TAIWAN-NUCLEAR/RALLY Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists rally in Taipei

Record ID: 215023

  • Title: TAIWAN-NUCLEAR/RALLY Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists rally in Taipei
  • Date: 14th March 2015
  • Summary: TAIPEI, TAIWAN (MARCH 14, 2015) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS GATHERING IN FRONT OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VARIOUS OF ORGANISERS ON STAGE WAVING FLAGS AND SPEAKING TO PROTESTERS FLAGS MORE OF PROTESTERS AND MEDIA GATHERING IN FRONT OF STAGE FEMALE PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER READING: (Chinese): "A HOMELAND WITHOUT NUCLEAR ENERGY BY 2025" PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER READING (Chinese): "MOUN
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACNYS64SPW1ESZF96VOCBSE0B6
  • Story Text: Hundreds of anti-nuclear activists rallied Taipei on Saturday (March 14) and urged the country to abandon nuclear energy.
    The protesters, from around 35 different civil groups, gathered in front of the presidential palace in the capital to voice their concern over ongoing developments in nuclear energy by the government. They also commemorated the fourth anniversary of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan.
    The protesters called on the government to shut down the existing power plants and go nuclear free by 2025.
    The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform, the main organiser of the event, also demanded an immediate halt to construction on a fourth nuclear power plant in Lungmen.
    Plans to build the nuclear plant - located close to the one at Shihmen - have been held up for years since 1999, and have been subject to mass protests.
    Currently, Taiwan has three operational nuclear power plants and six reactors.
    Nuclear power accounts for 18.4 percent of electricity production.
    "Taiwan already has three operating nuclear plants. I think everyone should continue protesting until those old power plants are decommissioned and we have a country without nuclear power. We all hope to reach this goal," said 34-year-old PHD student Lin Shang-hsuan.
    Protesters said they hoped Taiwan could produce energy using safer and more environmentally friendly resources in the future.
    "Taiwan cannot afford to have a nuclear explosion. So we insist on opposing nuclear energy. Nuclear energy is not adequate for Taiwan, we want renewable ways of producing energy, not nuclear energy. We want all four nuclear power plants to be abolished," 45-year-old protester Li Ming-hsiong said.
    The use of nuclear power on resource-poor Taiwan has long been controversial, not least because the island is comparatively small and any major nuclear accident would likely affect its entire land area.
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