A violent explosion was suddenly heard during the trial test of the new Gas-fired Unit 2 of the Hsing-ta Power Plant in Yong'an District, Kaohsiung, with flames soaring and thick smoke blotting out the sun. The outer layers of two units were severely burned, with steel frames exposed, and the extent of damage to internal pipelines is yet to be investigated.
Nuclear energy advocate Huang Shih-hsiu publicly criticized the Tsai Ing-wen government on Facebook for its poor handling of the power shortage crisis caused by the collapse of a transmission tower at the Hoping Power Plant. He pointed out that the DPP and its officials consistently claimed it was only a 'transmission issue' rather than a 'power shortage.' However, if it were truly just a transmission issue, it should not have caused a nationwide power restriction crisis. Huang satirized this narrative as a 'pre-packaged discourse from a central kitchen' and used the metaphor of 'claiming a bounced check is a transportation issue because the account has no money' to criticize the government's failure to mention the massive cost of burning natural gas in zero-nuclear Japan. He expressed deep 'disgust' and regret that DPP spokespersons couldn't even grasp the core of the problem.