Taiwan: Could the Future Be Nuclear-Free? · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Since the nuclear disaster at  Fukushima in March 2011, 53 out of the 54 nuclear power plants in Japan have been shut down for security checks. On May 5, 2012, the proportion of Japan's energy supplied by nuclear power reached zero for the first time in 42 years, following the shut down of Tomari’s Unit 3 in Hokkaido. Although the Japanese government is currently seeking to restart some nuclear power plants, local representatives still have serious concerns regarding their safety.
In Taiwan, many people have also started talking about the possibility of moving towards a nuclear-free future. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union [zh] is optimistic about the nuclear-free movement in Japan, as quoted in Coolloud.org:
日本從去年311之後，國內核電廠陸續關閉， 至今尚未發生缺電問題，如果可以熬過今年夏天不需核電，日本將真正進入無核國家。
Anti-nuclear energy protest in Taipei, March 11, 2012. Photo contributed to this post by James Yang under CC: BY-NC-SA
Su Huan-Chi, a candidate for chairperson with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), also stated [zh] in Plurk, a popular social media website in Taiwan, that:
如果我當黨主席，一定先推動核四北北基宜四縣市地方公投廢核四！
Nevertheless, not everyone is so optimistic about the nuclear-free development in Japan. bluesystem [zh] is worried how far Japan can go after shutting down all their nuclear power plants:
廢核絕對可以推! 只要不影響經濟下滑. 不過這真的會很拼…
核能的問題不只是使用其它能源來替代, 而是「能源自主性」的問題. 一旦重要的能源來源被別國控制, 那這個國家等於廢掉一樣! 這問題要怎麼解決? 除非能源自主率能提高吧~…那大家都廢核, 請問天然資源是不是大家一起搶? 假設台灣也搞廢核的話,能源來源方面搶得贏中國跟日本嗎?
Anti-nuclear energy protest in Taipei, April 30, 2011. Photo contributed to this post by James Yang under CC: BY-NC-SA
Despite the aforementioned worries, thousands of Taiwanese people protested against nuclear power on March 11, 2012, the first anniversary of the earthquake in Japan. Shuchuan, an independent environmental reporter, explained [zh] why she thinks Taiwan can and should give up nuclear energy:
福島核災打破核能安全神話，只要一次災害就足以毀掉所有。…我們還有選擇時，沒有理由不去思考任何不必使用核能發電的可能性。
以台灣目前核電佔總發電量不到兩成，但備載容量卻超過25%的情況下，廢不廢核並不是「能不能」的問題，而是「決心」。
台灣政府還預估未來用電要再成長38%，只要不歸零思考、不檢討自己的浪費行為、不思索更聰明的用電方式，發再多電都不夠用。
過去一年台灣政府已有改變，馬總統宣布核一、二、三使用年限到期不再延役，這是一個進展。然而對於核四依然繼續投入經費不願放手，核廢料無能力處理，卻一再強調核安的可以控制。然而，福島核災近在眼前，繼續說「核能安全」也已經沒有意義、且完全沒有說服力，終歸而言，台灣政府對核災還是沒有覺悟。
而這個歸零思考，理應是站在「廢除核電」的基礎上，重新去思考其他的能源方式，而如果其他的能源暫時無法完全取代，我們應該如何節能，以因應發電不足的情況。也就是說，思考自己的侷限，然後做出改變。
This post was sub-edited by Jane Ellis.