Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has submitted plans to the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) to restart the decommissioned Maanshan NPP in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township. If the plan is approved the plant will require further internal safety inspections and reviews to obtain a renewed operating licence.
The move came in the context of a growing pushback against the nuclear phase-out policy and concern about how fuel supplies may be affected by the conflict in the Middle East. President Lai Ching-te said that two of the closed NPPs could be considered for reactivation – Maanshan and the Kuosheng NPP in Wanli, New Taipei.
In November 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) had approved a current status assessment report by Taipower, which found it feasible to restart the Kuosheng and Maanshan plants. However, the report concluded that restarting the older Chinshan NPP was not feasible.
The three NPPs, which generated some 15% of Taiwan’s electricity, were closed after Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected to government in 2016 with a policy of creating a “nuclear-free” Taiwan by 2025. The six reactors (two at each NPP) were to be decommissioned as their 40-year operating licences expired.
The Maanshan plant comprised two 936 MWe pressurised water reactors. Maanshan 2 was the last unit to be closed on 17 May 2025. Maanshan 1 was closed in July 2024. Kuosheng’s two 985 MWe boiling water reactors (BWRs) were shut down in July 2021 and March 2023. Chinshan’s two 604 MWe Mark-1 BWRs closed in 2018 and 2019. In addition, work was stopped on two 1,350 MWe advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) under construction at the Lungmen (Fourth) NPP in New Taipei City. Lungmen 1 was completed but mothballed in 2015, and construction of Lungmen 2 was suspended in 2014.
However, in May 2025, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan had revised the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act, effectively opening the door for a restart of NPPs by allowing operators to renew or extend licences for up to 20 years, but it was too late to prevent closure of the Maanshan plant.
Taipower says internal inspections for Maanshan are expected to take one-and-a-half to two years and, once completed, a report must be submitted to the NSC for review, which would then determine the timeline. MOEA had approved Taipower to submit the restart plan, which was drafted in line with Article 16-1 of the Regulations on the Application for an Operating Licence for Nuclear Reactor Facilities. Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin told a hearing at the legislature in Taipei earlier in March that the plant could resume operations as early as 2028.
According to Taipower, the restart plan comprises five components: the current status of the plant and the project timeline; staffing and training arrangements; restart work items and routine maintenance; operational regulatory planning; and quality verification and audit plans.
NSC will first conduct a procedural review of the documents Taipower has submitted and will then proceed with the substantive technical review. External scholars and experts and NSC officials will establish a special review team. NSC said the team will conduct “a rigorous review in accordance with regulations and international practices to ensure that Taipower has submitted a proper plan for all aspects of the restart plan and that it meets quality assurance requirements”.
During implementation of the restart plan, NSC will conduct on-site verification to confirm that Taipower is following the plan. After Taipower completes the relevant procedures it must submit an implementation report to NSC for review. Taipower must also submit documents related to “ageing assessment and management, radiation-related issues verification and assessment, and seismic safety assessment, as required by regulations”.
