Taiwan’s Energy Administration expects energy demand to increase at an average annual rate of 2.8% over the next ten years. This growth, driven mainly by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), is leading the Asian country to consider significant changes in its energy model. Nuclear energy, a non-renewable source that is in the process of being retired in Taiwan, is once again taking center stage as a promising alternative to meet the growing demand caused by AI.
Signs of a change of course. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Taiwanese Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai said he is “very open” to nuclear energy. “As long as there is a consensus within Taiwan on nuclear safety and good direction and guarantees for the management of nuclear waste, with this strong consensus, we can have a public discussion,” the president said. Support for the use of nuclear reactors fell in 2011, just after Japan was hit by the earthquake that led to the Fukushima accident.
Cho did not provide too many details about his position, but said he hopes his country can catch up “with global trends and new nuclear technologies.” The mention of “new technologies” is not a minor fact. In fact, it is a key point that can favor the resurgence of nuclear energy on the island. We are witnessing firsthand how nuclear reactors evolve. SMRs, like those that Google and Amazon want to use, promise to be less complex, but also more versatile, efficient and secure.
“Non-nuclear” nation by 2025. Between 1977 and 1985, Taiwan had managed to put six nuclear reactors into operation, but things changed over time. This number did not increase, but rather gradually decreased. According to the Nuclear Safety Commission, the country had three nuclear power plants operated by the state company Taipower in January of this year. Two of them, Chinshan and Kuosheng, were in the dismantling stage, while Maanshan continued to operate, but its days were numbered.
The government has been developing a nuclear energy phase-out policy with a deadline of 2025. But all this occurs in a scenario that is quite complex. On the one hand, Taiwan is on its way to becoming East Asia’s first non-nuclear state, a decision somewhat backed by a 2021 referendum in which a majority of voters rejected the possibility of restarting construction of the two advanced reactors that They had begun to be built, but the project was suspended.
Taiwan essentially depends on imported energy. The island imports around 97.73% of its energy needs. The objective of denuclearization comes accompanied by achieving an energy mix made up of 50% liquefied natural gas (LNG), 27 percent coal and 15 percent renewable energy. But this plan also has challenges, mainly from an environmental point of view. It is a fact that more energy is needed, but also that the different actors in the country must help reduce their emissions.
This is where the rise of AI comes into play, where several countries compete to lead its development. Taiwan has a leading role in this world. Large language models such as those from OpenAI, Microsoft or Google are not trained on the island, but many of the cutting-edge chips necessary for this industry are manufactured. Remember that we are talking about the home of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which has chip manufacturing plants for clients such as NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm, among others.
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