Taiwan could face power rationing by 2018

Government says this is possible if fourth nuclear power plant is scrapped.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said the risk Taiwan will face electricity rationing by 2018 is not imaginary.

"It is not a bluff," said Jennifer Wu, head of the MOEA office in charge of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant.

MOEA published a set of questions and answers in an effort to explain the issues involving the almost completed fourth nuclear power plant project, construction of which has been halted since the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

Wu said the projection of power rationing was made based on careful evaluations of international economic development conditions and plans to decommission the three operating nuclear power plants in Taiwan.

Without the fourth nuclear power plant, the government will have to start building a gas-fired power plant in northern Taiwan, the center of Taiwan's economic development, Wu said.

Wu estimated that it will take 10 to 12 years to build a gas-fired power plant, during which time Taiwan will be vulnerable to power shortages or blackouts.

The Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant is Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant. It consists of two ABWRs each of 1,350 MWe. It is operated by Taiwan Power Company.

The type of advanced reactors being built at Lungmen represents an increase in safety over previous designs. These reactors will represent some of the most advanced technology in the world upon completion.

The ABWR technology contains passive safety systems designed to safeguard the reactor even during a total power failure even like at Fukushima.