Nukes or No Nukes? – 2167期

    On March 12 of 2016, Taiwan held a large anti-nuclear movement, titled “farewell to nuclear power.” Nuclear power has been a widely discussed issue for the people in Taiwan. Taiwan currently have their first, second and the third nuclear power plant, but more recently have built a fourth nuclear power plant which has which has caused panic among residents nearby.

    The concept of anti-nuclear movement(反核) was presented in 1988 since Yan-zhou Anti-nuclear SOS(鹽洲反核自救會) was established. From then on, the anti-nuclear movement tries their best to appeal to the government. Until now, they never give up.

Fang-qi Guo(郭方奇), one of the volunteers of Green Citizens' Action Alliance(綠色公民行動聯盟) said, “Taiwan doesn't have the ability to take care of the nuclear waste (核廢料).” He pointed out that the way we can deal with the nuclear waste is to keep them underground. However, the land in Taiwan is too small to store those nuclear waste. Furthermore, nuclear energy does have its risk although it is stable and cheap if compared with the other renewable energy(可再生能源). Nevertheless, lessons learned from some nuclear accidents, people in Taiwan are calling for a thorough reevaluation of the nuclear plant construction. “So what we are thinking now is not about whether “you're anti-nuclear or not” but to figure out the way of stopping the use of nuclear power and solving the nuclear waste we make,” Fang-qi said.

    We are threatened not only by the nuclear leak. Greenhouse effect and the air pollution are also very dangerous to humans. The No.6 Naphtha Cracker Complex pollutes the air so bad that it makes so many people sick because it uses the thermal power. Actually, hydroelectric power and wind power can make ecological damages well. So what should be stopped? The nuclear power, the thermal power or the economic development? ”I don’t think that we should stop all the nuclear power plants. Most of us just want to completely terminate the project of the fourth nuclear power plant because it’s not safe. There are many problems among the construction process. But to be honest, we still need the nuclear power to keep the economic development.” said Hsin-Yu Hsu(徐欣瑜), who works at National Chengchi University（國立政治大學）.

    Many people argue the nuclear disaster of Fukushima was the result of a nuclear explosion, but in fact it was because it failed to release the high pressure inside the plants which led to the explosion of the whole buildings, and this is not the same as the nuclear explosion. Nuclear explosion will have a huge bacteria-shaped cloud, like that can be seen in a nuclear bomb. Although it was not considered a nuclear explosion, but the release of radioactive material was harmful to our body. In fact, we have wasted a lot of electricity, and if it were all saved, the consumption would naturally be reduced, and the reliance on the power plants to generate electricity would also be lowered. There are two groups of people who either support or oppose the use of the nuclear power plants .However, both sides should reach a consensus or the problem will continue to be a deadlock.