In Major Reversal, Taiwan Seeks To Rewire Its Energy Strategy by Restarting its Nuclear Plants

The Taiwanese government is reversing course on permanently closing its nuclear reactors.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has presented a plan to restart two of the island’s shuttered nuclear reactors in a bid to boost electricity generation amid supply uncertainty due to the Iran war. The plan breaks with a decade of precedent set by his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Alongside other recent efforts to stabilize the island’s energy imports, Lai’s proposal is intended to enable Taiwan to bolster its energy resilience strategy in response to growing Chinese coercion.

Taiwanese President Unveils Plan To Restart Two Nuclear Power Plants

Lai announced that the state-owned electricity utility, Taipower, would submit proposals to the country’s Nuclear Safety Commission to restart the Guosheng and Ma-anshan nuclear power plants by the end of the month. Lai noted that both plants would be audited by GE Aerospace and Westinghouse Electric before being cleared to operate, while Taipower announced plans to provide an initial order of fuel rods to run the plants for 18 months. Once cleared by the authorities, Taipower estimates that both plants could be fully operational by 2029, with Ma-anshan likely operational by the end of 2028.

Following the political potency of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the DPP won power in 2016 pledging to provide a “nuclear-free homeland” and began a process of phasing out nuclear power while increasing imports of liquified natural gas (LNG).  This process culminated in the May 2025 shuttering of Ma-anshan’s last reactor unit, which a public referendum the following August on the closure failed to reverse. Prior to its phase-out, nuclear power provided nearly 20 percent of the energy used to generate electricity on the island.

Taiwan Making Concerted Effort To Diversify Energy Resources

The move to restart the reactors follows Taiwan’s recent efforts to revamp its energy resilience strategy. In April 2025, Taiwan pledged to source nearly a third of its LNG imports from the United States, dramatically increasing the island’s current share of 10 percent.

Taipei has also invested in American energy infrastructure, with Taiwan’s state-owned Chinese Petroleum Company signing an agreement in March 2025 to purchase LNG from the North Slope borough of Alaska. These measures will likely ease pressure on Taiwan’s current energy stockpiles, which maintain just several weeks of LNG and several months of coal, by providing consistent baseload generation and greater delivery flexibility.

These measures will also allow Taipei to counter escalated coercion from Beijing. China has worked in multiple ways to undermine the island’s energy infrastructure and supply lines, from maintaining ties to Qatar, Taiwan’s largest LNG provider, to deploying military forces around key port locations during military exercises last December. China relies on cyber campaigns and quarantine operations to disrupt the Taiwanese grid, with Taiwan national authorities reporting that several Chinese hacking groups had targeted industrial control systems to preposition cyber assets to cause later blackouts. 

Washington Should Aid Taiwan’s Bid To Safely Restart Nuclear Power Plants

The United States should assist Taiwan in its efforts to reopen its nuclear power plants, including by providing technical advice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on waste management, a key issue for Taipei in planning to ramp up its nuclear industry. Washington and Taipei should also collaborate on developing and fielding small modular reactors, an emerging technology that may eventually complement Taipower’s current fleet.

The United States should also work to ensure that Taiwan remains connected to regional energy security initiatives. These should include bringing together both Japan and Taiwan, along with other major economies such as South Korea, to establish a regional LNG storage hub.

The United States can also work with other regional allies and partners on ensuring the security of commercial shipping during a crisis, including by establishing maritime corridors alongside both Japan and the Philippines.  

Jack Burnham is a senior research analyst in the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). Johanna (Jo) Yang is a policy analyst at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at FDD, where she works on issues related to nation-state cyber threats, critical infrastructure protection, and U.S. cybersecurity policy. For more analysis from Jack, Johanna, and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jack on X @JackBurnham802. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.