Taiwan presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih has said he will maintain the island state’s nuclear power capacity if he secures the presidency in elections to be held in January 2024.

The announcement comes as part of the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party’s broader strategy to integrate nuclear energy into Taiwan’s transition towards renewable sources and reverse the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) reactor phaseout policy.

Taiwan has only two commercial nuclear plants in operation at Maanshan.

Hou pledged to extend operations at Maanshan while reactivating decommissioned nuclear power plants at Chinshan and Kuosheng.