Unit 1 at Taiwan’s Maanshan NPP, also known as the Third Nuclear Power Plant, in Pingtung County has been closed down pending decommissioning after its operating licence expired. The Maanshan plant comprises two 936 MWe pressurised water reactors. The licence for unit 2 expires in May 2025.
Before the closure of Maanshan 1, nuclear power accounted for about 5% of Taiwan’s energy use, which is dominated by coal and liquefied natural gas. Taiwan originally had three NPPs, each with two units, at Chinshan, Kuosheng and Maanshan with two others under construction at Lungmen.
In 2016, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected on a platform of establishing a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025. This required Taiwan power reactors to be decommissioned when their 40-year operating licences expired. Chinshan 1 was closed in December 2018, followed by Chinshan 2 in July 2019. Kuosheng 1 was closed in May 2021, six months before its licence expired, after plant owner/operator Taipower said its used fuel storage was almost full. Construction of two units at Lungmen has been suspended.
The state-run Taiwan Power Co said that, with the closure of Maanshan 1, the total percentage of power generated by nuclear sources would fall to 2.8%. To allay public concern regarding power stability, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said it has negotiated with Sun Ba Power Corp to use the power generated from its 1,000 MWe No. 3 LNG unit to buttress the power generation shortfall.
However, phasing out nuclear power generation and replacing it with LNG is expected to bring other challenges regarding power prices and carbon emissions, industry observers said.The government has said it would not rule out boosting nuclear power’s share of the energy mix, but that the technology needs to improve.
Lawmakers earlier this month debated for hours over whether to reverse course on the government’s plan to completely phase out nuclear power, hbased on legislatie amendments proposed by the opposition Kuomintang Party, which has a majority in the legislature but not in the government. However, no vote was taken.
