Alexander C. Kaufman
@kaufman
This is huge news. Taiwan is set to shut down its last reactor this weekend. But a proposed bill would effectively allow for the restart of the island’s shuttered atomic energy stations. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/taiwan-opens-door-to-atomic-power-plant-restarts-in-policy-tweak?srnd=phx-green#:~:text=Taiwanese%20lawmakers%20revised%20a%20nuclear,grows%20and%20geopolitical%20tensions%20worsen.
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Alexander C. Kaufman
@kaufman
If you want more context on this, you should read my very long January 2023 dispatch from Taiwan. During my reporting, I interviewed government officials and semiconductor executives, visited Taiwan’s last incomplete nuclear plant and even traveled to Lanyu Island far off the mainland to talk to aboriginal Taiwanese at the center of a decades-old nuclear waste scandal. The takeaway is that: despite the complicated political history of nuclear on the island, Taiwan’s increasing reliance on imported natural gas is a major vulnerability to Chinese blockade. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/taiwan-nuclear-power-plants_n_63d2e635e4b01a43638cc6b1
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BrixBountyFarm 🎩
@brixbounty
So it turns out relying on gas when China could feasibly block shipments isn’t good security policy
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David T Phung ⚛️⚡️🚀
@davidtphung
let’s gooo. the tides are changing
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Ev | 유진 🇨🇦
@tch
Definitely silly decision to close when the whole island depends on energy imports and yet uses electricity so freely.
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