Taiwan's Nuclear-Free Dream Meets a Harsh Reality
Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant (Source: Wikipedia) On May 17, 2025, Taiwan shut down the last operating reactor at its Maanshan nuclear power plant, completing its decades-long journey toward becoming Asia’s first fully nuclear-free country. The moment was historic, yet subdued. No grand celebration, no political fanfare. Just the quiet hum of a reactor winding down—a symbolic end to a technological era. But as the lights dimmed at Maanshan, a harsher truth came into focus: Taiwan’s nuclear exit may solve one problem, but it leaves behind four much bigger ones—decommissioning, nuclear waste, carbon emissions, and renewable waste. The Illusion of Closure For years, the phrase “Nuclear-Free Homeland” has been a mantra in Taiwan’s political discourse—an article of faith embraced by successive governments and environmental movements. The policy appealed to a collective memory still haunted by Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster, which struck just across the East China Sea. In a densely populated...