TAIPEI – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te announced on March 21 that two shuttered nuclear power plants qualify for reactivation, signaling a potential U-turn to bolster the island’s power grid as Middle East conflicts disrupt fossil fuel imports critical for its semiconductor industry. Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party had long championed a “nuclear-free homeland” post-Fukushima, but opposition pushes for restarts cite urgent energy needs.
The plants, Second Nuclear Power Plant, decommissioned in 2023, and Third at Ma’anshan in Pingtung, shut in May 2025, once supplied a hefty share of Taiwan’s electricity for decades. Lai revealed at a business event that state utility Taipower will apply to the Nuclear Safety Council by month’s end for reviews covering safety and public buy-in.
Deputy Economy Minister Ho Chin-tsang noted Ma’anshan could fire up as early as 2028. Lai framed the move as vital for low-carbon power in an AI-driven world, while reassuring stockpiles: over 100 days of oil and 12-14 days of natural gas exceed legal minimums of 90 and 11 days. Extra US oil and gas arrivals should ease June pressures.