Campaigners against nuclear energy yesterday filed a lawsuit against Premier Lin Chuan (林全) over his idea of reactivating Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant’s No. 1 reactor amid safety fears over the aging reactor.
Lin was accused of endangering public safety with his remarks on Sunday that he might permit the restart of the reactor at the plant in New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門), which has been shut for nearly 18 months, to ease the nation’s power shortages.
It is the second lawsuit against officials who have suggested restart the reactor; Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) and Atomic Energy Council Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) were sued on Monday last week.
Photo: CNA
Veteran campaigner Lin Jui-chu (林瑞珠) said that the reactor is the most dangerous nuclear facility in the world because there are used fuel rods that are unable to be retrieved from the reactor, and there is no precedent for reusing spent fuel rods.
Campaigners say that power shortages are not enough of a reason to restart the reactor.
“There is no power shortage in Taiwan. Taiwan Power Co’s [Taipower] total generation capacity is 48,000 megawatts, but the nation consumes 35,000 megawatts. That means about 28 percent of the capacity has not been tapped, because Taipower either allows power plants to undergo maintenance or run at lower capacity,” Mom Loves Taiwan secretary-general Yang Shun-mei (楊順美) said.
“How can we allow that 28 percent capacity to remain unused, Yang said.
Lin’s move is abusing the Executive Yuan’s authority and reneging on the party’s promise of going nuclear-free by 2025, Green Consumers’ Foundation chairman Jay Fang (方儉) said.
Taipower has denied allegations that it does not fully utilize its facilities, saying it was operating at a margin of 1.64 percent on Tuesday last week — the lowest operating margin in 10 years.
Excluding the 7,000 megawatt generation capacity of the private sector over which the company has no control, Taipower has only a capacity of 41,000 megawatts, but that does not equal to actual power generation capacity, which is restricted by environmental protection issues, maintenance and weather.
“Accusations that Taipower creates an impression of power shortage risk are not true,” the company said.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
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