Driven by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus, the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee scheduled a review of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) yesterday about the extension or decommissioning of nuclear power plants, sparking protests against nuclear power outside the venue.
Taiwanese still hold misconceptions regarding nuclear power, believing it to be clean, inexpensive, safe and stable. Dealing with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan in 2011 resulted in sky-high costs. Aside from that, decommissioning one nuclear power plant reactor would cost NT$400 billion (US$12.3 billion). Adding this to the cost of generating nuclear power, it is not at all inexpensive, not to mention the issue of nuclear waste storage.
Additionally, generating electricity from nuclear energy requires a large amount of water for cooling. Over the past few years, the summer season has become increasingly hotter worldwide, forcing 70 percent of France’s nuclear power plants to reduce or even stop operations when heat waves strike. The Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) also had to reduce operations in June 2019, as sea water temperatures had risen too high.
Nuclear power is not only ineffective in solving electricity shortage problems during the summer, but might even make the problem worse.
Therefore, Taiwan must give up on nuclear power. It is a heat-intolerant, unstable and costly resource that also requires imported fuel rods. Taiwan has the best conditions and potential for developing sustainable resources and geothermal power. Industry professionals, officials and academics should come together to invest resources into developing a stable and fully autonomous sustainable energy source.
John Yu is a civil servant in Taipei.
Translated by Nicole Wong
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