Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said it expects the No. 2 reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant to start supplying power by the end of this month at the earliest following the Atomic Energy Council’s approval yesterday of a plan to restart the reactor.
The plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) is equipped with two nuclear reactors with 985 megawatts of capacity each.
The No. 2 reactor has been under repair since it was damaged soon after restarting in May 2016.
Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
Taipower last month filed an application with the council to restart the reactor, and the council, after finishing its review on March 5 and reporting to the legislature on Thursday last week, granted its official approval yesterday.
The restart depends on two major principles: meeting the power demand and protecting the nation’s air quality, Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) told the Legislative Yuan on Monday.
Taipower is still evaluating when the reactor would start supplying electricity based on the two principles, the ministry said.
It takes about nine days for the reactor to become fully operational, Taipower said, adding that it would initiate procedures today and expects the reactor to begin supplying power by the end of this month.
As of Monday, power demand peaked at about 29.1 gigawatts (GW), with the average operating power reserve kept at 6.6 percent, Taipower’s Web site showed.
According to the utility’s forecast, the nation’s power supply system indicator would be “orange” throughout next month, which means that the operating reserve is lower than 6 percent and Taipower might ration power supply.
The nation’s operating power reserve would be 5.54, 5.2 and 5.53 percent respectively in the three periods of next month, Taipower data showed.
Once restarted, the No. 2 reactor is expected to supply an additional 3 percent to the power reserve if the nation’s energy demand during peak hours reaches 30GW next month.
Meanwhile, the council is working on decommissioning the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in the city’s Shihmen District (石門), with council officials and environmental groups yesterday visiting the plant to examine its spent fuel rod storage facilities.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
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