TAIPEI –

Taiwan Power Co., the island's state-run grid monopoly, said Wednesday it may defer the start of a nuclear plant for the sixth time in light of Japan's calamity.

The government may ask for stricter inspections of Taiwan's fourth atomic facility before allowing fuel to be loaded, Chief Engineer Roger Lee said in Taipei, where the company is based. Construction was 93 percent completed as of the end of January, according to the Atomic Energy Council website.

Taipower, as the company is known, had postponed the start of the plant 40 km east of Taipei to about the end of 2012 because of safety concerns and rising construction costs. The NT$280 billion ($9.5 billion) project was first proposed in 1980.

"It'll take more time, as we expect stricter practices regarding fuel loading," Lee said. The company doesn't have a new date for starting the plant, he said.

The No. 4 plant has two units with a planned capacity of 2,700 megawatts, accounting for about 6 percent of Taiwan's installed capacity when completed.

Atomic reactors made up 13 percent of the island's electricity generation capacity in January, compared with 29 percent for coal-fired generators and 37 percent for gas-fueled units, according to Taipower's website.

The utility will include the potential impact of a tsunami in a geophysical survey on its first three nuclear power stations, Lee said. The No. 2 and No. 3 stations are operating, while the No. 1 plant has been halted for scheduled maintenance.

Taiwan would be willing to "abandon" its reactors should accidents similar to those in Japan happen on the island, President Ma Ying-jeou said, according to a statement posted on the presidential office's website Tuesday.

Taiwan sits on fault lines between the Philippine Sea and Eurasian tectonic plates, where quakes occur as the plates push together, spurring concern the area may be unsafe for nuclear plants.