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.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS