Transcripts For KCSM Taiwan Outlook 20131026 : comparemela.c

Transcripts For KCSM Taiwan Outlook 20131026

This is macro view television. Welcome to a brandnew edition of the taiwan outlook the program that lets you hear the different stories from taiwan. I am your host, wu raykuo. Although it is controversial, Nuclear Energy has always been an important part of Energy Supply worldwide and taiwan is no exception. On todays program, we are delighted to have a conversation with officer with professor way kuo from City University hong kong to discuss the state of Nuclear Energy in hong kong. Good to be here. A pleasure to have your on the program today. You have recently come out with a book on the state of Nuclear Energy. Can you tell us a little bit about the book and what are some of the important findings in the book . Ok. This is a book that was written right after my visit at fukushima about two and half years ago. The energy issue is a major issue today. The key of the book is to look for a connection between energy and the environment. The issue that addresses in the book is to look at the trade offs among manufacturers. Like resources, safety, reliability, all kinds of benefits we can get from energy and what are the side effects i using different resources . It you having titled the book based on the literal translation is the minority report on nucler energy. Why the title . Why do you think some of the key misconceptions people may have about the use of Nuclear Energy . Ask this is the second edition. The First Addition was published in hong kong and the title was rainbow energy. That was the original one. You look at seven different kinds of Energy Sources, looking at allens for using it and the english edition would be made available very soon based on that image. But this specific instance, minority report, i think it is more focused on my visit to fukushima. What were some of the things upon First Arriving there, what was your impression . It was a terrible tragedy, but what were some of the things that struc you most customer i went to tokyo on april 20, two years ago. Then i stayed one day before i went to fukushima. My First Impression was the japanese were socalled, super calm and there was no riot. That is very common. The people i visit were not surprised by this because the earthquake in japan was expected. It was a commonplace occurrence. Lex it is quite common. They sort of predicted Something Like this would happen, although it was beyond their imagination. The earthquake was such a severe thing and he soon him he was really beyond expectation. Let me ask you subsequent to the earthquake and soon on a, there were months in cities like tokyo that people were forced to go on electricity rationing programs. How did people respond to that . Its certainly something they did not expect in a city like tokyo. How did people who live there respond . You are correct. Even though on april 20, i was there in the subway in tokyo. Many elevators were shut down. People seemed to take it, but in the summer, a few aged people died because of heat and they became a little more panicked. Again, the japanese are very calm. I remember on june 7, when you launched the book that you have called on the government to come up with a longterm energy plan for taiwan. In your opinion, what would be some of the key points that should be considered and included in formulating Energy Policy . For example, increasing transparency, what are some of the key points . You are right again. The issue of our energy environment, these are the topics Everybody Knows a little bit. The people are not uglier with the facts that this is a very specialized and technical topic. There are three elements i have shared with the government in taiwan and address in the book. The three elements are number one, the energy today is not a luxurious item. Its a necessity. We look at the availability of Energy Sources and not everyone can get every kind of energy. That is number one. Number two is reliability and the sustainability of Energy Sources. You want the Energy Supply to be reliable and sustained and not everyone can do that. Either and reliability or sustainability. The third part i think is very important. We look at the future of human wellbeing. We want to leave it better. We want to have economic growth. We want to enjoy what nature has given us. To make a long story short, how to allens all those elements, necessity, sustainability, reliability and economic growth. It is not easy. Unfortunately, people dont Pay Attention to it. They only look at one slice of the pie. In your ongoing research, do you find it is a possibility for the three competing goals to compromise . To reach somewhat of a Halfway Point . Are you willing to settle for 50 or 60 . Absolutely. You need to look at your objectives, what you want to do. What are your priorities and what are the things available for you to do this . You can dream something impossible, but on the other hand, i believe we should invest more for the future development of energy. That part has been overlooked. We can talk about that later in the program. After the fukushima accident, a lot of the countries in the neighboring asianpacific areas have taken steps to try to change their outlook Energy Policy and make the necessary changes and protections. In addition to that, we have talked about the importance of becoming more inclusive in terms of policymaking. What is important for taiwan is to try to meet the International Standards that have been set by many countries, especially those in the neighborhood. What would be some of the International Standards or conventional practices that you can recommend for the government here to consider in terms of formulating a revised Energy Policy . One of them is look at the quality of the standard, including the three attributes. Leave that to experts to figure out. But because it is a public agenda, you need to embrace the public opinion. Yet we need to direct the opinion to make it transparent. So people know what is going on and why something is very important. When people understand things well, things can be carried through much easier, otherwise you leave a lot of room for speculation. So there are a lot of rumors that are just not correct and quite a few issues. One other thing that is very important for taiwan in terms of the energy and environment issue, we should reach some kind of understanding and that kind of understanding should be bipartisan or tripartisan. Lets make it more continuous, regardless of who is in charge. So you will sing a different song every year. I think that goes in every direction to be so chaotic is not very pleasant and not right. That would make us quite a back step from the international outlook. What is important for taiwan is that we need to have that rational space for debate. Yes. We have the world demonstration effect in this day and age of the internet grade what happens on the other side of the globe can quickly be transmitted all over the globe. People in other parts of the world say if they can do it in oecd, why not here or other parts of the world . Given the Rapid Transformation of images, what do you think about the space for rational debate, would that be compressed because people are amending they can do it here, why not there . There is a sense we are measuring up against the International Standard that is constantly being pushed upward so that makes it almost seem and possible to satisfy all the people. Is that generally the sense for the policymakers around the world . Rex i think so. It is interesting now days, the Energy Problem in taiwan i think is a symptom of the general culture in taiwan, no matter any subject we discuss, we seem to all go in a very chaotic way and i think this is a symptom and we need to make it more transparent. People in taiwan are so highly educated grade so many have college degrees, i think we have a problem among the country, but in reality, the way people reflect on different issues, it is not consistent with the degrees weve got and i think im puzzled. I think we need leadership to make this more clear. Is why we need experts like yourself to be a spokesperson on this important issue that concerns all of us. We need to take the first break on our program today. We will be right back. Welcome back to the second part of todays program. Im your host, wu raykuo. We are continuing our conversation with way kuo, the president of City University of hong kong and an expert on Nuclear Energy. What we are talking about in your book really in the earlier segment, the book has a special provision in terms of making all the purchases of the donation into a scholarship. The reason i am promoting the book at this moment is donating a scholarship. The book is going to be made available and be published widely. The Japanese Version is also available soon. The chinese version will also be available very soon. This is a very important piece of work and i know the French Version is now in consideration and we may see that in a few years. I hope so. Soon after the Fukushima Nuclear accident in march of 2011, the City University of hong kong has come up with a program on Crisis Management and Nuclear Energy. Can you tell us a little bit about the program and what are some of the qualities the program intends to train the students with. This is wonderful. The fukushima crisis occurred on march 11, 2011. Coincidently, we submitted a proposal to the government on february 15th, 2011. Three weeks before that to develop this risk analysis and Nuclear Engineering program. We were worried about the government not improving because there is no Nuclear Power play in hong kong. But we submitted this proposal because there would be 22 Nuclear Reactors across the border on the china side. It will provide a lot of electricity to hong kong. In order to understand the risk, we feel very strongly we need to develop a program in hong kong so that we know what is going on. In a dark spot. That is why the program was first launched more than two years ago. How big is the program now . The program is moving along quite well. Every year, we accept 30 students. We are accepting master students and we are signing agreements with Cambridge University to have a joint degree with cambridge. One feature of the program is if you look at Crisis Management. What would be some of the Career Options for students who graduate from the programss . Very good. The future is very bright. What are the resources . Each will need 700 or 800 engineers. Where are they from . 30 is not enough. As a Technical Program and engineering from graham, the graduates will be capable of doing many other related issues. Furthermore, because it has the Crisis Management element, in wall street, they like to hire students of that kind of background. The future is very bright. We already get a lot of encouragement. At is certainly very encouraging. Have you noticed there is more interest in Crisis Management and Nuclear Energy after the fukushima accident or has there been a decline in the sense that they say it is a terrible tragedy . What was the general reaction . People are more interested in Crisis Management because not just nuclear. One thing that is addressed in this book, it includes Public Health issues. Some of the safety related issues, you would be amazed. There are many things that have been surrounding us that need to be paid attention to. Crisis management can really deal with everyday problems. You are a graduate from the Nuclear Engineering department at the National University here in taiwan trade what are some of the cooperative programs your Current University has with your alma mater and other leading institutions run the world . You just mentioned Cambridge University. Are there any other institutions that have ongoing cooperations with the City University in hong kong . That is very good rate more e academic secrets. Strictly speaking, not just in taiwan, but in aging, we have three universities that are working together to rotate the students in the Nuclear Program. To understand the paradigms today and the agendas area we also work with the National University on joining the program. The University Students come for two years and they can get a degree on both sides. We have also had ongoing projects with Columbia University in new york with athletics. We have about five students there to join together with Columbia University and the City University hong kong. Two degrees at the same time. We understand that in addition to being one of the leading universities in the asiapacific region, the City University of hong kong has been very wellknown for its engineering and science programs. And the last few years, we understand the City University has made a lot of changes in terms of the curriculum and offers students. In terms of recruitment of students from china and taiwan, City University has been very progressive in that area. What are some of the changes you have seen over the years in terms of students aptitude and their orientation toward studies and a possible career in engineering and related fields . Im glad to say we are the First University in hong kong that recruits students from taiwan. There are a lot of hong kong students that study in taiwan, but before my arrival in 2008, there were essentially no students in hong kong from taiwan. So our goal is to have International Coop experience. We send the students to japan and taiwan and we have quite a few staying in sin eaters berg, russia. This can have the students have an experience on the international front. Seeing is believing. We stay outside the semester for at least one year to take courses, mingle with local students and understand what is going on in a different environment. When they come back, they become more mature. Our university should promote innovation and discovery we want every student who graduates from City University to have an element of discovery. It doesnt have to be big. You should have some idea about this. But how to get that one, International Experience or help. The programs you mentioned will be part of the overall effort to make the graduates and students more internationally oriented. What are some of the lessons you can share with us that leading universities in hong kong and other parts of asia can learn and ro from the experiences at cdu . International and cooperative experience is very important. One thing i have been promoting is i think communication is very important. Communication in any language. Similar to the Nuclear Program in fukushima, i think what we need to improve is we need to address issues. We need to be more evidence based. I want all of my students to have something based on evidence is and experience great you being an educator, over the years, and the United States and in tennessee and now back in taiwan and hong kong, what would be some of the programs you can recommend for Young Students to develop those skills, to be able to look at issues without much emotions involved and look at the controversy based on the evidence available. What would be some of the things we can train the Younger Generation to acquire those qualities at an earlier age . Your question is very broad. I will make a long story short. It is a common phenomenon in our environment the common problem is very different from what i have seen in the usa. You graduate from berkeley and you know that. A number of hours required for a student to graduate is very small. Yet every student is very busy. To get a degree is not easy. Only half the students can graduate. Getting in is the easy part. Not as easy, but relatively speaking, easy. In our community here, since i came to hong kong five years ago, we require students to take many hours. Not as hard as american students. We tend to learn something from the book and keep them busy. But yet, they dont have room to think about this. Our students dont have

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