Powering Taiwan

Taiwan Nuclear Safety Drill Ends as Plant Restart Debate Grows

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By Alex Chen/Irene Lin

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Taiwan’s three-day nuclear safety exercise wrapped up in Keelung and New Taipei with simulated earthquake responses and drone medical deliveries. However, a major public controversy remains over whether to restart the nearby decommissioned Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant. While some local residents support reactivating the facility to safeguard Taiwan’s electricity supply, local fishers and anti-nuclear NGOs warn that cooling water intake damages ocean ecosystems and reduces marine biodiversity. As Taiwan prepares for a November referendum on abolishing its nuclear-free homeland policy, state utility Taipower is preparing a restart plan and safety applications for regulatory review.

What was meant to be a relaxing morning swim in the ocean near Keelung... disrupted by a magnitude 6.1 quake… threatening a decommissioned nuclear power plant 13 kilometers away in New Taipei.

That’s the scenario for the final day of Taiwan's annual nuclear safety drill.

AUTHORITIES:
"Please get out of the water immediately."

Authorities called for swimmers and fishers to move away from the shore…

Drones did the heavy lifting throughout the three-day drill… and on the last day, they delivered emergency medical supplies to people stranded at this fishing port… all roads cut off from the quake.

As officials showcase their emergency response plan, some locals show support for restarting the Kuosheng nuclear power plant and exercises like these to keep people safe.

SWIMMER 1:
"Honestly, the Kuosheng nuclear power plant doesn’t affect my daily life much. If we’re talking about restarting it as long as environmental evaluations are complete and safety is taken into account I think restarting the plant would be helpful for Taiwan’s power supply."

SWIMMER 2:
"Having the chance to learn how to respond would calm me down if disaster really happens. I wouldn’t have zero sense of what to do. It’s like when we do an earthquake drill. We have a better idea of how to react after practicing."

But one fisher pointed out that the plant has forever changed the local marine habitat... as water used to cool the reactors would heat up and be released into the ocean.

FISHER:
"If the [ecology] hadn't been wrecked the fish there wouldn’t have gone away. Now the damage is done and [certain] fish don’t go anywhere near it. The water temperatures are too high. Things like abalone need cooler water to grow."

One local anti-nuclear activist backs up that observation... and stresses that the shuttered 40-year-old plant should be left untouched.

KUO CHING-LIN, NORTH COAST ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTION ALLIANCE:
"The number and diversity of species have largely fallen [in that area since the plant started running]. Kuosheng plant’s water purification facility draws in eight million metric tons of seawater each day. The process of drawing seawater also sucks in marine species. Everyone knows nuclear power only contributed a small share to the country’s electricity grid. So, why do we still need it?"

But work to bring two nuclear power plants back online is underway.

And in November, Taiwan will vote on whether to end its nuclear-free homeland policy, completed in May 2025... when state-run electric utility Taipower shut down its last reactor.

One NGO says both ruling and opposition parties have already abandoned that policy... with the opposition pushing for a nuclear comeback.. and President Lai Ching-te publicly endorsing the possibility earlier this year.

LIN CHIEN-YEN, GREEN CITIZEN’S ACTION ALLIANCE:
"Evaluating the possibility of restarting the plants is in some sense violating the promise which the Democratic Progressive Party made to the public. Construction of a new nuclear power plant from start to finish based on European or US standards would take 10 to 15 years, maybe even 20. But the referendum is only valid for two years. Will there be a new nuclear power plant in the next two years? Absolutely not. Will there be any new progress on existing plants? That's hard to say."

Taipower says it’s almost ready to submit its plan to restart the Kuosheng plant... while the plan for the other facility is being reviewed by nuclear regulators.

Whatever the outcome of the November referendum, these annual nuclear safety drills will continue as the plants go through a 25-year decommissioning process.