Environmental groups propose law for highly radioactive waste disposal

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Several environmental groups have jointly proposed a draft bill to regulate how sites are to be selected for storing high-level radioactive waste and urged Tuesday at a press conference that it be taken up quickly by lawmakers.

Tsui Shu-hsin (崔愫欣), secretary-general of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance, said the storage facilities holding nuclear waste at nuclear power plants are full and dry cask storage systems have a service life of only 40 years.

There is, however, no long-term solution for high-level radioactive waste, creating an urgent threat that required prompt legislation on the matter, Tsui argued, without elaborating on the need for urgency at this particular moment.

Taiwan, which used to get between 15 percent and 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power as recently in the first half of the 2010s, has phased out nuclear power. It now gets about 85 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels.

Previous attempts to designate a permanent disposal site for high-level nuclear waste have met with strong public resistance.

In 2012, the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) was found conducting geological drilling in Xiulin Township, Hualien County, sparking speculation that it was scouting for a high-level nuclear waste disposal site.

Although Taipower said the drilling was part of general geological research, similar activity was later uncovered in Kinmen in 2013, again without prior public notice.

The operations sparked fierce backlash over the company's lack of transparency. A 2022 Control Yuan report found that no progress had been made in identifying a suitable disposal site.

Chang Yu-yin (張譽尹), an executive director of the Environmental Jurists Association (EJA), said the proposed bill would provide more comprehensive procedures that encouraged public participation and made selection of a site more likely.

Chang said the proposal outlines four components of the disposal site selection process, from policymaking and potential candidate sites to suggested candidate sites and final disposal sites.

It ensures open information and civil participation throughout the process and prioritizes volunteer locations that can receive compensation of up to NT$10 billion (US$343.97 million).

It also introduces a meeting platform for two-way learning and communication to obtain informed consent from residents of selected sites, Chang said.

The competent authority of the law would be the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and the regulatory authority would be the Nuclear Safety Commission, according to Chang.

An incorporated administrative "radioactive waste management center" would also be established as the enforcement authority in order to ensure the separation of powers, Chang said.

A social media post released after the press conference by the EJA said several groups had spent over three years meeting with scholars and other groups and consulted with the Energy Administration and Taipower to finally finish the draft bill.

The Taiwan Obasang Political Equality Party (小民參政歐巴桑聯盟) Secretary-General Ho Yu-jung (何語蓉) also called for speedy legislation at the press conference.

She said the proposal regulated the site selection process comprehensively, protected local participation and oversaw government responsibilities and monitoring mechanisms.

Also at the press event, Green Party Taiwan Co-convener Kan Chung-wei (甘崇緯) urged the Legislature to review the draft bill and allow reasonable democratic procedures to replace political manipulation.

The MOEA set up a project management office in April 2025 for radioactive waste management tasked with proposing a draft act on selecting final sites for high-level radioactive waste disposal facilities as well as public communication.

Their draft bill was scheduled to be reviewed by the Cabinet at the end of the year.