Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday called for scrapping a deadline for nuclear power plants to apply for service life extensions in a bid to reactivate the shuttered reactors in New Taipei City’s Shihmen (石門) and Wanli (萬里) districts.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), which did not seek to renew the operating licenses for the reactors, in July 2019 started decommissioning the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in Shihmen and the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli in March last year.
Under Article 6 of the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法), nuclear plants must reapply for an operating license after 40 years of service “within the period prescribed by the competent authorities.”
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Taiwan should not set limits on renewal applications to increase the energy supply and achieve net zero carbon emissions before 2050, Legislator Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The plan would give the nation’s energy policy more flexibility, Wang said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) no longer possesses a legislative majority to counter KMT proposals.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the KMT and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) expressed support for extending the service of nuclear power plants when campaigning for president, she said.
“We believe that a coalition of opposition parties will be able to effect important changes to Taiwan’s energy policy,” she said, adding that nuclear power is a clean and efficient source of energy.
The Nuclear Safety Commission requires operators to apply for a new license five years before a reactor’s service life reaches 40 years, which KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said called the main obstacle to the KMT’s proposal.
The amendments to the act would emphasize safety as the standard for license renewal instead of a time limit, he said.
Taiwan is not on track to generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity from renewable energy sources next year, which shows that the DPP’s energy policy is in disarray, KMT Legislator Wu I-ding (吳怡玎) said, adding that the DPP should work with the opposition to resolve the national energy crisis.
Nuclear power can play a major role in a global transition to low-emissions energy systems, KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said, citing the International Energy Agency.
Nuclear energy is listed as a sustainable energy option by the EU, and South Korea has pledged to increase nuclear power from 27.4 percent of its energy mix to more than 30 percent, while US President Joe Biden established a US$6 billion fund to bolster the nuclear energy sector, Lee said.
“The global trend in energy policy is to make greater use of nuclear energy,” Lee said. “Taiwan’s energy policy must not be forced into the cul-de-sac of opposition to nuclear power.”
The Nuclear Safety Commission said that none of the deactivated reactors can be turned back on again since their fuel rods had been removed and placed in spent fuel pools for cooling.
Pools designated for use by the Jinshan and Guosheng plants are filled to capacity, while those for Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County — the nation’s sole operational nuclear energy facility — would have run out of space within a matter of years, it said.
Taiwan has no permanent facility for long-term nuclear waste storage. A planned fourth nuclear power plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) was never completed.
Greenpeace Taiwan said that nuclear energy is an obsolete technology and the international consensus is for its replacement by renewables.
Using nuclear power as a stopgap can forestall an economy’s transition to sustainable energy, as nuclear energy projects have been known to smother competing thermal energy proposals, it said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS