The Kuomintang held a press conference on the "Nuclear Energy Referendum" today. Vice Chairman of the National Policy Research Foundation and former Minister of the Interior Li Hongyuan, Deputy CEO Wu Yijing, and Nuclear Energy MythBusters founder Huang Shixiu were present. Wu Yizhen questioned that the government announced to industrial and commercial groups that it was prepared to restart nuclear power generation III, but the referendum debate was held by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the DPP's non-district legislators as the opposition. "Please be honest with the DPP and tell everyone whether you want to use nuclear energy or not!"
Wu Yi-ting said that President Lai Ching-te and Chief Executive Toh Wing-tai often told business groups that they were preparing to restart Nuclear Power III. However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which needs electricity the most, sent representatives from the opposing side, as well as non-district legislators representing the views of the Democratic Progressive Party. She pointed out that Taipower's average cost of electricity sales has increased by 50% since 2020, but it is still selling at a loss. Taipower has accumulated losses of more than 300 billion and PetroChina more than 100 billion, which adds up to about 500 billion of taxpayers' money.
Wu Yijing further pointed out that in the 2023 power supply plan, it is clear which power plants will be decommissioned and added each year; in the version released in June this year, gas-fired units are listed year by year, but only the targets for renewable energy are left in 2030 and 2035. I dare not tell you exactly where they will be each year, and there is no trace of nuclear energy at all. She appealed, "Please be honest with the DPP and tell everyone whether you want to use nuclear energy or not."
Li Hongyuan emphasized that AI requires stable, low-carbon electricity. A major AI investor once came to Taiwan and asked him whether he would fight a war and whether there was enough energy. He bluntly said that if these two issues were not resolved, it would be impossible to come to Taiwan to make the largest investment. "This is definitely not professional, this is arithmetic. One plus one will definitely equal two. The DPP has always wanted us to believe that one plus one equals three and a half." He questioned, knowing that nuclear power III will be restarted in 2026, "Why did you shut it down in 2025?" There are four years between shutting down and starting up. "What should we do with these four years?"
In addition, in response to the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform's attack on Taipei Mayor Jiang Wanan with rooftop solar photovoltaics, Huang Shixiu asked, "You yourself said that the AI semiconductor industry needs to stabilize power, and then you said that we only need to use solar photovoltaics?" It is common sense for elementary school students to know that there will be no power when the sun goes down. He pointed out that he had calculated in 2013 that to replace the power generation of a nuclear power plant, three-fifths of the land in Taipei City must be shoveled and laid with photovoltaic panels. "Is this Shen Boyang's infinite change?" He also hopes that anti-nuclear groups will perform well in the five referendum debates in November. "Let me see if your arguments have been updated, or are they still stuck 13 years ago?"
