Civil groups yesterday urged legislators to invest the time and money needed to extend the lifespan of the nation’s nuclear power plants into other energy infrastructure instead, amid a drive by opposition lawmakers to use reactors as a relatively clean power source.
Nuclear power is not a solution to Taiwan’s energy or carbon emissions problems, the groups said, a day before the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee is scheduled to review proposed amendments to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法).
Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan member Cheng Tai-chin (鄭泰鈞) told a news conference at the demonstration that the lawmakers’ bid to reactivate obsolete reactors recklessly endangers public safety.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It would cost an estimated NT$110 billion (US$3.38 billion) to keep the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County online, a figure that only includes the expenses for sourcing reactor parts and handling nuclear waste, Cheng said.
The environmental impact assessment and reactor inspections necessary for safely operating a power plant take at least five years, meaning that Taiwan would get no power from any reactor before 2030, he said.
The billions that would be spent on nuclear energy — if the lawmakers’ proposal became reality — could be put to better use by building renewable energy infrastructure, Cheng said.
Legislators and entrepreneurs repeatedly call nuclear power a type of green energy, but the RE100 renewable energy initiative does not recognize that claim, he said, adding that many Taiwanese tech companies and other heavy energy users are members of the initiative.
Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association attorney Tsai Ya-ying (蔡雅瀅) said the risks of nuclear mishaps are higher in earthquake-prone Taiwan.
The nation has no safe areas to evacuate people to should a significant nuclear incident occur, she said, adding that economic growth should not take precedence over safety.
Energy saving, energy storage technology, renewables and improving energy management are all viable alternatives to nuclear power, she said.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) should have a chance to show the price tag for keeping nuclear power before lawmakers amend the act, Mom Loves Taiwan secretary-general Yang Shun-mei (楊順美) said.
Taipower’s public statements from 2014 say the company believes that extending the service life of the nation’s three then-active nuclear power plants would cost NT$35 billion to NT$40 billion, she said.
That figure has likely risen as the number of reactor components that need to be replaced must have increased since that time, Yang said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
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