Vietnam studies feasibility of nuclear power plant
HANOI - Vietnam energy authorities plan to complete by late next year a pre-feasibility
study for the country's first atomic power plant, estimated to cost $4 billion, official media said on
Wednesday.
The Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Manh Hien, head of the Energy Institute under state
utility Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), as saying it submit to the government by late 2003 the study for the
construction of the 2,000 MegaWatt plant.
Hien said Vietnam would need eight years to build the plant, besides the time required to train people,
establish a legal framework and build public awareness of the safety of nuclear power.
The paper said four sites in southern Vietnam had been tentatively identified for the plant -- two in the
province of Ninh Thuan, one in Binh Thuan and another in Phu Yen.
The completed plant would have capacity exceeding Vietnam's biggest power facility, the Hoa Binh hydro
power plant.
Industry sources have said Vietnamese energy officials have been studying the possibility of nuclear power,
assisted by Japanese experts.
But they question why Vietnam, one of the world's poorest countries, needs to consider nuclear energy
when it has plenty of natural gas and coal, and suitable conditions for hydropower.
Official media have said Vietnam plans to operate its first atomic power plant by 2017 or 2019, to meet
rising power demand.
Vietnam and Russia signed a pact on using nuclear power for peaceful purposes during a visit to Hanoi lat
month by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.
Details of the agreement have not made public but industry experts say Russia was expected to help
Vietnam in the production of nuclear power and safe operation of the research reactor in the central
highland city of Dalat, among other things.
Reuters - April 03, 2002.
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