Opposition vice presidential candidates challenged the government’s energy policy during Monday’s televised debate, while the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) vice presidential candidate questioned their positions on nuclear power.
Since taking power in 2016, the government’s energy policy has focused on phasing out nuclear power and running an electricity mix of 50 percent natural gas, 30 percent coal and 20 percent from renewable energy sources by next year.
Opposition parties have criticized the policy, especially as the rollout of renewable energy sources has lagged behind schedule, arguing in favor of maintaining Taiwan’s nuclear power generation capabilities.
Photo: EPA
The DPP’s candidate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), questioned the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nuclear energy policy and asked how it could support its claims.
KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) has proposed raising the proportion of nuclear power in the nation’s energy mix to 18 percent by 2050, while his running mate, Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), has endorsed a target of 25 percent, said Hsiao, a former representative to the US.
She asked whether more nuclear power plants would have to be built to meet those targets and where the nuclear waste would go.
“The [five] DPP-governed cities and counties have all rejected the idea of building new nuclear power plants. Do KMT mayors and county commissioners agree to have new nuclear power plants in their cities and counties?” Hsiao asked.
Jaw said each of Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants that were or remain active could have housed four reactors instead of two, and that the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was originally designed to house eight reactors, implying no new facilities would have to be built.
The Broadcasting Corp of China chairman said that the residents of Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) who live close to the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant support its continued operation, because they get subsidies without being exposed to health risks, as nuclear power is safe.
Jaw was referring to remarks by the Hengchun Township mayor in August that at least 70 percent of local residents supported the plant’s continued operation.
The two reactors at that plant are scheduled to stop operating in July and May next year when their 40-year operating permits expire.
Regarding nuclear waste, Taiwan should follow the US’ strategy of burying it deep in the ground, Jaw said.
Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants accounted for 16 to 20 percent of all power generated in the nation from 2000 to 2014, and 11 to12 percent from 2016 to 2021 after the first plant’s permits expired and it was shut down.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator and vice presidential candidate Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈) called the “no nuclear homeland” proposal an ideology that has forced the acceleration of the development of renewable power installations, resulting in corruption and misconduct.
She said that as the economy relies heavily on the manufacturing sector, Taipei has to be realistic in terms of its energy policy.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS