Anti-nuclear protesters around the country plan to take to the streets on Saturday, calling for an end to plans to put the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant into operation and the use of nuclear power.
The nationwide action is aimed at pushing the government to make a commitment to a no-nuke homeland, said Tsui Su-hsin (崔傃欣), secretary-general of Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, one of the participating non-governmental organizations.
Tsui said the alliance, along with several dozen civic organizations such as the Homemakers United Foundation, Taiwan Association for Human Rights and Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, would call for the scrapping of nuclear power plants.
“We hope to renew people’s passion for this issue as the anti-nuclear movement has entered a critical stage,” as the fourth nuclear plant could begin operations soon, Tsui said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said earlier this year that safety inspections on the nearly completed power plant are expected to run through June, and that if all goes well, it could start fuel rod installation by the end of the year.
The inspections were initiated in an effort to ease widespread public concerns after the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, which was caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Construction of the fourth power plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) began in 1999, but the project has repeatedly stalled due in part to the changing political climate and rising opposition to nuclear power.
Tsui said the government should immediately stop construction of the fourth nuclear plant and speedily decommission the other three that are in operation.
It is hoped that the rallies, which are to take place in Taipei, Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung and Taitung, would draw at least 220,000 protesters, on a par with the nationwide anti-nuclear march last year, Tsui said.
Taiwan Power Co, which is in charge of the country’s power plants, has insisted that the fourth nuclear plant is safe and that measures have been taken to avert a Fukushima-type disaster.
The government has said that nuclear power is needed to ensure that the nation has a steady and adequate supply of electricity.
It has also said the fourth plant is safe and necessary, especially as the other three decades-old plants will be decommissioned eventually.
In Taipei, the demonstrators are expected to meet at three locations — the plaza in front of Wellcome Supermarket in Daan District (大安), the intersection between Linsen N Road and Nanjing E Road, and National Taiwan University’s main entrance.
The marches are to start at 2pm and conclude at 5pm in front of the Presidential Office building, and are to be followed by a vigil until 9:30pm.
In Greater Taichung, the rally starts at 1pm at Taichung Civic Square, while the rally in Greater Kaohsiung begins at 2pm at Kaohsiung Aouzihdi Forest Park.
In Taitung, the event is to take the form of a march and a flea market, starting at 1:30pm at the Nanjing Civilian Plaza, organizers said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
RSS