Huang, Wu clash over restart of No.3 nuclear plant ahead of referendum

Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Taiwan People's Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and civic representative Wu Ya-hsin (吳亞昕) traded barbs Wednesday over the future of the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant, with Huang calling its restart vital for energy security, and Wu highlighting the facility's seismic risks and unresolved nuclear waste problem.

At the fourth of five Central Election Commission (CEC) presentation sessions before the Aug. 23 referendum on restarting the nuclear power plant in Pingtung County, Huang said Taiwan's current power generation is "firepower on full blast," contradicting its net-zero emissions goal.

Huang also took aim at the direction of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's renewable energy policy, accusing it of causing more harm than good.

"Mountains are covered in solar panels, seas are covered in solar panels," he said, adding that Typhoon Danas shattered the government's "solar myth," leaving broken panels as "large-scale waste dumps."

"The abstract risks of nuclear power are scientifically controllable, but the concrete harm of solar is happening now," Huang said.

He cited the American Chamber of Commerce's concerns over unstable electricity and warned that "in the AI era, electricity is computing power, and computing power is national power."

Huang also argued that nuclear power strengthens Taiwan's resilience amid tensions with China.

"If the Chinese Communist Party imposes a maritime blockade, our natural gas will run out in 10 days… Not using nuclear power is Taiwan's biggest national security loophole," he said.

On nuclear waste, Huang said the DPP was guilty of inaction.

"The Nuclear-free Homeland task force responsible for site selection hasn't met for more than four years," he said, adding that deep borehole disposal technology "has been proven internationally" and allows spent fuel rods to be stored 3 to 5 kilometers underground in crystalline bedrock.

"Used fuel rods are not unmanageable - the DPP just doesn't want to face it."

Huang noted that only the Maanshan plant still has space in its spent fuel pool, enough for around five years, and that a dry storage facility currently under tender could allow for continued operation.

Wu, however, countered that the Fukushima disaster was "a global alarm bell" proving nuclear power's risks. "Scientific surveys classify the Hengchun Fault as an active fault line, crossing through the Maanshan plant and less than 900 meters from the reactor," she said.

"Even if parts of the facility have been reinforced, it is still far below international nuclear safety standards," Wu said.

She said no one could say how much time or money would be needed to raise the plant's seismic coefficient to the international benchmark of 1.384g.

"Seismic retrofitting cannot solve all the risks," she argued, noting that other countries have decommissioned plants built on active faults.

Wu read from a letter by a young Fukushima resident: "I was in kindergarten at the time… 300 young people have since developed cancer. Many say nuclear power is clean and cheap, but for us in Fukushima, it is not so."

"Taiwan still has no final repository for nuclear waste," Wu concluded. "We need a feasible, sustainable, and responsible transition - not a regressive option that turns a blind eye to risk."