All these have resulted in significant cost overruns, while in 2011 the Taiwan Atomic Energy Council (AEC) criticized Taipower's management of the project.[5] The construction has been delayed by legal, regulatory and political delays.[6] The proposed 2014 national referendum to decide the fate of the power plant[7] was rejected from the ballot for contradictory and confusing language, despite gathering more than 120,000 signatures.[8] In 2018, Taipower started shipping unused fuel rods back to the US.