(October 13, 1995) Some 5,000 Taiwanese marched through the capital of Taiwan, Taipei, on 3 September, to protest against nuclear power and to urge the Taiwan government to drop a plan to build a fourth nuclear power station (with the country's reactor-units 7 and 8).
(441.4344) WISE-Amsterdam - Many of the demonstrators were from Kungliao village in northern Taiwan, site of the planned power station 40 km (25 miles) east of Taipei. Others were aborigines from the southeastern island of Lanyu where Taiwan dumps nuclear waste.
The protesters attacked the ruling Nationalist Party for its decision to build the nuclear plant. The Nationalist-dominated parliament approved the budget for the long-delayed plant in 1994. Construction has yet to start. Costs are estimated at US$6.4 billion.
Plans by Taipower to expand nuclear power generation have been on hold since construction of the fourth block with 2 reactor- units was cancelled in the early 1980s. Taipower tried many times to revive the facility. The government is now fully committed to the project, but Taipower faces another hurdle in the shape of the increasingly vociferous antinuclear movement. On 29 May last year, some 20,000 people demonstrated against nuclear energy.
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