Taiwan Nuclear Energy
The 2nd nuclear power generator of the TPC (Taiwan Power Company, a state-owned enterprise) Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Plant (also known as the Second Nuclear Power Plant) was decommissioned on March 15, 2023, after 40 years of service, as part of Taiwan’s plan to meet the government’s “Nuclear-free Homeland” policy objective. As a result of the decommissioning of this plant, TPC will need to build indoor dry storage for the spent fuel rod assemblies, which are now stored in reactor pools as transitory storage before they are moved to a permanent storage site. According to industry estimates, the cost to build a dry storage facility for a nuclear power plant of this size is around $170 million, and Taiwan has three nuclear power plants with this requirement. Thus, the market potential for Taiwan’s nuclear power decommissioning is around $510 million.
Taiwan is pushing aggressively to move forward with its energy transition, which includes the decommission of all nuclear power plants. Other objectives for this transition include reducing coal (from 39% to 30%) and adding more LNG (from 39% to 50%) and renewable energy (from 5% to 20%) by 2025. Taiwan has three nuclear power plants which are owned and operated by TPC. Starting in 2018 and through 2025, TPC plans to decommission all nuclear power plants as follows:
| TPC Nuclear Power Plant | Reactor | Capacity | Date of Decommissioning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear Power Plant I Chin-Shan |
No. 1 | 600MW | 12/5/2018 |
| No. 2 | 600MW | 7/15/2019 | |
| Nuclear Power Plant II Kuo-Sheng |
No. 1 | 985MW | 7/1/2021 |
| No. 2 | 985MW | 3/15/2023 | |
| Nuclear Power Plant III Ma-An-Shan |
No. 1 | 950MW | 7/1/2024 |
| No. 2 | 950MW | 5/1/2025 |
Source: TPC
The last of its kind is scheduled to be decommissioned in May 2025. TPC will need to build indoor dry storage for each of the three nuclear power plants. The RFP for the dry storage of the Chin-Shan Nuclear Power Plant is expected to be published in mid-2023. This is a great market opportunity for the U.S. nuclear storage industry. U.S. companies have the most advanced technology and experience in this field. We encourage the U.S. companies to explore this significant market opportunity.
For additional information, please contact Commercial Specialist Kenneth Chen of the U.S. Commercial Service in Taiwan at Kenneth.Chen@trade.gov.