Nuclear power expansion plans are expected to be a main subject of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), which began in Dubai on Thursday and will continue until December 12.
In order to achieve carbon reduction goals, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Korea are among the countries likely to propose nuclear plans that may triple global nuclear energy production by 2050.
In response, the global anti-nuclear organization Don’t Nuke the Climate (DNtC) held an online international forum on November 15, convening representatives from Australia, Japan, Germany, South Africa, Taiwan, and other countries. During this meeting, DNtC jointly issued a statement calling on nuclear power not to be used as a solution to climate problems. It said that governments should take more effective climate actions to avoid delaying the world's renewable energy transition process.
The Taiwanese environmental group Green Citizens’ Action Alliance also participated in the statement and pointed out that the pursuit of net-zero transformation is Taiwan’s environmental responsibility. Recently, presidential candidates have proposed extending or restarting nuclear power plants, which goes against the world trend of phasing out nuclear power.
Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said that in order to cope with the impact of climate change, countries must take urgent action. Turkish anti-nuclear organization Nukleersiz representative Pinar Demircan reported that not only have seawater temperatures around the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea reactors reached 30 to 35 degrees Celsius (86 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit), but various types of nuclear waste are polluting a large amount of water resources.
According to the World Nuclear Association, global nuclear power generation in 2022 has dropped to a 40-year low at only 10% of all electricity produced. The International Atomic Energy Agency reports Taiwan’s nuclear power generation at only 9.1%, though renewable energy percentages are increasing.