Starting up the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant would take 10 more years and cost up to NT$70 billion (US$2.27 billion), according to conservative estimates, Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Minister Hsieh Shou-shing (謝曉星) told the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Plans to finish the power station in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) were officially abandoned in July 2015 under then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺).
However, they and other nuclear power proponents have since called for the plant to be completed and put into operation.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Power Co
Nuclear Myth Busters founder Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修), whose referendum to abolish the Cabinet’s “nuclear-free homeland by 2025” policy were passed on Nov. 24 last year, last week filed two new proposals for referendums about nuclear power, including one seeking to start the plant.
It would take two or three more years and an additional NT$50 billion to finish building the power plant, assuming no political interference, Huang said.
Starting the plant would involve at least 10 years of preparation and expenditure of NT$60 billion to NT$70 billion, Hsieh said in response to questions from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, adding that those are conservative estimates.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) would need to file a proposal for review by the AEC if they want to unseal the plant, but it is hard to say how much time and money that would cost, he said.
In July last year, Taipower started shipping some of the plant’s 1,744 unused fuel rods back to its US supplier, and it would continue doing so, Hsieh said.
The government has not yet decided on the location of a site for the storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste and no municipality has expressed its willingness to provide space for such a site, he said.
DPP Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) said the council should step up communication with the public, as their stance on nuclear power has become an unavoidable issue for any candidate running in next year’s presidential election.
Luckily, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake that was felt in Gongliao on Wednesday morning did not cause any disaster, but people have to know the potential risks of continuing to use nuclear power station, Su said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
MESSAGE: The ministry said China and the Philippines are escalating regional tensions, and Taiwan should be included in dialogue mechanisms on an equal footing Taiwan has rejected renewed sovereignty claims over the South China Sea by the Philippines and China by reaffirming its sovereignty and rights under international law over the disputed area. “The Republic of China [ROC] enjoys all rights to island groups and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea in accordance with international law and maritime laws,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement yesterday. Other countries’ attempts to claim sovereignty over the South China Sea do not change the fact that the ROC holds sovereignty over the region, the ministry said. The MOFA statement came after
RSS