Wang Bo-whei was 50 years old when he started working at Taiwan¡¯s fourth nuclear plant, rising through the ranks to oversee its construction and ¡ª he thought ¡ª its eventual operation.

But 15 years into the job, following delays that frequently plague nuclear power projects, Wang was tasked with sealing off the facility at the island¡¯s northeastern tip without a single megawatt ever being produced. Public opinion had turned sharply in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, prompting the government to halt construction on all projects.

¡°I spent my entire career working in nuclear power plants, and I understand how crucial they are,¡± Wang said, citing the energy needs of Taiwan¡¯s world-leading semiconductor plants. ¡°They provide affordable, stable electricity.¡±

Taiwan ¡ª an island at the heart of U.S.-China tensions and where energy demand for the chip industry is soaring ¡ª is not currently on track to benefit.

Instead, despite louder hints that the government may be prepared to shift away from blanket opposition, it is preparing to shutter its final reactor in the spring, a move that would phase out nuclear power entirely. The trajectory bucks a global trend of embracing nuclear as a way to meet climate change goals and lure investments in the power-hungry artificial intelligence sector.

It¡¯s also a position that has drawn fire from opposition groups, defense analysts and key business leaders. All warn that Taiwan risks an energy and security crisis due to its reliance on the outside world for coal and gas supplies ¡ª imports that China¡¯s navy could blockade as part of a confrontation.

And it comes with the island¡¯s power supplies already stretched, threatening economic growth. Taiwan has raised electricity prices twice this year, with the latest being a 12.5% increase for industrial users that began earlier this month.

¡°We need more power in Taiwan,¡± Nvidia¡¯s billionaire CEO Jensen Huang told reporters in June. Nvidia leans heavily on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for production of its most important chips.

Granted, there are early signs of change. Premier Cho Jung-tai said in an interview that Taiwan was ¡°very open¡± to using new nuclear technology to meet future power demand, the strongest hint yet that the government may be rethinking its position and could engineer a reversal.

Cho also said he¡¯d ask the state-backed power provider to make sure that personnel from the archipelago¡¯s decommissioned reactors stay in their jobs.

But signals remain vague, and have yet to be matched with action.

Today, nuclear accounts for less than 3% of Taiwan¡¯s daily energy production, with liquefied natural gas and coal ¡ª all imported by ship ¡ª providing more than half. That¡¯s down from about 5% earlier this year,...