Officials from Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which has long been staunchly against nuclear power, now appear to be considering maintaining nuclear in the energy mix amid national security and energy security concerns.
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00:00The long-standing debate in Taiwan over nuclear power is back again.
00:06For the island nation, it's not just a question of safety, but of national security.
00:26Almost all of Taiwan's energy is imported,
00:28primarily as coal and natural gas.
00:31The ruling Democratic Progressive Party has made it a goal to phase out nuclear power by 2025,
00:37citing concerns over safety on the earthquake-prone island.
00:41The potential resurrection of nuclear as a power source
00:43comes just a month before the country's final nuclear reactor,
00:47Ma Anshan Unit 2, is set to be decommissioned,
00:51leaving a 3% gap in the nation's energy generation.
00:54But restarting the old nuclear power plants wouldn't be easy.
00:58The environment minister estimates that restarting nuclear
01:12would cost several billion U.S. dollars.
01:15But the issue of energy security could keep nuclear on the table.
01:18While officials are publicly coy on any changes to their plans for nuclear power,
01:35until the country can be sure it has the power it needs in an emergency,
01:39calls to reconsider nuclear won't go away.
01:41Luffy Lee and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.