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DPP hopefuls to halt 4th nuclear power plant project if elected

ROC Central News Agency

2011/03/24 23:48:52

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) The opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) two presidential hopefuls said Thursday that if elected next year, they would seek to reduce the nation's reliance on nuclear power plants for energy supply.

Tsai Ing-wen, who stepped aside from DPP chair to vie for party nomination for the 2012 presidential election, said she was inclined toward halting the commercial operation of the fourth nuclear power plant that is being built in northeastern Taiwan.

In a gesture of supporting a pro-environment policy, Tsai also voiced her idea about suspending the Kuokuang Petrochemical Project in central Taiwan, saying there is no need to keep "energy intensive and highly polluting" industries in Taiwan.

There are many ways of meeting Taiwan's energy needs by phasing out nuclear power by 2025, when the nation's three existing nuclear power plants' service is due to expire, she said.

For example, Tsai said, Taiwan can increase the share of recyclable energy in its total energy supply. It can also improve the efficiency of its thermal power plants, she said.

Another way of phasing out nuclear energy is to build new power plants that are powered by natural gas and to liberalize the electricity market, Tsai added.

She said she will "talk and talk" about the nuclear power issue when she hits the campaign trail, trying to convince people that stopping the fourth nuke power plant's commercial operation will not lead to power shortages in the country.

She said she is confident a majority of the people will agree to her party's phase-out-nuke-power policy that will ensure Taiwan will not suffer from disastrous damage from a major nuclear plant accident.

Former Premier Su Tseng-chang, who is vying with Tsai for DPP nomination, said the DPP has a firm policy idea about making Taiwan a nuclear-free country.

Based on that policy idea, the government should halt, reduce or shorten the service of nuclear power plants, Su said.

But he noted that if elected as president next year, he will not rush to put an end to the fourth nuclear power plant project as then President Chen Shui-bian did in 2000 -- something that he said was not handled "beautifully."

(By Lin Shen-hsu, Lin Jui-yi, Sophia Yeh and S.C. Chang)

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