Taipei Times
Date: Jul 27, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

Campaigners against nuclear power yesterday called on the legislature to slash the maintenance budget for the sealed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) ahead of a special legislative session set to review the budgets of state-run businesses, as they said the budget cut was necessary to phase out nuclear power.

A coalition of environmental groups yesterday gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei and put up flyers that read: “Scrap the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant” and “Mothballing is unnecessary,” urging lawmakers to block a NT$1.35 billion (US$42.05 million) budget to maintain the unfinished nuclear plant, which was mothballed in July last year following protests.

The legislature last year agreed on a three-year, NT$3.45 billion maintenance budget to mothball the plant, but the budget is reviewed and allocated on an annual basis.

The latest decision to mothball the plant was made by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration to keep open the possibility of activating the plant and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has vowed to abolish nuclear power, does not have to keep the plant mothballed, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said.     [FULL  STORY]