Just over a year since Fukushima, the St. Patrick’s Day Red Room seemed a fitting time and place to offer some “green” commentary and poems (including limerick-ish verses) on Taiwan’s nuclear power and waste.

One of the factors that got the nuclear industry rolling was the Cold War:

Fissile material from reactors, they needed more,
To arm all those missiles – and they kept score…
Soldiers were sent, all over the map,
As weapon makers sold, and their accounts grew fat,
And as their puppets funneled taxes, and fears, towards war.

Taiwan’s first three nuclear plants were built before the country became a democracy. In 2012, after being re-elected, President Ma Ying-jeou committed to having Taiwan’s No. 4 nuclear facility (NPP4) online by 2016. NPP4, however, “is already rated as one of the world’s most dangerous plants by the World Nuclear Association” [1].

Fukushima showed us the ire,
Of a genie called nuclear fire,
But I wonder if the president, Ying-jeou
Really is, or isn’t, in the know,
Of an energy whose intelligence is much higher.

Northern Taiwan’s population is among the world’s most at risk if a nuclear incident were to occur [2]. Think of the bottlenecks in the evacuation routes. Two plants are within a 30 km radius of Taipei.

I see people, rushing through life, unaware,
Thinking these issues aren’t for them, to even care…
Well I hope they believe in heaven,
‘Cuz more and more cesium one-three-seven,
Lowers the chances for them, and their heirs.

Another concern “is the haphazard handling of radioactive waste for Taiwan’s existing nuclear power facilities” [3]. Storage of nuclear waste from Taiwan’s nuclear plants began on Orchid Island (also known as Lanyu, ancestral home of the Tao people) while Taiwan was still a dictatorship [4,5,6]. Today, cancer is the leading cause of death there [7].  Nuclear issues extend beyond Orchid Island to the whole of Taiwan. Although highly critical of past government actions, the following is offered in the spirit of making Taiwan a better place for ancestral home of the Tao people.

For centuries, the Tao lived, just fine,
singin’ ‘n’ fishin’.
When along came a dictatorship
that had no mission,
Except to do things that would make
the civilized shudder,
As they drove for power,
fuelled by the blood of others.
But wait, I neglected
to mention the fact
Of the ruling gang’s other purpose,
to turn life…into cash.
And so they said
to the Tao of Lanyu,
“If you wanna be rich, like us,
here’s something you can do!
Why canoe on the ocean,
so open and free,
When you can stay close to home,
and earn – a little money?”
Exactly what was in those barrels?
To the Tao this remained unsaid.
It really makes you wonder
if someone wants that culture dead.
And thus was shoved
onto the people of that land,
The eternal hazardous waste
from nuclear plants.

Today, new nuclear waste storage sites, their safety yet to be seen, are being considered near Nantian (南田), in the south of the main island. Alternatives?

Denmark aims to be powered 100% by renewables by 2050 [7]. Why can’t Taiwan – which prides itself on its technical know-how, and is immersed in solar, wind, ocean and geothermal energy sources – make a name for itself internationally, and commit to do the same, even sooner?

A sampling of sources:
1. Taiwan to forge ahead with nuclear power?
2. Reactors, Residents and Risk (Taiwan mentioned in 5th paragraph)
3. Taiwan: Nuclear Waste on Orchid Island
4. Orchid Island – Nuclear Waste and the Yami
5. Photos of waste storage on Orchid Island. For more information, contact the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance.
6. Denmark Commits to 100% Renewable Energy By 2050

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