Climate change committee member reiterates support for nuclear power

Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) The climate change response committee member appointed by President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) to be the business representative said at a forum in Taipei on Wednesday that the ruling party's "nuclear-free homeland" policy was contradictory to Taiwan's progress, security and energy resilience.

Pegatron Corp. Chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) said on Wednesday that the low-carbon power generation -- nuclear and renewable energy including solar, wind and hydro -- accounted for 19.4 percent of Taiwan's electricity mix in 2015. By 2023 it was down to 16.9 percent despite former President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) eight years of green energy policies.

"The reason for the regress [of low-carbon power percentage] was the shutting down of the nuclear power reactors," Tung said, adding that he disagreed with the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) nuclear-free policy.

Such policy contradicted with Taiwan's aim of economic prosperity and development of its artificial intelligence (AI) industry, he argued.

In response to the nuclear power issue that remains a major concern among the Taiwanese public, Tung said that "nuclear waste can be stored in the plants," as it currently is.

"The four nuclear power plants were all built with space for four to six reactor units, but each has only two now," Tung said, implying there is space for more spent fuel pools and dry caskets to store nuclear waste.

He called the waste being stored in the plants "a responsible way of doing things," adding that "the most irresponsible thing would be to latch on to coal-fired power generation as it emits carbon dioxide and others suffer the negative consequences."

Tung was appointed in June as deputy convener of the National Climate Change Response Committee, one of the three committees established under the Presidential Office and presided over by Lai himself.

The reactor units in Taiwan's first two nuclear power plants have stopped operating at different points since 2018 when their licenses reached their respective expiration dates after 40 years.

The Third Nuclear Power Plant's No. 1 reactor stopped operating in late July, while its second reactor -- which accounts for about three percent of the electricity mix -- is currently the only remaining active reactor unit but is also scheduled to go off the grid next May.

The DPP, which has been in power since 2016 and maintained its nuclear-free policy, has said that it has no plan to extend operations of the plants.

However, Tung likened the issue of nuclear safety to that of "a comet hitting earth."

He added that nuclear safety is extremely important, but just as airplane accidents are highlighted more than motorcycle accidents when flying is actually much safer, the risk of nuclear should not be overstated.

As commercial aviation is worth a trillion (U.S.) dollars a year, there are strict regulations and robust efforts to ensure safety, Tung said.

The situation is the same in the electricity business, "which is a six trillion (U.S.) dollar market," he added.

Tung also called on society not to dwell on the question of "whether there will be a power shortage."

"What we should focus on is where our power comes from, whether it is carbon-free and how much it costs," he said.