President Tsai Ing-wen says that opening the yet-unfinished Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is “not an option”. The president made the comments during a visit to a special exhibition marking the tenth anniversary of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Speculation about the future of the mothballed power plant in New Taipei City has intensified in recent weeks. A referendum on its future is due to take place in August. But Tsai says whatever people’s opinions may be, the fact remains that none of Taiwan’s regions are willing to host the nuclear power plant. She says that the plant comes with a heavy price in terms of safety, cost, and construction time. For that reason, she says, it is not an option.
Tsai says that the government will continue with its energy transformation plans. These include accelerating the construction of wind and solar power plants, as well as replacing coal power with natural gas. The government has set an ambitious goal of reaching 20% renewable energy production by 2025.
Meanwhile, the share of nuclear power continues to decline. The President posted on Facebook on Wednesday to say that nuclear power only produced about 11% of Taiwan’s power in 2020. That’s down from a peak of over 50% in 1985.