About 10,000 Taiwanese who don’t want construction to resume on Taiwan’s fourth nuclear power plant marched in protest through Taipei this weekend, calling for a national referendum on the issue. The plant, already one-third complete, was initiated by the Nationalist Party, which still holds a significant majority in the legislature despite losing the presidency to the Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian last year. Chen said last October that he would end construction of the plant, but his administration bowed to pressure from Nationalists last month and let construction continue. In other nuke news, the controversial Czech plant located near Austria’s border began operating again yesterday after a month-long shutdown due to technical problems. Austria is a nuke-free country.
