A referendum on the Taiwanese government’s policy to phase out the use of nuclear energy by 2025 is to be held alongside local elections next month, Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced after initially rejecting the proposal. Taiwan has four operable nuclear power reactors – two each at the Kuosheng and Maanshan plants – which account for around 15% of the island’s electricity generation. Construction of two units at Lungmen began in 1999, but the project has been beset with political, legal and regulatory delays. The completed unit 1 was mothballed in July 2015, while construction of unit 2 was suspended in April 2014. Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected to government in January 2016 having a policy of creating a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025. Shortly after taking office, the DPP government passed an amendment to the Electricity Act, passing its phase-out policy into law. The referendum proposal asks voters whether they agree with abolishing Paragraph 1 of Article 95 of the Electricity Act, which stipulates that “all nuclear energy-based power-generating facilities shall completely cease operations by 2025”.
World Nuclear News 24th Oct 2018 read more »