Taiwan: Call for Energy Policy Review · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011 and Global Development 2011.
The ongoing Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in Japan has alerted people in Taiwan about the safety of nuclear power plants in their own country.
In order to transform current concern into long term government policy, many netizens are demanding the Taiwanese government conduct a comprehensive review on the country's energy and industrial policy.
Policy paradox
Anti-nuclear rally in Taiwan capital, Taipei on March 20, 2011. Image by Flickr user KarlMarx (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
On February 14, 2011, approximately one month before the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration held a public hearing in which the Bureau of Energy laid out the nation’s energy policy from 2011-2020.
However, environmental groups found the new energy policy  violated the consensus [zh] formulated in the “Sustainable Energy Development Guidelines” (永續能源政策綱領) [zh] announced in 2008, as well as the “Statement of National Energy” conference held in 2009.
Contradicting the goals set for the reduction of greenhouse gas by increasing renewable energy and shifting the economy towards lower energy-consumption industry, the new policy supports the development of the petrochemical industry.
The failure to restructure Taiwan's industry creates a paradox for sustainable energy development, as Chia-Yang Tsai (蔡嘉陽) from the Taiwan Environmental Information Center points out [zh]:
工業消耗台灣60％以上的電力，價格又僅是民生用電一半以上，電價結構如此不合理，當然容易造成工業用電的浪費。提高工業用電的電價更可以淘汰高耗能、高汙染的產業，讓台灣的產業結構從根本上轉型，台灣的能源問題才能解決。
An informed choice is needed
Man at an anti-nuclear rally Taiwanese capital, Taipei on March 20, 2011. Image by Flickr user KarlMarx (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
As neighbour Japan's nuclear crisis continues, a more comprehensive energy policy review is needed in Taiwan, in particular regarding the development of the country's nuclear energy.
According to the an article [zh] about the high risk of nuclear energy, Yen (焱) expressed concern that the suspension of the nuclear power plants might cause electricity shortages in the country:
如果您接受了缺電的狀況並且可以安撫其他人接受電力不足的現實，就反吧!
On the other hand, many netizens insist that even though Taiwanese people may ultimately choose to develop nuclear power, it is important for the public to understand the risks involved before making their choice. Blogger Subing argues [zh] on March 14:
擁核的人該提出理由說服台灣人為什麼大家要為幾家高耗能公司負擔這麼大的風險。
Questioning demand
In fact, upon checking the data released by the Taiwan Power Company, Siro argued [zh] in a forum discussion thread on March 21:
目前台灣的總發電量, 即使在尖峰負載, 也仍有 23.4% 的賸餘…就算現在把三座核電廠全部關閉, 台灣依然沒有立即的電力危機.
Siro continued to explain that nuclear energy is neither cheap nor clean:
核廢料處理及核電廠除役都很可能讓核能發電成本遠高於台電宣稱的成本.
Siro goes on to say however, that the process of suspending a nuclear power plant is not easy or straightforward:
我舉我住的澎湖為例, 澎湖舊火力發電廠位置接近市區, 當郊區新發電廠蓋好, 原電廠拆除後, 土地變成價值不斐, 而這一點是核電廠辦不到的..也是台電在計算成本中, 刻意去忽略的. 核電廠因為儲存核廢料, 即使關閉, 也永遠需要管理監控, 更不用說想要遷廠回收土地.
The management of the nuclear power plants and nuclear waste is always a potential threat. Tyrone asked in the discussion section of the article on nuclear risk [zh] on March 14:
當中只要有一件事情疏忽是否就能造成核能污染事件. 為何我們要犧牲後代子孫的幸福造就個人的舒適?
This post is part of our special coverage Japan Earthquake 2011 and Global Development 2011.