TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Construction crews in New Taipei broke ground on a facility that will be used to store spent nuclear fuel rods from the Kuosheng Nuclear reactor decommissioned in 2023.
The dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel is expected to be completed in 2026. After structural integrity tests are complete, it is expected to be licensed for regular storage operations by the Nuclear Safety Commission sometime in 2027, reported CNA.
Plans for the storage facility have been in the works since 2010 when Taipower signed an agreement with the US firm NAC International. NAC was the company that provided the Magnastor fuel rods for operations at the Kuosheng plant, located near the coast of New Taipei’s Wanli District.
The land was identified for the storage facility in 2014, but the local government did not approve the land management proposal until August 2024, with construction permits subsequently issued in November, per World Nuclear News. Once completed, the site will reportedly store 2,349 spent fuel rods, or 87 bundles of 27 rods each.
The Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant was commissioned in 1981 to provide electricity for 40 years. The plant’s first reactor was taken offline in July 2021, followed by the second in March 2023.
The entire plant has been decommissioned in accordance with the Taiwan government’s plans to become a nuclear-free nation by the end of this year. The country’s last operational nuclear power plant, the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung, is set to be decommissioned in May.