Vietnam Ponders Purchase of US Nuclear Reaction Pile

Vietnam may buy a nuclear reaction pile of the US to implement its first nuclear power project, Channeltimes reported July 9.

 

Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam, who comes from Australia’s Defense Academy was cited as saying that if the information is true, it will be of strategic importance for Vietnam.

 

Thayer assessed Vietnam is a bright example in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in compliance to requirements by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

 

Many analysts asserted that the U.S currently considers Vietnam a confident partner in term of nuclear power sector.

 

The U.S troops built a nuclear reaction pile in Dalat in the 1960s, however, the pile was operated for only five years due to war escalation. After war, Hanoi government bought input from former Xoviet Unions and operated the file again, mainly producing radioactive isotopes for health sector and research.

 

The U.S pledged to assist Vietnam in operating the Dalat pile by using low-leveled Urani enrichment as material input, under bilateral agreement signed by the two countries during President Bush’s visit to the Southeast Asian country in November 2006.

 

The foreign media said that Japan’s Kyusu company will hold responsibility for building Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant with an U.S reaction pile, due for completion in 2020. (Pioneer)