Cold
comfort for anti-nuclear
Taiwanese By Jou Ying-cheng
TAIPEI - Amid the shockwaves of Japan's
ongoing post-quake nuclear crisis, nuclear energy
seems to be emerging as a contentious issue for
next year's presidential election in Taiwan, as
opposition leader last week declared her intention
to abandon nuclear power if elected.
Taiwan, sitting at West Pacific Rim
earthquake zone like Japan, has three operational
power plants and is building the fourth.
Responding to a growing anti-nuclear
voice, Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of the opposition
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said she
"tends" toward not allowing the Fourth Nuclear
Power Plant (Nuke 4) to start commercial
operations if she is elected. With the phasing out
of the existing three nuclear power
plants, Tsai added, she would
pursue a policy to ensure a nuclear-free Taiwan by
2025.
Tsai will have to win party primary
before being able to challenge incumbent President
Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) in March
2012.
Ma had earlier emphasized improving
nuclear power safety but made no indication on
reining in the expansion of nuclear use. He also
called for cross-Taiwan Strait cooperation to
prevent nuclear accidents, though gave no details
.
A business tycoon's statement on March
23 has boosted anti-nuclear momentum. Announcing
his donation of 1 billion Japanese yen (US$12.3
million) for disaster relief in Japan, Chang
Yung-fa, chairman of the Evergreen Group that runs
businesses including shipping and air
transportation, told the media that the
earthquake-ridden Taiwan should not develop
nuclear power. "It's better to close all the
nuclear power plants [in Taiwan]," he said.
Thousands took to the street in Taipei on
March 20 to demand an end to the use of nuclear
power on the island. And activists are already
organizing a larger rally they hope will draw
100,000 demonstrators on April 30.
In
reference to the troubles at Japan's Fukushima
nuclear power plant, Taiwan's nuclear deployment
can be particularly disturbing. "Where should the
six million people in the 30-kilometer zone go if
things go wrong at the First or Second Nuclear
Power Plant?" A leader at Sunday's demonstration
repeated through amplifiers.
In the
Fukushima radiation leak accident, the Japanese
government has designated a 20-km radius as the
evacuation zone and asked people within 30 km from
the plant to stay indoors. However, a 30-km radius
drawing from either of the two nuclear power
plants on Taiwan's north coast easily covers much
of the Taipei metropolis.
Grilled by
legislators, Tsai Chuen-horng, head of the
cabinet-level Atomic Energy Council (AEC),
admitted that the government has no ability to
evacuate people when radiation threatens the
capital, "so far all the plans only involves a
5-km radius".
He also acknowledged that
the two plants' vicinity to faults - seven and
five kilometers respectively - was not discovered
at the time of building in the 1970s.
According to the state-run Taiwan Power
Company (Taipower), which operates all the nuclear
power plants, the facilities are located 12 or 15
meters above sea-level and therefore less
vulnerable to a tsunami than Fukushima. The
company also says the plants are equipped with
more backup generators and have massive uphill
water reservoirs, and therefore are unlikely to be
in a situation where a lose of electricity leads
to a drying up of cooling water, which was the
main cause of the Japanese nuclear crisis.
But Taipower is widely criticized for
complacency. Even Tsai Chuen-horng, who said all
the nuclear power plants are firm and
well-positioned enough to survive earthquakes and
tsunamis "according to past assumption [of
disaster scales]", acknowledged that it's
"unknown" whether the plants would still be safe
in the face of a disaster like the one that hit
Japan.
The Nuke 4 under construction has
been a particular source of grave concern.
Opponents of the plant in Gongliao, on Taiwan's
northeast coast and 40 km from Taipei, call it a
"patchwork".
Unlike three earlier plants
whose design and construction work was
commissioned in large packages to specialized
American companies such as General Electric (GE),
the core nuclear reaction system of Nuke 4 was
contracted in small parts to be undertaken by a
number of American, Japanese and European
companies. Using GE's design, the less experienced
Taipower is in the position of carrying out the
work to integrate components made by different
companies.
"Such a practice is abnormal
and worrisome," said Hong Shen-han of the Green
Citizens' Action Alliance, an environment
non-governmental organization; "it has caused a
lot of integration problems and entailed endless
modifications."
The Nuke 4 project was
proposed in 1980 but construction work on the
controversial plant, which is also near faults and
undersea volcanoes, did not begin until 1999.
After winning power in 2000 the DPP government
announced a halt to construction. The decision
created a political storm and was later ruled
unconstitutional by a court. Surrendering to the
KMT's advantage in the parliament, the government
resumed construction in 2001.
The original
budget for Nuke 4 was about NT$160 billion (US$
5.4 billion) but has gone up to more than NT$ 270
billion. Construction is near completion and
Taipower planned to load the fuel this year, but
now expects a delay after Fukushima disaster. "The
AEC will conduct strictest safety examinations
before giving us a green light," S J Huang, vice
president of Taipower, said.
Half of the
respondents in a poll conducted by Apple Daily,
Taiwan's best-selling newspaper, four days after
the Japan quake said that Nuke 4 should be
scrapped. The pro-DPP Taiwan Thinktank found an
even higher percentage of 58% in its poll.
But can Taiwan do without nuclear power?
Anti-nuclear activists believe so. According to
governmental statistics, the three nuclear plants
provide 16% of all electricity generated
nationwide, while the country now has a 28.1% of
reserve margin in power capacity. Citing the
figures, Gloria Hsu, a professor of atmospheric
science and ex-chairwomen of Taiwan Environmental
Protection Union, said Taiwan won't be short of
electricity even if all the nuclear power plants
stop running.
Kao Cheng-yen, a science
professor and veteran environmentalist, said a
large part of any power sufficiency problem lies
in the government's policies to develop highly
energy-consuming industries such as steel and
petrochemicals. "The government should change its
policies and reduce these industries", he said.
Taipower, however, said opponents have
"misunderstood the meaning" of power reserve
margin. In a written response to the Asia Times
Online, a spokesman said the reserve is for use in
situations like facility repair, emergency
shutdown and so forth. Therefore, he said, closing
nuclear plants would affect the reliability of
power supply.
Environmentalists are more
cautious about the DPP's stance on nuclear energy
than before. Many felt betrayed when the DPP made
a policy U-turn and resumed the construction of
Nuke 4 in 2001. Asked to comment on Tsai Ing-wen's
recent statement, Hong Shen-han said "it's very
much election language".
"We welcome all
politicians to express their anti-nuclear stance,
but we'll carefully scrutinize their actual
deeds," he added.
Jou Ying-cheng
is a Taipei-based freelance journalist.
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