If emerging technologies can resolve nuclear waste and guarantee safety, nuclear power could be a viable option for the nation, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, told a news conference on his energy transition platform yesterday.
Lai was responding to a question of whether the increased percentage of liquified natural gas (LNG) in power generation would be an issue of national security, and whether the party’s “zero nuclear” stance was more ideological than practical.
Lai said the public has voted in all related referendums that it does not want another nuclear power plant, and that existing nuclear plants are being retired mainly due to public concern over waste storage and safety.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
He also defended President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) energy policy, saying that the president was not closing down nuclear power plants when they are still operational, but is proposing to transition the nation’s power grid to greener sources as per law.
The last operating nuclear power reactor is slated for retirement by mid-2025.
He said the choice is not motivated by political ideology and is fully compliant with the law and global trends.
The goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 would not rely solely on solar or wind power, but would also depend on other diverse methods such as hydroelectric power, which would significantly reduce the nation’s reliance on LNG as a power source, he said.
His government would promote policies for zero waste, low-carbon emission foods and transportation networks, substitute device ownership with equivalent services and other policies to help promote a greener society, he said.
It would also establish an international consultant team to help the industrial transition to lower carbon emitting production methods to reduce the impact of “going green,” he added.
While the international community is striving to transition to net zero emissions, such an effort would inevitably harm others more, and the government should adopt a “no person/business left behind” mindset and assist all affected industries, he said.
Responding to criticism from New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential nominee that he did not attend the televised policy debate on net zero carbon emissions, Lai said that Greenpeace and the International Climate Development Institute confirmed that Lai had not definitively said he would attend and he could not fit the forum into his schedule.
Lai said that he had presented his view and policy platforms on climate change, and he could deliver a report immediately if he were at a debate podium.
Lai also criticized Hou for dodging questions by offering a milquetoast “I will do my best” while criticizing Lai’s policies, adding that Hou should make more constructive comments so voters could better understand Hou’s platform and policies.
Additional reporting by CNA
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS