Taiwan’s legislative yuan has passed an opposition-backed proposal to hold a referendum on restarting the Maanshan nuclear power station where the island nation’s last commercially operating reactor was shut down on 17 May.

Reperts in Taiwan said the referendum proposal was passed in a 58-49 vote, supported by the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People/s Party (TPP).

First put forward by the TPP on 18 April, the referendum question read: “Do you agree that the third nuclear power plant [Maanshan] should continue operation upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns?”

The referendum proposal was passed just three days after Maanshan-2 was shut down, fulfilling the government’s promise to make Taiwan “nuclear-free”.