VietNamNet Bridge – The two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan province will be able to resist quakes of 7-8 Richter scales and will be protected by dikes which can prevent tsunamis of up to 15 meters.

Dr. Tran Van Luyen from the nuclear power plant project preparation board in Ninh Thuan province said that the strongest quake in Vietnam occurred in the northwestern region – 6.1 Richter scale.

Luyen said that the two nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan will be designed to resist quakes 15-30 percent stronger than the strongest-ever quake in Vietnam so far. For tsunamis, the highest wave recorded in Ninh Thuan was 8 meters but the dike designed for the two plants will be 15 meters.

Dr. Nguyen Nhi Dien, director of the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute, said that the reactor in Da Lat can sustain quakes of 6-7 Richter scales and can automatically shutdown in emergencies.

After the nuclear crisis in Japan, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute have asked the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute and the Hanoi Nuclear Science and Technology Institute to perform environmentally radioactive observation at their two national stations.

According to Dien, the reactor in Da Lat is for research so its capacity is low, only 500KW thermo, while the reactor No.1 in Fukushima is 1,500MW. The third reactor, which exploded recently, is over 2,000MW.

“We should not be so worried because the safety of the Da Lat reactor and Fukushima reactor is different,” Dien said.

He confirmed that environmental observation was performed weekly and monthly. After the crisis in Japan, it is performed every few hours.

Dien said that after the nuclear crisis in Japan, the top priority in building nuclear power plants in Vietnam is choosing the right technology. There are nearly 450 reactors in the world, which use different technologies, and Vietnam needs to choose the best of them.

On March 17, the Ministry of Science and Technology organized an urgent meeting to discuss issues related to Vietnam’s first nuclear power projects.

On March 16, National Assembly Chair Tran Dinh Dan said that the NA approved the nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan and at this moment there is no change to that plan.

PV