00:00Destruction across Japan.
00:04On March 11, 2011, the country was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake, which triggered
00:09a massive tsunami, killing over 18,000 people and causing the second largest nuclear accident
00:16in history.
00:18Tsunami waves knocked out emergency generators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on
00:22Japan's east coast, sending three of the plant's reactors into meltdown and leading to hydrogen
00:27explosions.
00:28Radioactive material leaked out of the plant, and over 100,000 people were evacuated.
00:34As details of the disaster emerged, fear spread across to neighboring Taiwan.
00:38People are really scared of what was happening in Japan at that time, because for many Taiwanese,
00:47Japan represents a very advanced nation.
00:52This really changed a lot of Taiwanese people's perception of the safety of nuclear energy.
01:01In the days, weeks, and years after the accident, there was a resurgence of anti-nuclear activism
01:06in Taiwan, which had not been seen for years.
01:23At the time, Taiwan had three nuclear plants, with a fourth under construction.
01:29The issue was controversial, especially the fourth plant, with opinion mostly split along
01:33party lines—the Kuomintang more pro-nuclear, and the DPP generally against it.
01:38But Fukushima sparked a change in Taiwan's nuclear politics, too, leading the then-ruling
01:43KMT to become divided on this issue, according to Professor Ho of National Taiwan University.
01:48Ultimately, in 2014, following major anti-nuclear protests, the KMT government suspended the
01:54plant's construction.
01:55It was never restarted.
01:57So you can say that around Japan's East Asian neighbors, even including Japan itself,
02:04so there had been a surgence of post-Fukushima anti-nuclear mobilization.
02:10But its major, the biggest impact was actually in Taiwan.
02:15In power since 2016, the DPP government pledged to phase out nuclear power by this year, 2025.
02:21Now, there's only one nuclear reactor still operating in Taiwan, set to be decommissioned
02:27in May.
02:28But Taiwan's high-tech economy, led by companies like TSMC, is using more power than ever,
02:33trying to replace nuclear with natural gas.
02:36It's raised questions about how much power Taiwan really needs, where that power should
02:40come from, and if the country can meet its climate goals while powering its crucial semiconductor
02:46If there's no water, no electricity, no talent, how can we keep the power?
02:50Then there's a possibility that more and more industries and key technologies will be moved out of the country.
02:55Nuclear power is an option that Taiwan must face.
02:58If we're talking about electricity, Taiwan really doesn't lack electricity.
03:02What Taiwan lacks is green electricity.
03:04Fourteen years after the tsunami, the mark left by the Fukushima accident is still felt,
03:09not just in Japan, but around the world.
03:12Justin Wu, Chris Gorin, and Cadence Caronta for Taiwan Plus.
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