Taipower promises energy plan without 4th nuclear plant by June

Want China Times, CNA 2014-05-06

Hwang Jung-chiou at the Legislative Yuan, April 23. (File photo/
Yao Chih-ping)

Taiwan Power (Taipower) chairman Hwang Jung-chiou promised Monday that the state-run utility will submit an alternative power development plan that excludes the fourth nuclear power plant to the Legislature next month.

Hwang, economics minister Chang Chia-juch and Tsai Chuen-horng, head of the Atomic Energy Council, were questioned by legislators about the nearly completed nuclear power project after the government bowed to public pressure and halted construction on the facility.

When asked when the government would provide an estimate of the costs involved in mothballing the plant for five, 10 and 15 years and an energy plan that left out the fourth nuclear power plant, Hwang said they would be available by the end of June.

Asked about the feasibility of converting the plant into a thermal power plant or a cogeneration facility, Chang said past assessments found the idea not to be economically viable because of land expropriation problems and the low usage rate of existing equipment.

The most necessary step to take at present, Chang said, is sealing and maintaining the plant, which he estimated would cost NT$1-$2 billion (US$33-$66.5 million) for each of the plant's two reactors per year.

Chang was also challenged on how the government has defined its move to "halt construction." He said it did not mean that the project was being scrapped but rather that the project still existed and could be restarted in the future.

The cost of halting work on the plant is relatively low since nearly NT$300 billion (US$10 billion) has already been invested in its construction, Chang said, but if the project were scrapped, it would create huge losses for Taipower.

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