Nuclear would slow down net zero transition: groups
By Esme Yeh / Staff writer, with CNA
Reinstating nuclear power would marginalize green power and slow down Taiwan’s net zero transition, environmental groups and experts said yesterday ahead of the Nov. 28 referendum.
Taiwan is to have a referendum alongside the nine-in-one local elections this month to decide whether to abandon the “nuclear-free homeland” policy.
The Central Election Commission would held five television referendum debates broadcast by five television stations, with the first one slated for Thursday.
Representatives from environmental organizations hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Environmental advocates yesterday called on the government to take responsibility for developing alternative renewable energy, power storage facilities and resilient power grids, instead of going back to nuclear against the global trend.
The referendum is not just about whether to restart nuclear plants, but where Taiwan’s limited public resources and energy should be invested in, they said, adding that this year the generation of wind power and solar power globally have surpassed nuclear power.
Renewables has been the main focus of international discussion on energy policies amid climate change, Taiwan Climate Action Network director Chao Chia-wei (趙家緯) said.
The 31st meeting of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) yesterday started in Antalya, Turkey, he said.
Turkey advocated for increasing global geothermal power supply 12-fold by 2050, while Australia, president of negotiations for COP31, set the target of doubling the number of homes with rooftop solar to 300 million globally by 2030, he said.
Operating small modular reactors (SMR), an advanced nuclear fission reactor, costs more than large nuclear plants and green power, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, Chao said.
He also cited the World Nuclear Association as saying that SMR has yet to be fully developed commercially, as it lacks a comprehensive system of fuel supply, legal regulation and management.
The referendum statement ignores the nuclear waste disposal issue, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance researcher Lin Cheng-yuan (林正原) said.
There are no active nuclear power plants in Taiwan, and it is the perfect time to dismantle the existing plants, he said.
The Democratic Progressive Party requires that solutions to nuclear waste disposal to be found before reactivating nuclear plants, Lin said, adding that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) initiated the referendum earlier this year.
Both sides must face issues such as when to decommission the plants, budgeting the process and who is to bear the impact of additional nuclear waste, he said.
Advanced nuclear power options such as SMR remain underdeveloped commercially and might not create expected economic benefits, National Taiwan Ocean University sustainability development assistant professor Yen Dong-bai (顏東白) said.
“It might turn out that Taiwan’s economy is being used to revive the nuclear industry,” Yen said.
Investing resources in nuclear power, which is not only expensive but also requires years to build, would marginalize the development of green power and energy storage systems, he said.
In related developments, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming said yesterday that Taiwan fell short of its target of cutting carbon emissions by 10 percent last year, largely due to a slowdown in renewable energy development.
Nevertheless, overall emissions have declined for four consecutive years, he added.
Preliminary estimates by the Ministry of Environment’s Climate Change Administration showed Taiwan’s net greenhouse gas emissions in 2025 were 8.74 percent lower than in 2005, the baseline year. While this fell short of the 10 percent reduction target, emissions have continued to decline each year since 2022.
The ministry estimated that Taiwan emitted about 245 million metric tons of greenhouse gases last year, down 2.3 percent from 2024. Official figures are expected to be released next year.
Peng said the government would continue to pursue all measures that support the transition to low-carbon energy, stressing that slower progress in renewable energy development should not derail Taiwan’s net-zero emissions goals.
The government would work to maintain the downward trend in emissions, he added.
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