EXPLAINER/Taiwan's Aug. 23 nuclear power referendum

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) Taiwan will hold a referendum on Aug. 23 to decide whether the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant -- which stopped operating in May after 40 years of service -- should restart.

Read this explainer to understand why the referendum is happening and why it could lead to a major shift in Taiwan's energy policy.

Who proposed the referendum?

The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) proposed the referendum in the Legislature on April 18, and the bill was passed on May 20 with backing from the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

The referendum question reads: "Do you agree that the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operation upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns?"

Arguments in favor of restarting Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant

Supporters of the proposal argue that nuclear power offers stable electricity and low carbon emissions, and can be generated consistently -- unlike solar and wind, which are affected by weather.

They also highlight Taiwan's lack of domestic energy resources, its reliance on imports, and potential national security risks in the event of a blockade by China.

The TPP's proposal also cited solar energy scandals and heavy commercial losses for Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) due to high electricity purchase costs.

The proposal noted that in recent years, the European Union has included nuclear power in its sustainability strategy, and Japan has restarted several reactors after shutting them down following the Fukushima disaster.

Arguments against restarting Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant

The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform opposes the restart, pointing to the plant's location near a fault line above the Manila Trench, which it says is the highest earthquake-risk area in Taiwan.

The group says extending the plant's operations would be costly and aggravate Taiwan's nuclear waste disposal problems.

The Pingtung County government resolved to oppose the restart at a nuclear safety meeting in June, with experts and scholars emphasizing that the decommissioning reflected social consensus and democratic procedures.

They also said that the sudden referendum challenged procedural justice and local rights.

What is the central government's position?

The Executive Yuan said the plant's license has expired and there is no direct capacity for operation. However, it said that if an extension is requested, inspections and evaluations will be carried out with public safety as the top priority.

The Nuclear Safety Commission said it could reject an extension application if it determined there were safety concerns.

Televised presentations and debates

The Central Election Commission scheduled five televised presentations or debates for Aug. 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15, ahead of the vote.

Speakers in favor of restarting Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant are scheduled to include Pegatron Chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), National Tsing Hua University professor Yeh Tsung-kuang (葉宗洸), and KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲).

Speakers opposed to restarting the plant will include Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction Deputy Executive Director Lin Tze-luen (林子倫), Taipower Chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), Green Party Taiwan co-convener Kan Chung-wei (甘崇緯), and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄).

Referendum threshold

Under Taiwan's Referendum Act, the proposal to restart the plant will pass if "agree" votes exceed "disagree" votes and make up at least one-quarter of all eligible voters.

If the proposal is rejected, the same question cannot be raised again for two years.

Two nuclear-related referendums have been held in the past: the 2018 "using nuclear to support green energy" proposal, which passed, and the 2021 "restarting the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant" proposal, which failed.

History of nuclear power in Taiwan

Taiwan has produced electricity from three sites since the country began building nuclear plants in the 1970s.

The operational sites were Chinshan Nuclear Power Plant, located in New Taipei's Shimen District; Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant, located in New Taipei's Wanli District; and Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant, located in Pingtung County's Hengchun Township.

In 1985, after Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant came online, nuclear power accounted for 52.4 percent of the island's electricity generation.

Over time, the share declined as anti-nuclear sentiment grew and energy policy shifted toward natural gas, eventually falling to 4.7 percent by 2024.

One factor was the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union, which sparked a wave of anti-nuclear protests in Taiwan.

The Basic Environment Act, passed in 2002 under then-President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) DPP administration, set the goal of establishing a "nuclear-free homeland."

Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the Executive Yuan announced in 2014 following huge protests by environmental activists that construction of a fourth plant -- the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant, located in Gongliao District -- would be halted.

Decommissioning nuclear plants

In recent years, all three of Taiwan's operational nuclear plants have stopped operations.

Chinshan Nuclear Power Plant ceased operations in 2019, followed by Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant in 2022, and Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant in 2025.

Currently, none of Taiwan's energy is generated domestically using nuclear power.