Vietnam to Start First Nuclear Power Plant in 2020

Vietnam will start running a 2,000-MW nuclear power plant, the first in the communist nation, by 2020 to ensure national energy security, announced Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Thang on February 17.

 

The project will harness atomic energy purely for peaceful purposes, Vietnam’s authority said.

 

The plant is under a national Strategy on Nuclear Power Application for Peaceful Purpose through 2020, which is to be submitted to the Government in April 2006 and the implementation for the strategy will be launched in May, the Ministry said.

 

The ministry is now actively preparing for the construction of the plant, including training a contingent of experts, technicians and skilled workers in nuclear energy, Thang told a press briefing in Hanoi.

 

The strategy also aims at meeting all demands for radioactive medicine and providing nuclear measurement devices, X-ray and laser equipment and accelerators of Vietnamese trademarks to nuclear medicine and radiation medical centers in all provinces and cities by 2020.

 

A number of technologies and products with radiation techniques will be widely used in socio-economic sectors. Industrial sectors nationwide are required to build capacity for designing and manufacturing equipment and materials in order to take part in nuclear power plant construction.

 

Associate Professor Doctor Vuong Huu Tan, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission said electricity demand for production will be 201 billion kWh in 2020 and 327 billion in 2030 while the national energy sources can only supply 165 billion kWh and 208 billion kWh respectively.
VNA, VietnamNet