Taiwan’s economic growth will be affected if construction of the country’s controversial fourth nuclear power plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) is terminated, a local think tank said yesterday.
Taiwan Research Institute president Wu Tsai-yi (吳再益) said Taiwan’s real GDP in 2018 will decrease by 0.43 percent, or about NT$78 billion (US$2.6 billion), and 11,000 jobs would be lost, if the project is aborted.
The estimates were based on a projection that the government would replace nuclear power with other types of energy, which would result in a 14.14 percent increase in the cost of electricity to NT$0.36 per unit, Wu said. In turn, that would cause a 0.3 percent hike in overall production costs in the manufacturing sector, he said at a local seminar to discuss the impact of aborting the new plant’s construction.
In addition, the researcher said scrapping the plant would reduce the nation’s power reserve margin from 17.9 percent of total capacity this year to only 5.3 percent in 2018, raising the risk of power shortages in northern Taiwan. That would seriously affect the daily lives of people in northern Taiwan because the area’s mass transportation systems, including the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, are largely powered by electricity, Wu said.
The fourth nuclear power plant has been plagued by delays since construction began in 1999. Earlier this year, the Cabinet proposed putting the plant’s fate to a referendum amid nuclear safety concerns that have grown since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan in March 2011.
The Legislative Yuan decided during a consultation among party caucuses earlier this week to hold a provisional session to discuss 19 bills between the following day and Aug. 9, including one on holding a referendum on the fate of the controversial fourth nuclear power plant.
If passed, the referendum is likely to be held by the end of this year to determine the future of the nuclear power plant.
Several environmental groups have urged the public to tell the Legislative Yuan not to approve the proposed referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
If the KMT’s referendum proposal is approved by the legislature, voters would be asked: “Do you agree that the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be halted and that it not become operational?”
The KMT’s question was politically calculated and tramples over the principles of direct democracy and responsible politics, because if it fails, the government would have grounds to continue the construction of the plant, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said.
According to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池), the party was determined that the proposal pass and any KMT member who voted against it would be liable to be disciplined by party headquarters.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the party would do whatever it could to block the KMT if it made a unilateral move, which would “make things turn ugly on Friday.”
‘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
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
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
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