said: “If Chu and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) truly care about nuclear safety, they should have Taipei City and New Taipei City work together to hold a nuclear disaster drill to see how the 5 million to 6 million people living in the two cities can be safely and quickly evacuated in the event of a nuclear disaster.”
The public has become more concerned with the safety of nuclear power plants after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.
In addition, a number of technical problems that occurred during tests at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, which could lead to a severe nuclear disaster if they occurred during regular operations, have deepened public fears over nuclear power.
A number of Taiwanese celebrities, including the band Mayday (五月天) singer-songwriter Chen Sheng (陳昇) and singer Hsin (信), have expressed their opposition to nuclear power.
Meanwhile, dozens of mothers, including celebrities and public figures such as veteran show host Momoko Tao (陶晶瑩) and Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation board director Irene Chen (陳藹玲) have recently formed an association aimed at collecting more than 100,000 signatures for a petition against the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
The association’s main demands are that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), which runs the nation’s three operating nuclear power plants, make public the actual situations and data at the plants, that it establish a platform for communication with the public, that construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant be stopped immediately and that the government plans new energy policies.
New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday reiterated that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should not begin operation until it is completely safe.
“If the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power
The move came after the Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed on Thursday that it was allocating additional funds for preparatory work at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
In Ministry of Economic Affairs Minister Shih Yen-shiang’s (施顏祥) report at the legislative Economic committee, he said that after 18 improvements at the plant are completed before June, the government would be able to give lawmakers a definite timetable and the precise amount of additional budget needed.
He added that the current estimation is that the total budget spent on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant would reach more than NT$300 billion (US$10.37 billion), but if the plant is abandoned and the three operating plants are shut down in a few years, electricity prices could soar by 40 percent.
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS