CONSULTING

end of March 2014, unit 1 of Lungmen construction was 97.7 percent complete, 684 while unit 2
was 91 percent complete. The plant is estimated to have cost US$9–9.9 billion so far. 685 After
multiple delays, rising costs, and large-scale public and political opposition, on 28 April 2014,
Premier Jiang Yi-huah announced that Lungmen-1 will be mothballed after the completion of
safety checks, while work on unit 2 at the site was to stop. With the official freeze of construction,
WNISR took the units off the listing in 2014.
As a result of failure to negotiate payment for work completed on the Lungmen plant, in
December 2015 Taipower announced that General Electric (GE) had filed for arbitration with the
Hong Kong branch of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Court of Arbitration. 686 No
financial details have been disclosed.
The Presidential election victory of Tsai Ing-wen on 12 March 2016 could be decisive in leading
Taiwan to phase out nuclear power. The victory of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
candidate, over the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was in part linked to the former's
environmental agenda including a commitment to end nuclear power, which, always
controversial in Taiwan, has led to mass citizen protests since the Fukushima accident. The DPP
is committed to phasing out nuclear power by 2025 through four policy directions: halting
construction of the two reactors at Lungmen; no plant life extension for Chinshan, Kuosheng and
Maanshan reactor units—all operating licenses of Taiwan's existing six nuclear reactors are due
to expire between 2018 and 2025, as they reach their forty year lifetimes; increased focus on
nuclear safety and a requirement by Taipower to prepare a decommissioning plan; and
determination of a nuclear waste policy, in particular for spent-fuel management. In the last two
years the DPP had committed to breaking up Taipower’s monopoly, putting priority on renewable
energies and establishing regional power grid companies, fostering community-based power
companies and allowing independent power producers and renewable energy suppliers to sell
power directly to individual consumers and not only to large-scale industrial or commercial users.
The nuclear policy is to be detailed during summer 2016, following the appointment on
20 May 2016 of the new President. Initial statements by the newly appointed Economics Minister
Lee Shih-guang are clear: “There is no room for discussion. When 2025 comes, nuclear power will
be abandoned.” 687 One day later, it was reported that Taipower considers restarting Chinshan-1
and operating Chinshan reactors only during four summer months in 2016 and extend its
operational life, which is threatened by acute shortage of spent fuel storage capacity. 688 On
5 June 2016, Premier Lin Chuan stated that the reactors shutdown date would not be extended
684 Planning Department, “Status and Challenges of Nuclear Power in Taiwan”, Atomic Energy Council,
April 2014, see http://www.aec.gov.tw/english/whatsnew/files/20140506-5.pdf, accessed 22 May 2016.
685 WNN, “Political discord places Lungmen on hold”, 28 April 2014, see http://www.world-nuclearnews.org/NN-Political-discord-places-Lungmen-on-hold-2804144.html,
accessed 22 May 2016.
686 Taipei Times, “GE files for arbitration in nuclear payment dispute”, 12 December 2015, see
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/12/12/2003634631, accessed 2 July 2016.
687 China Post, “Gov't to end nuclear power in 2025: MOEA”, 26 May 2016, see
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2016/05/26/467321/Govt-to.htm, accessed
2 July 2016.
688 Focus Taiwan, “Economics minister reaffirms goal of nuclear-free Taiwan by 2025”, 27 May 2016, see
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201605270025.aspx, accessed 2 July 2016.
Mycle Schneider, Antony Froggatt et al. 168 World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2016