President Lai's National Day comment on energy has set off a debate over whether his nuclear stance is softening, ahead of a November referendum on scrapping the nuclear-free homeland clause.
United Daily News reported on the 11th that in his National Day address on the 10th, President Lai Ching-te said energy policy cannot rest on slogans and that options will not be ruled out for ideological reasons. The remark was read as a loosening of his position on nuclear power.
광고 문의 · 300×250Ruling-party legislators said Lai's stance has been consistent and stays within the earlier framework: open to new-generation nuclear technology, provided it meets three principles. DPP caucus whip Chuang Jui-hsiung said livelihoods and industry need a more open energy policy and Taiwan should fully study advanced technologies such as fusion, on conditions of no safety doubts, workable waste disposal and broad social consensus.
Opposition criticism and support
A DPP figure said the opposition would surely brand Lai's words "pro-nuclear", but that green power is also part of a diverse mix and the opposition's smearing of renewables in recent years is itself ideological exclusion.
TPP caucus whip Hung Yu-hsiang asked why Lai waited until now if energy policy should return to science, expertise and supply needs. He noted that a referendum on repealing the nuclear-free homeland provision is set for the 28th of next month and that the Maanshan restart is in substantive review, with the plan review finished in September and on-site checks continuing. He said it is hard not to see this as room made for the year-end vote, and demanded the government say whether safe nuclear power is necessary for stable supply.
KMT caucus secretary-general Hsu Yu-chen welcomed Lai "finally facing Taiwan's energy reality" and called repeal of the nuclear-free homeland clause the most concrete step in breaking ideology.
Civic groups and academia
Lin Cheng-yuan of the Green Citizens' Action Alliance accused Lai of flip-flopping, noting he pledged to decommission plants and not restart the fourth plant when campaigning. Lin said Taiwan is not prepared to restart nuclear power on science, legal process or safety standards, and that vague "three principles" are not enough. After two decades heading toward a nuclear-free homeland, he asked, is loosening now not also ideology?
Yeh Tsung-kuang, dean of National Tsing Hua University's College of Nuclear Science, said the speech at least stressed energy security and he does not think Lai deliberately ignored nuclear power. He noted that the small hydropower mentioned yields little and deep geothermal comes too slowly, and saw Lai as weighing supply and security pragmatically.