Taiwan mindful of Fukushima lessons

THE third anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster serves as a grim and powerful reminder why so many people in the region have developed an aversion to atomic energy. The earthquake on March 11, 2011, and the subsequent tsunami wreaked such damage that the clean-up process is still not complete. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which owns the plant, is struggling to find a solution for hundreds of thousands of tonnes of contaminated radioactive water.

So, to no one's surprise, large protests erupted in Taipei and in other major cities in Taiwan on the anniversary. The island is even more prone to earthquakes as it sits astride two major tectonic plates. The protesters demanded that the government immediately halt construction of a new nuclear power plant and remove nuclear waste from its three operating plants from an offshore islet and switch to clean energy.

If only a switch to renewable energy were so simple. About 20 per cent of Taiwan's power comes from its three operating nuclear power plants. A fourth nuclear power plan in Gongliao, New Taipei City, was to have been completed a decade ago, but because of political wrangling, is only now nearing completion. It is being argued that if the oldest nuclear plant were to be shut down in 2018 as planned without the fourth plant being ready to take over, rationing of electricity may become necessary. Clearly, President Ma Ying-jeou's administration is trying to keep a delicate balance on this issue. The government agrees that nuclear energy should be phased out, but gradually so as to maintain reasonable electricity rates and ensure a stable power supply.