LookAtVietnam – Viet Nam has expanded a national plan to build nuclear power plants over the next 20 years.

Visitors examine a model of a nuclear power plant at an exhibition held in Ha Noi last year. The country hopes to develop similar plants to meet rising demands for power.

The plan would aim to reduce the country’s dependence on expensive petroleum-based energy sources, said Ta Van Huong, director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Energy Institute, at a seminar in Ha Noi yesterday, September 16, on nuclear power co-operation between Japan and Viet Nam.

Viet Nam and Japan forged ties to co-operate in nuclear power back in 1997. More than 300 Vietnamese have studied in Japan and the same number of Japanese experts have come to Viet Nam to further promote bilateral co-operation in the field, said Yahagi Tomoyoshi from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Japan has a long history of using nuclear power, with its first commercial nuclear plants coming on line in July 1966. It now has 53 nuclear reactors in action with a total capacity of 47,935MW and 53 others under construction. Most were built in coastal areas for ready access to cooling water supplies and shipping.

Under Viet Nam’s original plan, the nation would build two plants with a combined capacity of 8,000MW to come on line during 2020-24, Huong said.

There are now plans to build additional plants during 2024-30, each consisting of four 1,000MW reactors fueled by about 30 tonnes of 4-per-cent low-enriched uranium. Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) would oversee the construction of the first nuclear plant in Ninh Thuan province’s Phuoc Dinh village.

The Government had initially earmarked US$6 billion for each plant, but funding remained an issue, he added. The EVN has invited nuclear power companies from Japan, France, South Korea, Russia and the US to discuss possible investments. Once commenced, it would take six years to complete construction of a reactor, said Huong.

If carried out, the plan would make Viet Nam the second country in Southeast Asia to build a nuclear power plant after the Philippines, Huong said. Thailand was conducting a feasibility study on a plant to be built there by 2020, but public opposition has hindered progress. By contrast, 90 per cent of Vietnamese citizens polled supported plans for nuclear energy, Huong said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News