Nuclear power law changes fail to make any progress in legislature

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) A legislative committee on Wednesday discussed changes to Taiwan’s law on extending the operating life of nuclear power plants, but the meeting adjourned without submitting the bill to parliament.

Members of the Education and Culture Committee considered amendments to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act, proposed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. The amendments would allow nuclear power plants to continue operating without having to go through a mandatory license renewal process.

At the meeting, Chen Tung-yang (陳東陽), chairman of the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC), Taiwan’s top nuclear regulator, questioned the wisdom of bypassing the license renewal process.

He stated that no member of the commission would be able to take responsibility for issuing consent for the expansion of a nuclear power plant without conducting an appropriate and comprehensive safety inspection and assessment.

He added that the detailed process would take years because state-owned utility Taiwan Power Company would first have to submit a safety report on the plant, which would also identify any components that needed to be replaced.

The report will then be forwarded to the National Security Council for review by internal and independent experts.

The entire process could take three to five years, said Vice Economic Affairs Minister Lien Ching-chang (連錦漳).

According to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act, nuclear power plant licenses must be renewed five to fifteen years before the operating license expires.

Unit 1 of the Third Pingtung Nuclear Power Plant – the only operating nuclear power plant in Taiwan – is scheduled to end operations on July 27 after 40 years, while the license of its No. 2 reactor expires in May 2025.

Neither applied for an extension five years ago because the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) “nuclear-free country” policy pledged to phase out nuclear power by 2025.

The five proposed amendments would either allow the plant to continue operating once “safety is assured” by nuclear regulators or bypass the requirement to apply for an extension licence five to 15 years before the initial licence expires.

Nuclear power has become a hot topic in Taiwan in recent years due to concerns about shortages of primary energy during peak summer periods and a lack of clean energy, given that fossil fuels still account for more than 80 percent of Taiwan’s electricity demand.

Opposition parties and prominent business figures, including Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), have argued that Taiwan’s existing nuclear power plants should be used or upgraded to produce baseload energy and transition Taiwan away from fossil fuels.

During the hearing, KMT lawmakers said the amendment would allow the DPP administration to “exit” the current dilemma of losing nuclear power as a carbon-free energy source.

They said Taiwan needs more electricity sources, especially as more technology companies will need carbon-free energy in the future.

However, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have argued that further use of nuclear power should not be considered without first addressing the issue of radioactive waste.

Chen said the process of starting to store spent nuclear rods from the First Nuclear Power Plant reactors that stopped operating in 2018 and 2019 in dry casks was only decided in May.

He added that not even dry tanks have been built to store the rods of the second nuclear power plant, whose reactors will stop operating in 2021 and 2023.

“As far as I know, no other country has this situation (lack of dry waste storage facilities) after 40 years of nuclear power plant operation,” Chen said.

Construction of a dry storage facility for spent fuel rod barrels at New Taipei City No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant was completed in 2013 but has not been operational due to an ongoing dispute between Taipower and the city government over its design and location.

The dry storage tanks are used to store cooled spent fuel rods before they are transported to a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste, “something no country other than Finland, not even the U.S., has done,” Chen said.

DPP lawmakers asked their KMT colleagues not to rush into making amendments.

The committee adjourned without reaching a decision on whether to submit the bills to parliament, the announcement was made around noon by committee chairman and Kuomintang lawmaker Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), saying further discussion was needed.