Taiwan will hold a referendum on "abolishing the nuclear-free homeland" alongside the general election at the end of the year. New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih has voiced conditional support for restarting nuclear power, a positive signal for the nuclear industry that also throws the problem of nuclear waste back to the central government.

• The Central Election Commission announced that the "abolish the nuclear-free homeland" referendum has been formally approved and will be voted on alongside the nine-in-one local elections on November 28.
• Responding to questions in the city council, Hou Yu-ih said he has never opposed nuclear power, but only on the condition that nuclear safety can be assured.
• He called on the central government to spell out how nuclear waste will be handled, saying it cannot have originally promised 40 years of storage and then leave the waste in New Taipei indefinitely.
• As long as the two issues of nuclear safety and nuclear waste are addressed, he said he would support restarting nuclear power, adding that his position has not changed in 16 years.
• He also pointed out that the central government was originally anti-nuclear and is now gradually shifting its energy policy, so it should not speak in absolutes.

Outlook: Nuclear power will be one of the central themes of the year-end election campaign, with the question of where to put nuclear waste a focal point of contention among all sides.