September 19, 2018

Honorable President Tsai Ing-wen, Office of the President

No. 122, Sec. 1, Chongqing S. Rd., Zhongzheng District

Taipei City 10048, Taiwan (ROC)

 Honorable President Tsai Ing-wen 

Dear President Tsai,

親愛的蔡英文總統，

We are writing as independent scientists, conservationists, energy experts, and advocates of free and open democratic processes to express our concern over the government-run Central Election Commission (CEC)’s handling of a proposed electoral referendum on nuclear energy.

我們以科學家、環保人士、能源專家，以及自由民主倡議人士的身份，謹以此信表達我們對貴政府中央選舉委員會處理核能公投一事的憂慮。

According to media reports based on interviews with pro-nuclear advocates in Taiwan, the CEC rejected more than 24,000 signatures last Thursday. The CEC says that the petitioners violated protocol, but the petitioners say the CEC told them by phone that they could deliver the additional signatures.

根據台灣媒體訪談相關人士的報導，中選會上週四拒絕了超過24000份連署書。中選會表示這些連署書違反程序，但連署者表示中選會有告訴他們可以送交這些連署書。

We urge you and the CEC to accept all signatures delivered before the official deadline of September 14, and to treat the petitioners fairly. Whether you support or oppose nuclear energy, it is a vital that the people of Taiwan be able to deliberate and decide on this matter for themselves.

我們敦促您與中選會接受所有9月14日前就送達的連署書，並且公平對待這些連署人。不論你們支持或反對核能，重要的是台灣人能自主決定這個議題。

Many of us wrote to you (致蔡英文總統公開信中文翻譯) last year to express our concern about your administration’s determination to phase out nuclear plants. Since then, your government approved a new coal plant, which will increase the number of people who die prematurely from air pollution from Taiwanese coal plants.

我們很多人去年曾以致蔡英文總統公開信，表達我們對你們執政團隊執意廢除核能廠這件事的憂慮。自那之後，你們政府還通過了興建一個新燃煤電廠的計畫，而這將使得台灣燃煤電廠產生之空氣污染致死率更為升高。

We pointed to strong evidence that solar and wind will not be able to make up for the loss of nuclear power. Those two sources of energy combined provided less than five percent of Taiwan’s electricity last year. Nuclear energy, by contrast, generated 13 percent of Taiwan’s electricity. Had Taiwan been operating all of its reactors, nuclear energy would have provided 23% of its electricity.

我們(在去年的信中)有提到太陽能和風電將無法彌補廢核造成的電力損失。去年這兩種能源合計發電量只有不到5%。相對的，核能產生的電力佔了全台灣電力的13%。若台灣有讓其擁有的所有核能反應爐持續運作，則可達到23%。

In our letter we noted that Taiwan would need to build 617 solar farms the size of its largest proposed solar farm at a cost of $71 billion just to replace its nuclear reactors.

在我們的信中，我們特別指出，台灣將需要花費7100億美元(約2兆新台幣)興建617個其所提出最大面積的太陽能田，才足以取代所有核能機組。

Now, as pro-nuclear and pro-democracy activist Shih-Hsiu Huang enters the sixth day of a hunger strike in protest of the electoral commission’s rejection of signatures, we urge you to take decisive action to restore Taiwan’s commitment to democracy and rule of law.

現在，當以核養綠兼民主推動者黃士修正進行到第六天絕食活動以抗議中選會拒絕依法收件之時，我們懇切地希望您能採取決定性的行動來維護台灣政府對民主法治的承諾。

Thank you for considering our concerns.

感謝您考慮我們的憂慮關切。

Sincerely,

誠摯地，

James Hansen, Climate Science, Awareness, and Solutions Program, Columbia University, Earth Institute, Columbia University

詹姆斯漢森(James Hansen) ，哥倫比亞大學地球學院所屬「氣候科學之認識與解決方案」負責人

Michael Shellenberger, Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment," President, Environmental Progress

麥克謝倫伯格(Michael Shellenberger)，時代雜誌「環境英雄獎」得主，環境進展機構總裁

Andrew C. Klein, Past President, American Nuclear Society, Professor Emeritus, Oregon State University

Joe Lassiter, Professor, Harvard Business School

Mark Lynas, author, The God Species, Six Degrees

Martin Lewis, Department of History, Stanford University

Norris McDonald, President, Environmental Hope and Justice

Peter H. Raven, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden. Winner of the National Medal of Science, 2001

Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize recipient, author of Nuclear Renewal and The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Steven Pinker, Harvard University, author of Better Angels of Our Nature