Taiwan's Nuclear Safety Commission Approves Preliminary Plan to Restart Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant
nashnova research
Taiwan's nuclear safety commission cleared the preliminary restart plan for the Maanshan plant, marking a substantive reversal of the ruling party's decade-long phase-out stance — the earliest possible restart is 2028, driven by chipmakers' demand for stable power and a region-wide nuclear revival.
What exactly was approved — and how far is actual restart?
The commission completed a preliminary plan review — essentially a green light on direction. Taipower must still finish on-site safety inspections and submit an implementation report for a second review.
This means → restart is now on an administrative track, but at least two more checkpoints remain before the reactor can power up.
Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin previously indicated the earliest grid connection could come in 2028. Maanshan was the last of Taiwan's three nuclear plants to cease operations; its 40-year licence expired in May 2025.
Why is the phase-out stance shifting now?
Taiwan's legislature amended the law last year to allow nuclear plants to apply for licence extensions, removing the previous hard cap at 40 years.
Premier Cho Jung-tai publicly stated this year that the government welcomes advanced nuclear technology and will assess whether nuclear power can provide more reliable energy for industry.
In plain terms = the legal lock is open and the executive branch has sent a clear signal — this is not a tentative probe but a systematic policy pivot.
What role do TSMC and the chip industry play?
Advanced-node chip fabrication demands power that is both clean (carbon-emission pressure) and rock-steady (a single outage can scrap an entire wafer batch).
Rising electricity consumption by TSMC and other chipmakers is the most direct industrial driver behind Taiwan's nuclear reassessment.
This reflects a larger logic: when chip capacity is a core asset in geopolitical competition, whoever secures the power supply secures the fabs.
Are neighbouring countries doing the same thing?
Middle East tensions have pushed up natural gas prices; governments across Asia are seeking to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Japan, China, South Korea, and India are all restarting or building new nuclear capacity — Taiwan's shift is not an outlier but part of a regional trend.
This means → if Taiwan does not follow, it risks falling behind competitors on energy cost and supply stability, eroding the power advantage its chip industry relies on.
Public support was overwhelming — why didn't the referendum settle it?
In an island-wide referendum in August 2025, roughly three-quarters of voters backed restarting Maanshan.
But turnout fell short of the legal threshold, so the result was not formally binding — in other words, the direction of opinion was clear, but the procedural bar was not met.
Put simply = most people who showed up voted "yes," but not enough people showed up for the vote to count in law. The commission's approval now means the administrative process has picked up where the referendum left off.
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