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Premier vows to take responsibility for outcome of nuclear referendum

ROC Central News Agency

2013/03/01 19:02:16

Taipei, March 1 (CNA) Premier Jiang Yi-huah pledged Friday to assume political responsibility if a planned referendum leads to a halt of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project and the bankruptcy of Taiwan's state-run utility.

The bankruptcy of Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) is one of many serious consequences that could result from a termination of the near-complete project and is a scenario that the government will make every effort to prevent, Jiang said.

'The Executive Yuan certainly will assume the political responsibility involved. To the premier, it will mean stepping down,' Jiang said during a hearing at the Legislative Yuan.

He stressed that the government will invite foreign experts to help supervise the safety of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and will not allow it to begin commercial operations unless it is determined safe.

'The Executive Yuan's policy should stand the test of a referendum, and I have confidence in the referendum's outcome,' he said.

Before lower-cost energy sources are made available, the government cannot but rely on nuclear power as one of Taiwan's energy choices, he said.

He also pledged that the government will work to steadily reduce the use of nuclear power as it moves toward the ultimate goal of becoming a nuclear-free nation.

The premier announced earlier this week that the government will allow people to decide the fate of the controversial project in a referendum, amid mounting calls by anti-nuclear activists for the project to be scrapped over safety concerns.

According to the government's plan, legislators from the ruling Kuomintang will help promote a referendum initiative on the issue, with the goal of having the vote held in July or August.

Asked about the question to be put to voters Friday, Jiang explained that the executive branch has no power to initiate a referendum.

But if lawmakers ask the Executive Yuan for its opinion, he said he would suggest asking voters 'do you support stopping construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant?' since the project is actually under construction.

Also Friday, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Lin Chun-hsien denied a report that the party will promote another referendum that will ask voters if they are in favor of 'continuing construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.'

Lin said the DPP will join hands with anti-nuclear activists to counteract the KMT's effort to promote the referendum.

Both the DPP and anti-nuclear groups have expressed their opposition to the referendum plan, saying that the government should suspend the construction of the nuclear power plant, freeze its budget and revise the Referendum Act before putting the project to a popular vote.

The Referendum Act requires half of all eligible voters to cast ballots for a referendum to be valid.

Due to the high threshold, a referendum on whether to 'stop construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant' would almost ensure that the referendum would not be passed and work at the facility would continue, anti-nuclear forces have argued.

According to Taipower, the No. 1 reactor at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is now 95 percent complete, with 74 percent of the work tested.

Unless the project is voted down in the referendum, fuel rods will be installed in the reactor at the end of this year to pave the way for commercial operations.

With NT$283.8 billion having been invested in the project so far, an additional budget of NT$46.2 billion will be proposed in June to bring the project's eventual investment to NT$330 billion, Taipower said.

(By Chen Shun-hsieh, Justin Su, Tseng Ying-yu and Y.F. Low)
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