Tensions in the Middle East continue to rise as the world faces an energy crisis. A new report released by financial firm Goldman Sachs said that some regions are facing a shortage of crude oil, with Taiwan ranked as one of the high-risk areas. Taiwan media revealed that in order to alleviate the energy shortage, the DPP authorities are pushing to restart nuclear power plants, but need to buy a large number of fuel rods, the previous push for“Non-nuclear homes” has sent the remaining fuel rods to the United States for storage processing. On the island, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP-RRB- authorities have been heavily criticized for their misguided energy policies, which have caused huge losses.
Listed as high-risk areas for energy shortages
Countries and regions that depend on energy imports from the Middle East have struggled to cope with the energy crisis since the start of the Iran war, Taiwan’s industrial and commercial times said recently. Goldman Sachs said in a report on the 5th, including land and sea crude and refined oil stocks, the current total global oil inventory of about 101 days of demand, by the end of May may may may fall to 98 days, while the number is still above the alert line, certain areas may face more severe shortages. According to Goldman Sachs, South Africa, India, Thailand and China’s Taiwan region are listed as high-risk areas for product shortages. It also said global oil inventories were near their lowest level in eight years and easily accessible stocks of refined products, particularly petrochemicals such as naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, and jet fuel, were rapidly being depleted.
In this regard, Taiwan’s“Ministry of Economy” argued on the 5th that since the outbreak of conflicts in the Middle East, it has held daily meetings to discuss contingency measures, continuously grasp the island’s energy security stocks and international information, and ensure the stability of oil and gas supplies, “At present, the number of days of oil and gas safety stock higher than the regulations, including oil 90,11 natural gas, oil and gas supply is safe.”.
The head of the island’s business group expressed the hope that the Taiwan authorities would adopt a pragmatic and open attitude in their energy policy. Pan junrong, chairman of Taiwan’s Federation of Industries, believes that the authorities should be pragmatic and open to meeting the energy needs of businesses, based on the development of diversified green energy. He said that nuclear power is the cleanest, has low economic cost, no air pollution and no carbon emission problem. The way the world develops nuclear power today is quite different from the situation 20 years ago. He suggested that Taiwan authorities should change the energy structure, nuclear power should not be excluded from Taiwan’s power mix.
More than 8 billion yuan lost
In the face of the energy crisis, Taiwan authorities said to restart the nuclear power plant to import fuel rods, but domestic public opinion criticized that many operations are for political needs. US company Westinghouse will visit Taiwan This Month for safety checks and talks on the procurement of fuel rods, which are expected to arrive before 2028 to allow the plant to be restarted, Taiwan’s China Times news website revealed. Taiwan power chairman Zeng Wensheng also confirmed on the 5th, nuclear three self-security inspection is expected to start in May, and invited experts to participate in assistance. As for the procurement of fuel rods, Tsang said that nuclear fuel requires custom manufacturing and design, so technical and supply discussions must be held with the original plant. “Procurement requires the approval of the competent authorities, and Taiwan power can not buy directly,” he said.
If all goes well, the fuel rods are expected to arrive before the 2028 Presidential election, which is seen as an attempt by the authorities to manipulate the energy issue, Taiwan’s economic daily newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. According to the media analysis, as the nuclear third assessment operation for restarting is still in progress, the purchase of fuel rods is due to the authorities’ accelerated progress towards restarting nuclear power. In response, ye Yuanzhi, a KMT“Legislator,” questioned whether this was“Simply an election consideration.” Compared with the DPP, which used to be anti-nuclear but is now actively buying fuel rods to restart nuclear power, “Should I first apologize to the opposition?”
While the Taiwan authorities plan to purchase fuel rods, domestic public opinion also found that when the green camp vigorously promoted“Non-nuclear homes” earlier, because the island had no storage capacity, it sent the remaining fuel rods from the plant back to the United States for storage, which has already cost a lot of money. In March 2021, the last fuel rods from the plant were sent back to the United States, according to Taiwan’s United Daily News. SU Tseng-chang, then the“Premier,” declared that“It is really inconceivable that there are still proposals to restart the nuclear power plant.”. Five years later, the same green“Government”, but intends to re-negotiate the purchase of nuclear fuel rods, nuclear plant to restart the road. The article said that although the fuel rods used at the Nuclear Plant No. 3 and No. 4 can not be interoperable, the DPP authorities still seem embarrassed by the U-turn, “The purpose behind this is not only to solve the power shortage, but also to calculate the political votes. But how much does this cost the island?”
Taiwan’s“China Times” broke a figure on the 6th: “8 billion yuan.” According to the report, since July 2018, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have been shipping four nuclear fuel rods back to the United States in batches for dismantling and off-site storage. On the 5th, Taiwan’s“Auditor General” Chen ruimin went to the“Legislative Yuan” to review the final account report. Democratic party“Legislator” Hung Yu-hsiang asked about the funds for sending the nuclear fuel rods to the United States that year, he also questioned whether it is necessary to buy new fuel rods for the restart of the second and third nuclear power plants, adding to the cost of the original storage, dismantling, reassembling and transportation of fuel rods for the nuclear power plants. The cost is about 8 billion nt dollars (the same below) , “Is this a normal operating cost, or a loss due to a wrong policy?” Chen ruimin responded that at that time, the value of the nuclear fuel rods was about 7 to 8 billion yuan, and they were sent to the United States for storage or ready to be sold, but because can not find a buyer for a long time, need to be dismantled into uranium raw materials, and thus stored in the United States for many years, storage funds spent more than 400 million yuan. Chen ruimin also said that“This is the policy and the management question, Taiwan electricity must carry on the improvement well to this”. In response, the island’s online forum PTT has been inundated with abuse, with netizens lambasting“The Democratic Progressive Party for not caring how much it wastes for its own benefit” and“The Democratic Progressive Party for costing Taiwan Billions”.
10 years of wrong energy policy
Ye Zongguang, an adjunct professor at the Department of Engineering and Systems Science at National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu, said it cost 690 million yuan to disassemble and ship the fuel, and another 2.76 billion yuan to grind it up and sell it. So many years, the fuel powder is still not sold, storage costs have been paid, plus storage funds of more than 400 million yuan, a total of 3.85 billion yuan. Ye Zong Guang says that if the ground N4 fuel powder were to be reconstituted into usable N3 fuel rods in the future, it would be an astronomical expense.
Would the nuclear fuel rods have been sent to the US in 2018 if Tsai Ing-wen hadn’t insisted on a“Non-nuclear homeland”? At that time, Tsai Ing-wen was in charge. The DPP authorities did not expect that this batch of fuel rods would be shipped to the United States and nobody would buy them. They were also unsalable after being processed and broken down into fuel pellets. Taiwan electric only talked about transport operations 690 million yuan, but did not mention the annual cost of 140 million to 150 million yuan storage, if the purchase, dismantling and other costs, a total loss of 10 billion yuan can not run away. The article said that the Democratic Progressive Party wants to restart nuclear 3 and 2, but can not use the more advanced nuclear 4 fuel rods. The main reason is that the unit design and specifications are different. Nuclear 3 is a pressurized water type, and nuclear 4 is a progressive boiling water type, and the fuel rod specifications do not match, taiwan power also need to raise a sum of money to re-purchase nuclear three and nuclear two fuel rods, “Which is not the people’s tax money?”
An editorial on China Time News said that Taiwan has experienced 10 years of wrong energy policies. After recklessly removing nuclear power and frantically“Planting electricity,” Problems such as tight power supply, rising electricity prices, environmental destruction, and collusion between government and business have long eroded all aspects of Taiwan’s politics, economy, and society, the aftereffects are extremely serious. What’s more, the authorities still have the will to develop the artificial intelligence industry. “Given the ability of Taiwan’s current power supply, this is probably an impossible task.”.
Chen Ching-yun, a former head of Taiwan’s Legislative Affairs Bureau, wrote in an article that the DPP authorities’ push to restart nuclear 2 and 3 was“Not just a policy turn, but also a long-suppressed reality finally coming to the surface”. Over the years, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has held the“Non-nuclear homeland” as an unshakable“God card”, but energy policy has never been a slogan, but a basic project to support the operation of households and industries. When electricity was scarce, prices rose and corporate investment was deterred, Taiwan long ago paid the price for its past ideologically driven energy choices. Looking back on recent policies, the article said, the DPP authorities on the one hand hold high the“Non-nuclear” goal, but on the other hand continue to face power supply pressure and rising costs. The proportion of coal-fired power generation is high, and renewable energy is limited by weather and storage conditions, making the overall structure difficult to stabilise. “This is not just a technical problem, but the result of unbalanced decision-making.”.