Former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tse (李遠哲) recently said that because the risk of human extinction is far worse than that of nuclear disaster, he approves of extending the service life of Taiwan’s nuclear power plants and the construction of new plants. However, Taiwan’s nuclear power plants are quite distinct from others around the world. Even with this plan, how much carbon emissions could be reduced by 2030?
The selection of locations for nuclear power plants follow rules similar to the US’: Power plants cannot be constructed within 8km of an active fault exceeding 300m in length. When Taiwan’s four nuclear power plants were constructed, geological research was not as advanced as it is today.
There is only about 5km to 7km between the first and second nuclear power plants and an active fault, a geological survey conducted after 2014 found. The Hengchun Fault directly passes through the third nuclear power plant. The three operational nuclear power plants are sources of constant concern and are soon to be decommissioned. Deciding to extend operations now is tantamount to digging our own grave.
With regard to nuclear fuel rods, Taiwan has the same issue as the US: There is no clear solution to handling the waste or where to store the spent rods. The density of radioactive waste in the spent fuel pools of the first and second plants is four to five times higher than the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, which experienced a nuclear disaster after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in 2011. If a similar disaster were to occur in Taiwan, it could be catastrophic.
The second power plant has essentially been decommissioned. All critical equipment have been dismantled and vital power generating equipment have not been maintained in the past ten years. Its spent fuel pools are filled to the brim with used nuclear fuel rods and no dry storage sites have been constructed. There is no way to remove the fuel rods from the nuclear reactor cores, so they cannot be replaced with new ones to continue operations. The plants must set up dry storage sites, and reconstruct and maintain equipment that has already been removed. If that could be completed by 2030 to extend plant operations, it would be unbelievably fast.
The first reactor at the Third Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County is set to retire on July 27, and the No. 2 reactor’s license expires in May next year. Is it really okay to extend operations?
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) in 2014 said that in order to extend the operations of the Third Nuclear Power Plant, its steam generators would have to be replaced to increase future operational efficiency. It would have cost NT$15 billion (US$460.7 million). Ten years ago, the plant required updated machinery, but now it does not? The assembly of steam generators takes around five years. Even if we were to purchase them now, completing assembly, shipping, installation and testing before the end of 2030 would require a Herculean effort.
What about constructing new plants? Nuclear power must account for 30 percent of all power, Pegatron CEO Tong Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said. The Third Nuclear Power Plant’s two reactors account for 5 percent of all generated power. Reaching 30 percent would require at least five times that of the Third Nuclear Power Plant, meaning at least five new plants would need to be constructed. Why do not we conduct a poll and see which cities and counties would be willing to house these new plants? There are also 58 nuclear power plants under construction around the world. They take at least six years to complete. If Taiwan were to begin construction right now, could they be completed by 2030? Even if it were possible, it would not occur until sometime after 2030, maybe even 2040, assessments of international research institutions and resource consulting firms showed.
Placing all our hopes on nuclear power to solve Taiwan’s carbon reduction dilemma by 2030, or even by 2050, is not just delusional, but dangerous. Addressing climate change is not just about energy policy. We must face the reality that the environment has changed. Policies that reduce carbon emissions and measures to adjust to the environment must be implemented simultaneously. Focusing on nuclear energy as our sole climate solution is extremely inadvisable.
Yang Shun-mei is secretary-general of the Mom Loves Taiwan Association.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to