The Southern Taiwan Nuclear Abolishment Action Alliance yesterday launched an anti-nuclear campaign by handing out red envelopes with nuclear power-related information printed on a piece of paper that resembles a NT$500 bill at night markets, major train stations and other crowded locations in Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan.
The alliance, consisting of several civic groups, invited more than a hundred volunteers to take part in the distribution of the red envelopes to pedestrians at busy and crowded public spaces such as Sanfeng Central Street (三鳳中街), a popular shopping area of sundry goods, Shiinkuchan Commercial Zone (新崛江商圈) in Kaohsiung and Huayuan Night Market (花園夜市), Tainan’s largest night market.
The alliance said that although the government and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) have stressed that electricity generated by nuclear power is relatively cheap, with a cost of NT$0.6 per kilowatt-hour, information about how much has been spent on the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), and how much money would be needed for maintenance, nuclear waste treatment and plant retirement are on the whole kept hidden from the public.
Research has shown the risks that having a fault line near the plant in southern Taiwan pose and the yet-to-be-completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has seen several construction problems that the group said.
“If the legislature rejects Taipower’s proposal for an additional budget for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, it can save more than NT$50 billion [US$1.7 million], the equivalent of four red envelopes containing NT$500 for every person in Taiwan, and also abolish the plant,” said Joan Tsai (蔡卉荀), a researcher at Citizens of the Earth, Taiwan.
Chen Yu-chi (陳郁琦), executive secretary of Taiwan Association for Human Rights’ southern office, added: “We hope everyone can live a life free from the fear of nuclear disaster and that everybody could spend more time loving the land that nourishes us, rather than praying that nuclear disaster does not happen.”
Information printed on the fake NT$500 bill called on the public to take part in an anti-nuclear parade that is to take place on March 9 at the Aozihdi Forest Park (凹仔底森林公園) in Greater Kaohsiung.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about