Taiwan NPP cancelled (?) [FW]

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

posted at
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001027/tp31972_2.html
Friday October 27, 5:25 am Eastern Time 

Taiwan scraps nuke plant, braces for storm
Benjamin Kang Lim 

TAIPEI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Taiwan abruptly announced on Friday it would stop
construction of the island's fourth nuclear power plant, sparking a bitter
partisan feud in the opposition-dominated legislature. 
``We must make a rational, responsible and conscientious choice for the sake
of Taiwan's posterity,'' Premier Chang Chun-hsiung told a news conference. 
``We must halt construction of the fourth nuclear power plant,'' he added. 
The announcement threw delicate relations between the ruling and opposition
parties into uncertainty. 
It came less than an hour after President Chen Shui-bian met Lien Chan,
chairman of the pro-nuclear Nationalist Party, as part of efforts to woo
opposition parties which have blocked government initiatives in the
legislature at almost every turn. 
The cabinet is bracing for a political storm. 
``What they did was illegal,'' Wang Jin-pyng, speaker of parliament and a
vice chairman of the Nationalist Party, told reporters. 
``We will ask the Control Yuan to censure or impeach them,'' Wang said,
referring to the island's top government watchdog. 
ACCUSATIONS OF TREACHERY 
Nationalist deputies accused the ruling Democratic Progressive Party of
treachery. 
Lien, who was routed by Chen and finished third in presidential elections in
March, had urged the president during their two-hour meeting to consider
going ahead with the fourth nuclear power plant -- now one-third complete. 
As a compromise, Lien suggested the government decommission the first,
second and third nuclear plants. 
Lee Ching-an, a legislator in Taiwan's second biggest oppositon party, said
the People First Party was weighing whether to immediately introduce a vote
of no confidence in the legislature to oust the cabinet. 
Lai Shyh-bao, a lawmaker from the opposition New Party, said the situation
was ``very turbulent''. 
``It will cost society a hefty price. Is society ready?'' Lai said. 
Opposition lawmakers dominate the 221-member legislature and have threatened
to boycott a review of the government budget if the US$5.5 billion project
was scrapped. 
This won't be the end of the nuclear debate because the opposition can fight
the cabinet's decision in parliament and pressure it to reconsider. 
The 2,700-megawatt project was rammed through parliament by the Nationalist
administration, which argued it was vital for economic growth and to avoid a
power shortage in the future. 
Premier Chang tried to assuage those fears, saying there would be no power
shortage for seven years even if no replacement power generator was found
for the nuclear plant. 
Nevertheless, the cabinet would look for alternative sources of energy and
ease curbs on private power plants, he said. 
He said Taiwan's inability to dispose of nuclear waste was one of the
reasons the cabinet decided to halt the project. 
``Nuclear waste is a difficult problem that cannot be solved for ten
thousand years,'' said Chang, whose predecessor, Tang Fei, a Nationalist
stalwart, resigned this month after backing the project. 
NUCLEAR-FREE TAIWAN 
Chang pledged to make Taiwan nuclear free and said the island was ill
prepared to deal with any nuclear accident. 
He said the government would honour contracts and compensate foreign
suppliers, including General Electric of the U.S. and Japan's Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries Ltd . 
The foreign suppliers could not immediately be reached for comment. Losses
from cancellation of the plant were estimated by the Economics Ministry at
between T$75.1 billion (US$2.35 billion) and T$90.3 billion. 
In the past, the government's indecision over whether to go ahead with the
project has been cited as a reason undermining stock values. 
Friday's announcement came minutes after the close of stock trading. The
benchmark TAIEX ended 2.3 percent down at 5,805.17 points on Friday. 
Economic planners and government statisticians have said Taiwan's
unemployment rate would exceed three percent next year if the project was
halted. In the first eight months, the island's jobless rate averaged 2.89
percent. 
But environmentalists say Taiwan would be a cleaner and safer place to live
in. 
The economics minister had advised against the plant in a re-evaluation
report in September and was purged by the Nationalist Party.
 
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