Hội đàm nguyên tử Nhật - Việt

Nhật Bản sẽ mở hội đàm với Nam Hàn và Việt Nam về chủ đề hợp tác trong lĩnh vực hạt nhân.

Bản tin kinh doanh của hãng Nikkei đưa tin hội đàm sẽ bắt đầu vào mùa xuân, và công ty Nhật đang để ý đến thị trường điện nguyên tử của Việt Nam.

Cạnh đó Nhật cũng đang trong quá trình thương thảo với Nga về một hiệp định tương tự.

Nhu cầu xây nhà máy điện nguyên tử hiện đang gia tăng tại các nước đang phát triển.

Hiệp định tạo điều kiện cho công ty Nhật bước vào lĩnh vực điện nguyên tử dân dụng tại Việt Nam bằng cách đơn giản hóa thủ tục khi nhập cảng máy móc dùng để xây nhà máy.

Và các điều khoản ngăn chặn kỹ thuật nguyên tử được chuyển sang nước khác để dùng vào mục đích quân sự.

Việt Nam đã ký hiệp ước nguyên tử dân dụng với năm nước là Nga, Trung Quốc, Hàn Quốc, Ấn Độ và Argentina.

Các hiệp ước này được ký ở cấp chính phủ.

Theo giáo sư Vương Hữu Tấn, Giám đốc Viện Nghiên cứu nguyên tử, quá trình hợp tác và ký hiệp định tiếp theo với Nhật Bản, Hoa Kỳ và Pháp là việc cần phải để ý vì "ba nước này là cường quốc hạt nhân”.

Việt Nam dự định sẽ khởi công xây nhà máy điện nguyên tử đầu tiên tại Bình Thuận vào năm 2015. Thời gian hoàn tất là 2020.

Vì đây là dự án lớn và quan trọng, nên theo ông Tấn, báo cáo đầu tư cần phải được chuyển cho Quốc hội phê duyệt. Sau đó sẽ chuyển cho chính phủ lập dự án đầu tư.

Trước câu hỏi của BBC về phản ứng của xã hội đối với dự án xây điện nguyên tử tại Việt Nam, ông Tấn nói:

“Mọi người thấy cần là Việt Nam cần phải xây, và phải có nhà máy điện nguyên tử vào 2020. Một số người quan tâm nhấn mạnh đến điểm: ban đầu không nên xây nhiều tổ máy, và nên có chương trình đào tạo nhân lực tốt hơn.”

“Các cơ quan chuyên môn sẽ phải làm rõ hơn để giải tỏa lo lắng của những người băn khoăn."

Source: bcc

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Nuclear power: Should Vietnam build 4 reactors at once?

VietNamNet Bridge – Scientists have been debating about whether to build one reactor in the immediate future or multiple reactors at the same time.

According to the draft plan of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on nuclear power development, Vietnam will build two nuclear power plants in the southern province of Ninh Thuan with four reactors, each with the capacity of 1,000 MW. The reactors will be put into operation between 2020 and 2024.

One reactor is a good start

Nuclear power proves to be a suitable solution as the world is facing an energy crisis, so the country’s plan to develop nuclear power after 2020 is considered a reasonable strategy.

Prof Dr Pham Duy Hien, former Head of the Vietnam Nuclear Energy Institute, said that in the first period of nuclear power development, Vietnam should have one reactor only. It would be able to learn much from the reactor’s operation which would serve the construction and operation of other reactors in the future.

The success of the first nuclear reactor would lay the foundation for the development of nuclear technology in Vietnam.

Hien said that one of the problems of nuclear power plants is safety. The safety level of nuclear power plants not only depends on technologies, but also on management and organisational skills, and the qualifications of staffs.

One of the four reactors Vietnam is scheduled to have after 2020 has 6,000 times the heat capacity of the Da Lat reactor, while the volume of radioactive substance in the reactor is several times higher.

If Vietnam wants to be able to generate electricity by 2020, it has to kick off the construction of nuclear power plants no later than 2015, which also means that Vietnamese experts need to begin working on the plants right now. Meanwhile, experts say that it takes 15 years at least to train and choose the persons who can be assigned the heavy responsibility of operating the power plants.

In general, experts have voiced the same concern that building four reactors at the same time proves to be too risky, beyond the capacity of Vietnam.

In the history of the world’s nuclear power development, no country has reportedly entered the nuclear power development period with four reactors at the same time. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam drew up an ambitious plan with four reactors (4,000 MW) at once, which could account for 15% of total electricity output.

China began operating its first nuclear power plant in 1991. It only had the modest capacity of 300MW.

Safety first

Prof Dr Tran Dinh Long, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Power Association, said that building nuclear power plants is not as simple as building normal plants, and construction needs to be perfect. Scientists need to sit to discuss technologies, equipment and suppliers.

Dr Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Natural Resources and the Environment, said that it is necessary to make a survey of possible impacts on the environment before carrying out the nuclear power plant project.

Nuclear power plants do not generate CO2 and waste, but this does not mean that they do not pollute the environment. A small plant problem is enough to cause serious impacts on the environment.

Meanwhile, Prof Chu Hao, former Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, suggested that if Vietnam’s demand is not really urgent, it should delay the construction of a nuclear power plant so that it can access more modern technologies.

In fact, with third-generation reactors, experts believe that a catastrophe like the one that occurred at Chernobyl is unlikely. However, accidents could still occur at different levels, especially if Vietnam’s management skills remain weak.

To date, Vietnam still has not decided which technologies to choose for the first nuclear power plant.

According to Dr Vuong Huu Tan, Head of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, there are three scenarios:

Scenario 1: building a nuclear power plant in one place with two power generation units which have the total capacity of 2,000 MW and are put into commercial operation by 2019 or 2020.

Scenario: building nuclear power plants in two places with four power generation units (4,000 MW). One technology for the two places.

Scenario 3: building nuclear power plants in two places with four power generation units (4,000 MW). Two technologies for the two places.

Source: TBKTVN
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//reports/2008/10/809541/

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Russia willing to help VN build nuclear power plant

Russia is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in building its first nuclear power plant, said an executive of Russia’s Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation.

Valeri Rachkov, Director of Rosatom’s Scientific Policy Department, said during the International Nuclear Energy Exhibition which wrapped up in Hanoi on May 17 that Russian companies have good prospect of winning bids for building the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam as Russia has experiences in this field.

He noted that the Russian company Atomstroieksport is currently building five reactors overseas – two in India, one in Iran and two in Bulgaria – that make up nearly 20 percent of the world’s nuclear energy market.

However, the executive added that it is still too early to mention any specific plans as there will be fierce competition in the Vietnamese market.

On May 15 and 16, representatives from Rosatom and Atomstroieksport met with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute on the issue.

Vietnam ’s National Assembly is discussing a bill on nuclear energy. If the bill is approved in June, it will pave the way for the construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant and by 2020, the country’s first reactor will begin its operation.

The government’s power development plan sets the target that nuclear energy will make up at least 3 percent of the country’s power sources by 2020.

Source: CPV/VNA

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Russia to help in Vietnam civil nuclear program

07 November 2008
MOSCOW — Russia wants to take part in Vietnam's planned nuclear energy program, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov said Thursday following talks with Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi.

"We know that such plans were made in Vietnam, very daring and far-reaching plans. We hope that Russia will be among those who will work with Vietnam in this hi-tech area and continue the traditions of our cooperation," Denisov said in an interview to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Last week, Russia and Vietnam signed oil and gas deals after trade talks in Moscow between the countries' presidents, as part of a broader effort by Russia to regain Soviet-era influence in the region.

While trade between Russia and Vietnam has grown in recent years, Russia's clout in the Southeast Asian country is still a shadow of Soviet-era levels.

Russian trade turnover with Vietnam was set to reach 1.5 billion dollars in 2007, Medvedev said, a figure dwarfed by the annual trade turnover between Vietnam and the United States of over 10 billion dollars.

Agence France Presse - November 7, 2008

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Vietnam ready to go nuclear

01 Nov 2008
HANOI - Vietnam is ready to make a decision to establish a nuclear power programme, following careful research, said Head of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute Vuong Huu Tan.

Vietnam news agency (VNA) reported that at a workshop on nuclear power, which took place in Hanoi on Friday, Tan affirmed that developing infrastructural facilities for a nuclear power programme needs to undergo three stages and that actually making the decision is the very first step.

According to participants at the workshop, to successfully begin construction of the country's first nuclear power plant and carry out a long-term nuclear power development programme, Vietnam needs to develop human resources, an appropriate legal system and technical infrastructure, with the participation of related ministries and agencies.

This also forms part of the national energy development strategy, which runs until 2020, with a vision to 2050 which aims to produce nuclear electricity accounting for 15-20 percent of the country's total power output.

Bernama (.my) - November 1st, 2008

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