nuclear-news

Taiwan’s election may mean closure of nuclear power there

Vote Holds Fate of Nuclear Power in Taiwan, NYT By ANDREW JACOBS, January 12, 2012 TAIPEI, Taiwan — When voters here choose a president and a new legislature on Saturday, their decisions will also determine whether Taiwan pulls the plug on a state-backed nuclear power industry that provides the country with a fifth of its electricity.

Although the presidential race has mostly been about pocketbook concerns and, to a lesser extent, Taiwan’s relationship with China, the leading challenger has made the elimination of Taiwan’s reliance on nuclear energy a central plank of her campaign. Pollsters and analysts say that the challenger, Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, has a good chance of unseating the incumbent, Ma Ying-jeou, whose party has long been a reliable backer of nuclear energy.

In recent months, Ms. Tsai has vowed to retire the island’s six aging reactors and has said that she would seek to mothball a problem-plagued nuclear plant that has been under construction since the late 1990s. The plant, whose price tag has nearly doubled to $9.3 billion, was supposed to begin operating this year, but further delays appear likely.

“After Fukushima, our society has realized that nuclear power is not only expensive but also unsafe,” Ms. Tsai said……. Taiwan — an island devoid of oil, gas and coal reserves — appears to be losing its appetite for the atom. Last spring thousands of protesters in Taipei demanded an end to the construction of the latest plant, the Lungmen nuclear project, or Nuke 4. Soon afterward, one of Taiwan’s richest tycoons joined the antinuclear chorus: Chang Yung-fa, chairman of the Evergreen Group, one of the world’s largest shippers.

Opponents say that there are a number of active seismic faults across the island and that more than five million people in northern Taiwan live within an 18-mile radius of two nuclear plants. For the 23 million people living on an island the size of Maryland and Delaware combined, there would be few places to run in the event of a disaster.

“Taiwan is simply ill suited for nuclear energy,” said Tsui Shu-hsin, secretary general of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, which has been waging a lonely battle against atomic power……..

January 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, Taiwan