By Ted Chen / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday published a revised national energy strategy that calls for the abolition of nuclear power by 2025 and reductions in the use of fossil fuels. Although Taiwanese in November last year voted against the government’s 2025 deadline to abolish nuclear power, the energy source would still be completely removed from the nation’s energy mix after that year due to inevitable constraints, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told a news conference in Taipei. Resistance from local governments, difficulty in procuring replacement parts for aging reactors, finding storage space for spent fuel rods and the inability to complete the stay-of-decommissioning application process have all but ruled out the use of nuclear power beyond 2025, Shen said. Fossil-fuel power generation uses coal and natural gas, Tseng said, adding that the government would continue to lower dependence on dirtier coal plants in favor of cleaner-burning gas plants. Coal-fired power would trend down, but it would take more time to determine its proportion in the nation’s energy mix, Tseng added.

Source: Taipei Times January 31, 2019 15:56 UTC