The island’s government announced last week that it would draft proposals to restart two nuclear power plants, including Maanshan. Taiwan Power Co, the operator of the facilities, is expected to submit recommissioning plans for them by March next year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement.
Taiwan made a decision to phase out nuclear power in 2016 and shut the last of its three plants, Maanshan, in May of this year. The moves to reopen facilities come as artificial intelligence spurs a boom in electricity demand and as atomic power enjoys growing global popularity with companies and governments looking to decarbonise.
The island is home to some of the world’s biggest chipmakers, who are increasingly demanding a clean and stable supply of electricity. Internationally, tech giants like Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc’s Google are signing agreements to secure atomic energy to fuel their power-guzzling data centres.
Nuclear power also seems to be increasingly acceptable to Taiwanese residents. About three-quarters of voters backed reopening Maanshan in a national referendum in August, but the result was discounted due to a poor turnout. Lawmakers on the island had earlier revised a bill to allow atomic plants to extend their licences, opening a door to restarts.
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