Taipower is seeking approval from the Taiwanese Atomic Energy Council (AEC) to shut down the Maanshan nuclear power plant (2x936 MW) in 2025. The 40-year operating licences for Maanshan units 1 and 2 will expire on 27 July 2024 and 17 May 2025, respectively. AEC will conduct the procedural review of the application to confirm that the documents are complete before proceeding to the substantive review, which will last about 18 months.
Earlier in July 2021, Taipower shut down the unit 1 of the Kuosheng nuclear power plant (2 x 985 MW) in Wanli District, New Taipei. The state-owned power utility unveiled its decommissioning plan for Kuosheng-1 in 2018, and it was approved by the AEC in October 2020. The reactor was expected to be retired by the end of 2021. However, Taipower decided to decommission Kuosheng-1 ahead of schedule due to spent fuel-storage capacity constraints that prevent it from being refuelled. Kuosheng-2 is planned to be retired in March 2023. The two BWR-6 reactors were commissioned respectively in 1981 and 1983.
Taiwan plans to exit nuclear power by 2025, replacing existing capacity with gas-fired and renewables projects. A new 500 MW CCGT unit has recently been commissioned at Chiahuei (unit 2), along with 500 MW of new solar PV installations. Taiwan’s installed capacity stood at 58 GW at the end of 2020, with 36% of coal, 32% of gas and 10% of solar. Nuclear only accounts for 6% of total capacity, with 3.9 GW.
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