Nuclear power plants producing at 90% capacity

The country's three nuclear power plants generated a total of 38.96 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity last year, running at 90.28 percent of capacity, the latest data from the Atomic Energy Council shows.

Both figures are the highest ever recorded by the power plants, council officials said.

There were a total of 14 reportable events at the six reactor units last year, including two "trips," the officials said, adding that all the events were within "level 0," meaning "no safety significance" on the International Energy Agency's nuclear event scale.

They said power generation by the two reactors at the Second Nuclear Power Plant increased by 20 megawatts last year.

Based on a capacity factor of 90 percent, the increment means the power supply will increase by 158 million kwh per year, the officials said, adding that if thermo-power generation were reduced by the same amount, carbon dioxide emissions in Taiwan would drop by 118,000 tonnes per year.

The automatic seismic scram devices installed at the three plants began operating last November, they said.

These devices immediately emit a signal to the plant's safety protection system whenever the seismic sensor detects earthquake tremors exceeding the plant's safe operating levels, the officials said.

This signal causes a reactor trip and ensures that the reactor is shutdown safely in the event of a strong earthquake.

As of the end of December, the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant is 75 percent complete, the officials said.