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DPP defends Tsai’s nuclear strategy
ASK THE PEOPLE:DPP lawmakers said the decision on whether
to terminate construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be settled by
a national referendum
By Vincent Y. ChaO, Shih Hsiu-chuan and Mo
Yan-chih / Staff reporters
Rescue workers practice evacuating a house
during a combined disaster and rescue drill organized by the New Taipei City
Government in Erchong Floodway. It was the first exercise to incorporate
tsunami-related assistance drills.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday rallied to presidential
hopeful Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) defense after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
attacked her plan to seek to draw down operations at the Fourth Nuclear Power
Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), in favor of sustainable
energy and other sources.
On Thursday, Tsai said if she were elected next year, she would seek to end
operations at the power plant currently under construction as part of her plan
to phase out nuclear energy by 2025. She also proposed decommissioning the three
operational nuclear power plants between 2019 and 2025.
The shutdowns, she said, would be subject to conditions, including whether
Taiwan could adequately replace the electricity produced by the plants with
other power sources, such as by building renewable energy capacity and achieving
better efficiency at coal-fired power plants.
At a hastily assembled press conference yesterday, Tsai said a report in the
Chinese-language United Daily News had misrepresented her intentions, a key
factor behind the KMT’s criticism, aides said.
“The United Daily News purposefully misrepresented [my comments],” Tsai said,
adding that her plan was to spark discussion to ensure that operations at the
plant do not start against the public’s wishes. The NT$273.5 billion (US$9.28
billion) project would still be completed, she said.
“Society should begin to examine now whether we should begin operations at the
Fourth Nuclear Power Plant,” she said, adding that most opinion polls showed
support for her approach.
In its attack, the KMT said Tsai should explain why she was promising to phase
out nuclear energy when she failed to oppose the construction of the Fourth
Nuclear Power Plant when the DPP was in power.
KMT Culture and Communication Commission Chairman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) accused Tsai
of manipulating the nuclear issue for political purposes and urged the DPP to
discuss nuclear security with the KMT.
Su said former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his administration should be
blamed for delaying the project, only to approve the construction later, adding
that the halt in construction could cost the nation more money.
“Tsai’s decision would have a negative impact on the nation’s energy security
without a comprehensive plan. The KMT welcomes all political parties to discuss
the issue and find a solution. Offering nothing but a slogan is not helpful,” he
said.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai
Ing-wen prays during a visit to Zhinan Temple in Taipei’s Muzha District
yesterday. Tsai called for a social consensus in response to calls for a
nuclear-free Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Su also accused Tsai of failing to oppose a DPP government decision on the
establishment of Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co in 2006 when she was vice
premier and he urged Tsai to explain her “flip-flopping” on the issue.
At the legislature yesterday, DPP lawmakers said the decision on whether to
terminate the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be submitted
to the public in a referendum before next year’s presidential election.
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said he expects preparations for the vote to
begin next week.
“The nuclear problems in Japan should be an instigator for us to reopen the
topic of nuclear safety in Taiwan. We should not continue to be mired in endless
political slogans,” Gao said.
Concern over the domestic nuclear industry includes safety design issues,
geographical conditions, the age of the three active nuclear power plants and a
lack of monitoring and surveillance, DPP lawmakers said.
In addition, the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant has been beset by delays and cost
overruns — some arising from a one-year moratorium on construction imposed by
the Chen administration in 2000.
A proposal to find alternatives to the industry was valid, DPP Legislator Chen
Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
The KMT criticism of Tsai was “extremely improper,” as what she intended was to
spark public debate, she said.
Meanwhile, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said “nuclear security” was the government’s
main responsibility, while declining to give a timetable to phase out the
nation’s nuclear power plants.
Wu’s remarks were a deviation from the nation’s statutory policy stipulated in
2002’s Environmental Basic Law (環境基本法), which states that a nuclear-free
homeland is a strategic objective.
“The government is obligated to ensure nuclear security, but that does not
necessarily mean a nuclear-free homeland,” Wu told KMT Legislator Chi Kuo-tung
(紀國棟) during a question-and-answer session at the legislature.
Chi asked Wu to declare a timetable to realize the goal of a nuclear-free
nation, saying the KMT’s “vague attitude” on the subject could put it in an
unfavorable position during the upcoming elections, while the DPP’s presidential
hopefuls have responded positively to rising antinuclear sentiment following the
incidents in Japan.
Aside from Tsai, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has also said that a
nuclear-free homeland is his goal, though he has not committed to any timetable.
Disagreeing with Chi that the KMT could be battered in the polls over the
nuclear energy issue, Wu said Tsai’s statement on ending operations at the
Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was not supported by the public or by Su Tseng-chang.
“Polls show that in the early stages of the Fukushima [Dai-ichi] nuclear crisis,
only 30 percent were in favor of launching operations at the Fourth Nuclear
Power Plant, with 60 percent opposed. When told that NT$200 billion had already
been spent on construction and that it could only operate under the precondition
of security, 60 percent supported the plant and only 27 percent opposed it,” Wu
said.
Wu said that Tsai’s plan to leave the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant idle after
construction if she was elected was reminiscent of the suspension of the project
by the former DPP administration, which he said led to a stock market crash and
set back economic growth.
“Who made the decision to scrap the project, which dealt a deep blow to the
country, and who then decided to resume construction? The pain remains fresh in
people’s minds,” Wu said.
Wu said the KMT’s position to continue developing nuclear energy was clear.
“Under circumstances in which nuclear power plants operate safely, the Executive
Yuan supports generating an appropriate proportion of the country’s energy from
nuclear power,” Wu said.
At a separate setting, Huang Hsien-chang (黃憲章), vice chairman of state-owned
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), which operates the nation’s nuclear power plants,
called Tsai’s objective of achieving a nuclear-free nation by 2025
“unrealistic.”
Taiwan relies on imports for 99 percent of its energy needs, with 75 percent
generated by fossil fuels and 20 percent by nuclear power plants, Huang said.
In view of the high proportion of electricity produced by nuclear power, the
cost and time needed for coal-fired power plants to be built and difficulties
getting the plants to pass environmental impact reviews, “it’s nearly impossible
to replace nuclear energy with other energies by 2025,” Huang said.
Taipower has installed 162 onshore wind turbines over the past decade, almost
the nation’s maximum capacity, Huang said, adding that space for offshore wind
turbines was limited.
If nuclear energy is to be replaced by wind power, the main source of the
country’s renewable energy, the country needs to install a total of 12,000 wind
turbines, Huang said.
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