Professor of Earth and Environment, Boston University
Ahead of Taiwan’s upcoming national referendum on restarting its last nuclear power plant, I write in support of the nuclear phase-out policy and accelerating the transition towards a more resilient, renewable energy-based energy system.
I understand that a recent research I led on patterns of corruption within the solar energy market in California has inspired quite some discussion in Taiwan, and that some have misinterpreted the results as a condemnation of solar power and the renewables-led energy transition ahead of the referendum. I would like to reiterate, unequivocally, that our research is a plea to do solar in more socially responsible, better designed ways that maximise the benefits of its decentralised nature—it isnot a call to reject solar, let alone to reject it in favour of nuclear.（相關報導：吳斯懷觀點：核三重啟非公投能決定，誰能決定？｜更多文章）
I have long written about how inherent characteristics of nuclear technology, and the industry that has been painstakingly but unsuccessfully pushing for a so-callednuclear renaissance for decades now, make it the opposite of what we need in response to energy demand under the climate crisis. To name a few of these reasons: the centralised nature of nuclear power generators means they require costly and expansive transmission and distributions systems; the nuclear system is subject to highly uncertain projections about uranium availability, needs to be centrally administered by a technocratic elite, and remains vulnerable to fluctuations in international politics.
In contrast, and perhaps particularly relevant to your challenges in Taiwan, renewable energy technologies reduce dependence on foreign sources of fuel, creating a more secure fuel supply chain that minimises exposure to external economic and political changes. They also decentralise electricity supply so that outages affect a smaller amount of capacity than an outage at a larger, centralised facility. They can also improve the reliability of power generation by conserving or producing power close to the end-user, and minimising the need to produce, transport, and store hazardous and radioactive fuel.（相關報導：吳斯懷觀點：核三重啟非公投能決定，誰能決定？｜更多文章）
The choice of the energy future you want in Taiwan thus boils down to one simple question: do we want to return to a nuclear economy—centrally administered by technical specialists, completely reliant on government subsidies, waste fully generates and distributes electricity, remains based on uncertain projections about available fuel, fouls the nation’s water and land, and trashes the planet for generations to come? Or, do we want to continue on with our path towards a decentralised energy system that—despite its own current vices and throes of transition—is more efficient, will become independent from government funding, encompassing commercially viable technologies, that operates with minimal harm to the environment, builds resiliences to disruptions and terrorist assaults, and can be equally available and beneficial to all generations and income groups with the right governance systems in place?
While decisions regarding the energy system are hardly ever a simple multiple-choice question, this choice between returning to nuclear and accelerating the renewables-led energy transition cannot really be answered with “do everything”, either. In another research I led that analysed national carbon emissions and renewable and nuclear electricity production across 123 countries over 25 years, we found that not only do large-scale national nuclear attachments not tend to associate with significant lower emissions while renewables do, but there is also a negative association between the scales of national nuclear and renewables attachments, meaning that nuclear and renewables tend to crowd each other out.
In a world where averting of catastrophic climate disruption is so imperative and the complexities of meeting growing energy demand so stark, policymakers and voter should peek beyond the smoke-and-mirrors used to obscure the obvious advantages of renewable technologies and the obvious costs of nuclear systems. Any effective response to electricity demand in a world facing climate change involves enormous expansion in our use of renewable technologies and a steady abandonment of nuclear power.（相關報導：吳斯懷觀點：核三重啟非公投能決定，誰能決定？｜更多文章）
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