CNA file photo

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Tuesday passed an initial screening on two referendum proposals related to a mothballed nuclear power plant in New Taipei, sending them to the next stage, which requires a check on their proposers by household registration offices.

One of the proposals was initiated by Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修), founder of Nuclear Myth Busters, and asked voters if they agree with restarting the fourth nuclear power plant project and putting it into commercial operation.

The project was close to completion before being mothballed in 2015 amid public concern over nuclear safety.

The other proposal, initiated by National Taiwan University professor Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎), was for a referendum to be held on a question entirely opposed to Huang's.

Kao proposed to ask voters if they agree to abolish the fourth nuclear power plant project and transfer the plant site into a place for generating renewable energy, a tourist attraction, a research institute, or a museum.

Under the Referendum Act, each of two proposals required a certain number of proposers, equal to not less than 0.01 percent of the total electorate in the most recent presidential election.

Based on the 14th presidential election in 2016, this means that at least 1,879 proposers should be on the name list submitted to the CEC along with the proposal document.

Based on the Referendum Act, the CEC will deliver the list to household registration offices for identity checks after it has determined that a referendum proposal is compliant with the relevant regulations.

(By Wang Cheng-chung and Elizabeth Hsu)
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