Nuclear Energy in Vietnam: Manpower Lagging behind Schedule

 

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), human resource training should go ahead between 10-15 years and should be implemented at the governmental and national levels. However, in Vietnam, human resource training for the nuclear power plant has not yet matched the nuclear power project’s schedule.

Currently, the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) is speeding up preparations for operation of the first nuclear power turbine in Ninh Thuan province. In early July, Mr Phan Minh Tuan, Head of the preparation board of the renewable energy and nuclear power project under EVN said the group is building the Ninh Thuan nuclear power project and will submit it to the 12^th National Assembly’s 6^th session for approval. Regarding the plant’s safety, Mr Tuan said people should not worry because the plant is safely designed, built and operated, adding that the modern technology of the nuclear reactor belong to third generation, has been widely used in industrialized countries, and can mitigate risks of serious accidents. The nuclear power plant should be 10 kilometres far from residential areas to ensure safety for people’s lives. In addition, the nuclear power plant rarely causes negative effects to the environment as its waste will be collected during production and will be controlled. Mr Tuan affirmed that the first turbine of the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant will be operated at the latest in 2020 with the capacity of 1,000 MW. The project comprises two power plants with a total of four turbines with a capacity of 1,000 MW each. After the first turbine’s operation, the remaining turbines will be gradually put into operation. By 2020, the capacity of Vietnam’s national electricity system is estimated to reach 45,000 MW, which means that these four nuclear power turbines will contribute nearly 10 percent to the national power capacity in the next decade.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), human resource training should go ahead between 10-15 years and should be implemented at the governmental and national levels. However, many experts said that human resource training for nuclear power plant in Vietnam is inadequate and has not yet coincided with the project’s schedule. Scientists said that human resource for the nuclear power project includes manpower to build the plant; human resource for research, implementation and technical assistance; personnel for nuclear and radiation safety management agencies; and manpower for education and training. Mr Cao Chi of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission, a leading professor in Vietnam’s nuclear power sector, said among workforces for the plant, engineers are of great importance and will take a lot of time for training but all of these human resources are insufficient in Vietnam. He said that it would take at least five years to train a professional cadre who has the experience to work at nuclear power plants and it would even take 10 years to train a leading nuclear power cadre. These are big obstacles in training human resources for the nuclear power plant in Vietnam.

 

Statistics said that most of Vietnam’s nuclear power human resource is working at the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission ( about 750 people) and Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Control (VARANSAC) (about 40 people), which are the major manpower for nuclear research and management agencies and the operation of the national first nuclear power plant. However, Professor Cao Chi said most cadres are professionals but have not had practical experience at nuclear power plants; therefore, their knowledge about nuclear power is still limited. Meanwhile, some leading cadres who were well trained in foreign countries with modern nuclear power technologies are above working ages and there is a gap in successive nuclear power personnel due to long-term neglect.

 

In addition, Mr Chi said that the country needs to have a steering committee for the national programme for nuclear power and then, a national steering committee for building a nuclear power plant and a national steering committee for nuclear human resource training. At present, a national steering committee for the national nuclear power programme is still absent in Vietnam while human resource training is of great importance. One of the present tasks is to set up a national steering committee for nuclear power human resource that will coordinate and mobilize national manpower for this programme. It will be not efficient if separated agencies undertake this.

 

The Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) said it has completed making a human resource training programme since late 2006 and is compiling a salary scale for nuclear power manpower and will submit it to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs for approval in the near term. The Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission has completed building a programme for training key workers for research, technical assistance and managing agencies. Professor Pham Duy Hien, former director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission said Vietnam’s nuclear power human resource is ineligible as few people have knowledge about this issue and nuclear power research capacity is still weak. If the country wants to kick off the project prior to 2015 so as to keep up with the power generation schedule in 2020, it’s high time for experts to start human resource training now.