Despite Fukushima, Taiwan to Build 4th Nuclear Reactor

Taiwan’s government intends to press forward with constructing the island’s fourth nuclear power station, despite political and environmental opposition.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading political opposition to the plan, Taiwan’s Chung-yang Jih-pao Wang-lu-pao newspaper reported.

On 13 June Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) dominated Legislative Yuan Parliament approved budgetary funding for the country’s fourth nuclear power plant (NPP.)

Under the slogan “Nuke-free homeland to safeguard Taiwan,” DPP parliamentarians insisted that the NPPP funding be frozen until an safety inspection of the island's current three NPPS is completed in the wake of Japan’s 11 March 11 nuclear catastrophe following a 9.0 Richter scale earthquake and tsunami, which severely damaged the Daichi Fukushima nuclear complex.

Following the budget’s approval the DPP proposed 10 motions intended to stymie the NPP’s construction prior to a comprehensive safety inspection of the country’s three other nuclear power plants, but all the DPP motions failed to pass.

Criticizing the decision, Taiwan Green Party Spokesman Pan Han-shen said simply, “If the plant begins operations, it would become the most dangerous plant in Taiwan.”

By. Charles Kennedy, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com