The second reactor at the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant was operating at full capacity at 10:30am yesterday after resuming operations on Wednesday, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said.
It was the first time the reactor at the plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里) has operated at full capacity in more than two years.
It went offline in May 2016, following a glitch in its electrical system during major maintenance work, and resumed operations on March 27, but automatically shut down the following day after it developed another glitch.
Taipower on April 9 submitted a request to the Atomic Energy Council to restart the reactor. After convening several review meetings and conducting an on-site inspection on June 4, the council approved the restarting of the reactor.
It resumed power generation on June 8 and by Tuesday it was operating at 60 percent capacity, before being temporarily shut down later that day after a connector was found to be operating at an excessively high temperature.
At full capacity, the reactor can generate 985 megawatts of electricity, equal to about 2.7 percent of the nation’s total operating reserve margin — the percentage of generating capacity available to the power grid that can be called upon quickly, Taipower spokesperson Hsu Tsao-hua (徐造華) said.
A fully operational reactor would give Taipower more flexibility in supplying power during the hot summer months, when demand for power peaks, Hsu said.
Taipower could also consider reducing power generation at thermal power plants to reduce air pollution, depending on air quality conditions, he said.
The government has promised a nuclear-free homeland by 2025, when the three operating nuclear plants are scheduled to have been decommissioned.
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