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Vietnam Has Made Progress Towards First Nuclear Plant, Says IAEA

By Eva Donelli
25 January 2013

25 Jan (NucNet): Vietnam has made progress in preparing for the construction of its first nuclear power plant and the country’s nuclear industry enjoys “strong support” from the country’s federal government, a team of experts has said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team made recommendations and suggestions to help Vietnam’s national authorities in developing the infrastructure necessary to carry out the nuclear power programme. The IAEA said it also recognised that Vietnam “has a clear understanding of the issues it has to address”, but it did not say what specific issues were.

The team’s visit was organised by the IAEA in response to a request by the Vietnamese government for an Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) mission to review the status of Vietnam’s nuclear infrastructure.

INIR missions are designed to help IAEA member states assess the status of their national infrastructure for the introduction of nuclear power.

The last INIR mission to Vietnam was from 5 to 14 December 2012. The IAEA also sent a delegation to Vietnam in 2009.

The IAEA said the process of development of a nuclear power infrastructure consists of three phases: a review before any decision is made to launch a nuclear programme; the preparatory work for the construction of a nuclear power plant; and the activities needed to implement a first nuclear power plant.

After the 2009 mission the IAEA concluded that “most of the first phase actions were complete and many activities in the second phase were in progress”.

The objective of the latest mission was to assess the progress and conclude the second phase.

Nghiem Vu Khai, vice-minister of Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology, said the INIR mission recommendations and suggestions will be studied and reported to the government as well as to the National Assembly, Vietnam’s main legislative body.

Vietnam is planning to build four nuclear units in the southeastern province of Ninh Thuan. The government approved the project in 2009.

The IAEA said Vietnam concluded an intergovernmental agreement with Russia in 2010 and an intergovernmental arrangement with Japan in 2011 for the construction of nuclear power plants at different sites in Ninh Thuan province.

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