President Ma Ying-jeou has said that Taiwan is not in a position to abandon any kind of power generation technology. Speaking at an energy summit in Taipei on Wednesday, President Ma said that the 4th nuclear power plant will be mothballed after all the safety checks have been completed. Then a referendum will be held so Taiwanese people can decide whether the power plant should go into operation.
But the president also said that abandoning nuclear power could pose severe challenges to Taiwan’s economy.
"[Taiwan’s] industrial structure is changing; its economy is growing, and we’re also trying to raise living standards and tackle the problem of climate change, so we expect that electricity demand will continue to grow," said Ma.
"Some people might think that Taiwan’s electricity consumption will not continue to rise, but that is a rather unrealistic view," he said.
Ma said that Taiwan has to find an energy portfolio that can best serve its needs. He has instructed the Cabinet to hold a national energy conference by the end of the year to find efficient, low-cost, low-emission, and diversified ways of power generation for Taiwan.