The Central Election Commission will hold the second referendum on the "Abolition of a Non-Nuclear Homeland" today (14th). Chen Zhongshun, a scholar representing the positive side, said that in the face of the AI wave, companies need cheap low-carbon electricity, and natural gas has caused huge losses to state-owned enterprises. This is a good time to restart nuclear power, which can also reduce the national security threat in transporting natural gas. Lai Jianxin, a representative of the opposition, said that nuclear power has no correlation with economic development. The nuclear energy issue has been put to referendums four times in the past eight years, and evaluation work is already being done to restart nuclear power. "Is this referendum really necessary?"
The Kuomintang strongly promotes the referendum on "abolition of non-nuclear homeland" and merges it into the nine-in-one general election vote on November 28. The Central Election Commission held a televised press conference on the second referendum proposal today. Su Jiahong, a member of the Central Election Commission, served as the moderator. The positive representative was Chen Zhongshun, an associate researcher at the Green Economy Research Center of the China Economic Research Institute, and the negative representative was Lai Jianxin, deputy minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. There will be four subsequent TV opinion briefings on November 16, 18, and 20.
Chen Zhongshun said that in the past 10 years, we have developed renewable energy, but we were worried about unstable power supply, so we bet heavily on natural gas. After we found that the development of renewable energy was not as good as expected, natural gas became more and more expensive, causing state-owned enterprises to bear nearly 500 billion in debt. If Nuclear II and Nuclear III are restarted, or even new nuclear energy is introduced, the losses can be stopped. According to domestic industry estimates, Taiwan's nuclear power can be restarted in 1.5 years at the fastest and 3 years at the slowest. The time is just in line with the AI wave. Such an important weapon should not be abandoned. What enterprises currently need is low-carbon electricity that is affordable and accessible.
Chen Zhongshun mentioned that climate change has become a daily occurrence, and more than 80% of Taiwan's electricity still comes from thermal power generation. Taipower has repeatedly emphasized that the losses of state-owned enterprises come from the recent rise in international energy prices. Shouldn't the demand for thermal power be moderately adjusted at this time? If Nuclear II and Nuclear III are still online, it can save the national treasury 45 billion and 135 billion a year in the cost of using natural gas and renewable energy. More importantly, we have about 360 natural gas ships entering the port every year. If there is nuclear power generation, at least 60 flights can be reduced and one-sixth of the national security threat in transportation can be reduced.
Chen Zhongshun said that electricity prices in Taiwan are very cheap, but renewable energy prices are among the most expensive in the world. For solar photovoltaics, the international average cost of one kilowatt hour of electricity is NT$1.2. The cost in Taiwan is about twice that. If a company buys solar photovoltaic, it costs more than 5 yuan per kilowatt-hour. The prices of wind power and energy storage are also high. What is really sad is that the past development disorder and impatience have caused renewable energy to be blackened and stigmatized in Taiwan, discouraging green energy industry players who really want to pay for the land.
Chen Zhongshun emphasized that "energy is not a taboo of any political party, nor is it a specific ideology, nor is it a religious belief." If public policy becomes politicized and emotional, what on earth are the political officers, administrative officers or engineering staff on the front line going to do? Although nuclear power has some restrictions and regulatory requirements, when the AI wave is coming and the demand for low-carbon reduction is growing, do we still need to stick to the old dogma?
However, Lai Jianxin pointed out that many civil servants and Taipower employees are currently performing power grid dispatching, power plant maintenance, or conducting environmental assessments and research on future power generation plans. Some are even evaluating the restart of nuclear power in response to the newly revised "Nuclear Regulation Act." "Since we are already doing things, why do we need to hold a referendum again?" In addition, this is the fourth referendum on nuclear power held in eight years. "Is this referendum necessary?"
Regarding the main article of the referendum, "Revitalizing the Economy through Nuclear Power," Lai Jianxin pointed out that after Taiwan's last nuclear power unit was decommissioned on May 17 last year, GDP soared to 8.76. According to figures released by the Ministry of Finance, total exports in October reached US$90.7 billion, a record high. While the proportion of nuclear power has gradually decreased in the past three years, exports have been in the red for 36 consecutive months. It seems that there is no relationship between nuclear power and economic development. In addition, the stock price of the third nuclear power plant before the shutdown was 21,864 points, but now it has reached 49,968 points. This is the result of the efforts of various industries, and is not the only link that can be made by pure nuclear power plants.
Lai Jianxin mentioned that five years ago, Taiwan was said to be without power. When the war in the Middle East broke out this year, Taiwan was also said to be short of power, but Taipower has always provided stable power supply. In the past 10 years, Taipower's reserve capacity has been as low as 1.64%. In May 2016, when political parties changed, the number of nuclear power units has decreased in the past three years, but it has never been lower than 6%. This is the result of Taipower's efforts. He also said that my country is an export-oriented country, and carbon reduction has become a trade rule. Therefore, it has been committed to the development of green power in the past 10 years, from 4.82% to 13.3%. It is estimated that it can supply 110 billion kWh of green power in 2035, which is greater than the demand for 74.2 billion kWh of electricity at that time.
Lai Jianxin pointed out that the increase in electricity prices was mainly reflected in the increase in international fuel prices. For example, in 2015, nuclear power accounted for approximately 14.1%. If today's fuel prices were calculated based on the power generation structure at that time, Taipower's cost would still be higher than 20 billion yuan. In 2008, the proportion of nuclear power in nuclear power plants one, two, and three reached 17.1%. However, due to the increase in international materials, the electricity price that year became the highest ever at 25.2%. In terms of carbon emissions, carbon emissions used to be the highest when there were nuclear power plants. In recent years, the government has actively reduced carbon emissions and reduced carbon emissions on average. Taichung Coal-fired Units 1 and 2 were decommissioned half a year ahead of schedule.
