Economics Minister Lee Shih-guang Wednesday stressed that Taiwan will definitely abandon nuclear power in 2025, amid renewed speculation about the fate of the nearly completed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
Lee said there has been a national consensus on turning Taiwan into a “nuclear-power free home,” a goal that many hope will be achieved by 2025.
The policy is against extending the service lives of the three currently operational nuclear power plants, he said.
“There is no room for discussion. When 2025 comes, nuclear power will be abandoned,” Lee said at his first press conference since taking office on May 20, reiterating President Tsai Ing-wen’s promise of giving up nuclear power.
Addressing concerns that Taiwan cannot do without nuclear power, the economics minister expressed optimistically that there are still nine years to work out alternatives before 2025.
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The minister pointed out that Taiwan’s IT industry already has sufficient know-how related to solar-power generation. It also has the capital and its supply only lacks facilities for producing photovoltaic (PV) modules.
He said the Council of Agriculture (COA) owns 10,000 hectares of land that could be turned into solar farms. But the minister said his ministry still needs to discuss the matter with the COA.
Taiwan is a major world supplier of solar cells. The panels usually seen in solar farms are modules made up of solar cells.
Read more at Gov’t to end nuclear power in 2025: MOEA
