14 Jan, 2011, Fri, Nuclear News: Taiwan May Delay Startup of its Fourth Nuclear Plant

Bloomberg Business Week: Taiwan May Delay Startup of its Fourth Nuclear Plant
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Power Co. may delay the startup of the island’s fourth nuclear plant for the fifth time since the state-run utility proposed the project in 1980.

Commercial operations will probably begin around end-2012, compared with late 2011 previously planned, Huang Huei-yu, a public relations officer at the utility, said by phone in Taipei. The island’s biggest electricity producer, known as Taipower, needs to reinstall cables in the control room, she said today.

Taipower, the island’s monopoly grid operator, had postponed four times the start of the No. 4 plant, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Taipei, because of safety concerns and rising construction costs. The project costs about NT$280 billion ($9.65 billion), according to Huang.

The No. 4 plant has two units with a planned capacity of 2,700 megawatts, accounting for 6 percent of Taiwan’s installed capacity when completed.

Atomic reactors accounted for 13 percent of Taiwan’s electricity generation capacity in November, compared with 29 percent for coal-fired generators and 37 percent for gas-fueled units, according to the company’s website.