President Ma Ying-jeou says that scrapping nuclear power is not a global trend. Ma was speaking Thursday during a meeting with a visiting US science and technology delegation.
Ma said that Taiwan has an independent power grid and that the island is dependent on imported fuels for 98% of its energy needs. Ma said that Taiwan must use a combination of different energy resources and does not have the luxury of rejecting any energy source.
Ma said that a small number of countries have decided to scrap nuclear power since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, he also said that oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE and even countries known for green energy like Finland and Sweden have been developing nuclear power.
“The most dramatic twist is that countries struck by nuclear disasters in the past like the United States, Russia, and Japan have also been developing nuclear power. Scrapping nuclear power is not a global trend," said Ma.
The president said that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to end a ban on nuclear power after taking office in December 2012.
President Ma also said, “It was significant because Japan has been the hardest-hit industrial country in terms of a nuclear disaster. After a few years of consideration, [Japan] has still decided to use nuclear power rather than scrapping it.”
Ma said Taiwan faces the challenge choosing between cutting CO2 emissions or rejecting nuclear power.