Nuclear power in Taiwan

Nuclear power in Taiwan was part of the country's electricity production from 1977 to 2025. From 1984 on, Taiwan operated three nuclear plants with a total capacity of 5 GW. In 1985, nuclear power amounted for 52% of Taiwan's electricity production. With no further commissioned plants and increasing fossil energy generation, the share had dropped continuously to 8% in 2017. In 2023, nuclear energy made up 6.3 percent of Taiwan’s generated electricity. The technology chosen for the reactors has been General Electric BWR technology for the Jinshan and Kuosheng plants, and Westinghouse PWR technology for the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant.

Taiwan has not experienced any nuclear accident, but a power outage at Maanshan unit 1 in 2001 was classified as an INES 3 incident. Nevertheless, the fear that an earthquake could cause the release of radioactivity led to an anti-nuclear movement that eventually prevented the commissioning of Lungmen, the fourth constructed plant, in April 2014, despite its modern ABWR design. Active seismic faults run across the island, and anti-nuclear environmentalists argue Taiwan is unsuited for nuclear plants. A 2011 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, evaluated the seismic hazard to reactors worldwide, as determined by the Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program data, placed all of Taiwan's reactors within the highest risk group of 12 reactors within very high seismic hazard areas, along with some of Japan's reactors.

The 2016 presidential and legislative elections were won by a party whose key platform promises included phasing out nuclear power. In a 2018 referendum, voters adopted a proposal to retain nuclear power; however, in January 2019, the government stated that it would not extend the life of existing plants or restart construction on Lungmen. Another referendum in 2021 proposing to restart the construction of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant was rejected. As of May 18, 2025, Taiwan completed the phase-out of nuclear power, shutting down their final nuclear reactor at Maanshan Power Plant. A third referendum in 2025 will consider restarting operations at Maanshan, which had closed earlier that year.