Protesters in Taiwan rally against nuclear power as lawmakers debate its future.
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00:00Protesters outside Taiwan's legislature, signalling their opposition to nuclear power,
00:14as lawmakers push to extend the life of the country's ageing nuclear plants.
00:19I believe that many European countries still see nuclear power as an option,
00:25because they think it's cheap.
00:27But for Taiwan, it may not be a very suitable option,
00:31because Taiwan, as I just said, is in a time of earthquake.
00:33Moreover, Taiwan's nuclear power plant has reached the age of retirement.
00:37Our legislature has already decided that it will retire.
00:39If this old nuclear power plant is postponed,
00:43there will be a big problem in terms of safety.
00:48So this safety problem is not something that politicians can predict.
00:56Of Taiwan's four nuclear plants, two are already being decommissioned,
01:02and one was never put into service.
01:04The ruling Democratic Progressive Party wants Taiwan to be nuclear free,
01:09and they have a policy to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
01:14But the legislature is now dominated by the opposition.
01:17And they say nuclear power is key to ensuring Taiwan's energy security,
01:22as well as reducing air pollution and carbon emissions.
01:26Should the opposition succeed in changing the law to keep the plants operational,
01:31the government has said it would respect that.
01:34We are the executive unit.
01:36As long as the Legislative Yuan approves something, we will execute it.
01:39Taiwan's last operational nuclear plant is due to start going offline later this month.
01:45For now, nuclear power accounts for 6% of Taiwan's electricity,
01:50down from 50% in the 1980s.
01:54As legislators debate the future of these power plants,
01:57they'll need to weigh up the increased demands on Taiwan's energy supply
02:02from tech and industry, with public fears over nuclear safety.
02:15Klein Wong and Louise Watt for Taiwan Plus.