Work starts on Taiwanese fuel storage facility

In November 2010, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) signed a contract with US firm NAC International Inc for the supply of its Magnastor used fuel storage system to the Kuosheng plant. The agreement called for a complete dry storage project solution with 27 Magnastor systems (each of which can hold 87 bundles of used nuclear fuel) and included engineering, licensing, hardware, facility design and construction, and fuel loading operations.

The water and soil conservation plan for the facility was approved by the Council of Agriculture in 2014. After nine years of deliberation, the Construction Site Runoff Wastewater Pollution Reduction Plan was approved by the New Taipei City government in August last year, and the construction start application was approved in November.

Civil construction of the facility is expected to be completed in 2026, pending approval from New Taipei City. Once the government issues a completion certificate, commissioning tests (including cold tests and hot tests) will be conducted, and an operation licence will be applied for from the Nuclear Safety Commission. Taipower expects to obtain the licence in 2027.

Kuosheng unit 1 - a 985 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) - was scheduled to shut down when its 40-year operating licence expired on 27 December 2021, in accordance with Taiwan's nuclear phase-out policy, but was forced to close six months earlier owing to a lack of storage in the unit's used fuel pool.

Unit 2 of the plant - also a 985 MWe BWR - was taken offline in March 2023 following the expiry of its 40-year operating licence.

The plant's decommissioning plan included the construction of a dry storage facility for used fuel. However, construction of the facility had been delayed by a dispute between Taipower and the New Taipei City government, which is opposed to a permanent used fuel storage facility within its jurisdiction.

"Only after completion and obtaining an operating licence can the core fuel of the reactor be gradually withdrawn, and decommissioning operations can be fully implemented," Taipower said.