Taipower to let public decide on nuclear power

• 13 years ago (2011-05-09)
• Junior Isles

North America 1021 Nuclear 659 Renewables 776

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State-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has softened its push for more nuclear power, saying that it is the people's decision whether to continue nuclear power generation.

Taipower said in an evaluation report soon to be forwarded to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, that it will no longer actively press for nuclear power generation and will instead allow all nationals to make the decision. The company stressed that it will publicise all the possible problems and prices people will face if they do no't want to have nuclear power plants, so as to allow people to make choices.

Taipower noted, however, that if Taiwan decides to use more renewable energy for power generation, the public will have to face higher generation costs, at least in the short term. “People can't simultaneously reject nuclear power generation and refuse to pay higher power prices,” a Taipower official said.

Company officials said if people do not want nuclear power, then many issues have to be taken into consideration, including where the replacement generation will come from, potentially increased energy costs, how to reduce emission of carbon dioxide, and whether stable power supply can be maintained.

In the case of renewable generation, such as wind power, as many as 12 000 wind turbines will have to be installed in order to generate the 40 billion kWh produced by the three existing nuclear power plants.

Unfortunately, there are important issues for Taiwan to consider first: whether there is sufficient space for the installation of so many wind turbines, whether such generators turbines will spoil the natural landscape of the island, and how to counter the problem of intermittent wind.