Nuclear Power Like a "Money Printer"

Since early 1990s, the issue of nuclear power has been mentioned in our country when the electricity for daily life was cut turn and turn about while the electricity for production was short. Currently, this problem is becoming more urgent than ever. Associate Professor. PhD Vuong Huu Tan, Head of Vietnam Nuclear Power Institute, who is very interested in nuclear power, has expressed his desire in nuclear power. He even thought that they are “money printers” after the investment capital is amortised. Following is the interview with Mr. Vuong Huu Tan

 

-Reporter: Recently, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Huu Hao said that in the near future Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant will have four turbines in two different locations, with investment capital of nearly US$6 billion. Could you please talk about this plan in detail?

-PhD Vuong Huu Tan: under the plan, Vietnam will start construction of the first nuclear power plant in 2015 to ensure its operation by 2020 as the target set in strategy of nuclear energy application for the sake of peace. Under the plan, the first nuclear power plant will have installation capacity of 4000 MW and once completely operational by 2025, the plant’s nuclear power output will account for more than 10 per cent of the total electricity output of the country. Then, we will continue to build next nuclear power plants with the target by 2030-2040, the nuclear electricity output will make up between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of total electricity output. Unlike normal electricity, nuclear power has its own requirements such as legal infrastructure, safety, industry, science and technology, electricity grid, and location. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are 19 issues in infrastructure system that countries seeking to put nuclear power plants into operation have to set up construction plans in line with the implementation progress of the first nuclear power plant project. Commonly, it will take each country average 10-15 years for this preparation since the government approved the nuclear power plan until the first nuclear power plant is put into operation, depending on the conditions of each country. Vietnam also has to prepare for that infrastructure, first legal system. The National Assembly will consider the Law on Nuclear Energy this month.

 

-After some incidents of radiation loss, we can not manage derelict radiation source. Many people worried that whether we should develop nuclear power or not while our management capacity is not strong enough?

-Using nuclear power means that we have to accept common safety standards of the world like other developed countries. We have to accept to join the general game, and can not ignore requirements in safety. The investor of the nuclear power plant must hold the highest responsibility for the safety insurance. In addition, the country has also to set up an organisation and management system in the nuclear energy industry to supervise the implementation of safety requirements. The draft of the Law on Nuclear Energy has defined clearly the responsibility of related agencies, including state management agency which must be strong enough to ensure safety, and units which provide technical assistance for the implementation of safety requirements in the construction, operation and maintenance of the nuclear power plant. Currently, the state-run management agency in safety guarantee is the Ministry of Science and Technology, with the major responsibility of the Department of Nuclear Radiation Safety. However, as I mentioned, the highest responsibility in safety guarantee must belong to the investor. As for countries which are not familiar to developing nuclear power like Vietnam, IAEA suggested that these countries should set up the state steering committee in nuclear power to guide preparation tasks for building infrastructure and carrying out first nuclear power plant project synchronously and safely. With separate preparations of individual ministry and department as currently, I am afraid that Vietnam will find hard to reach the target of operating the first nuclear power plant by 2020. Currently, the Ministry of Science and Technology is the state management agency in nuclear power and safety guarantee.

 

-After many conferences and exhibitions, another international exhibition on nuclear power with the topic “Towards first nuclear power plant in Vietnam” will be held this month. Could you please tell which nuclear reaction piles we are eyeing?

-The issue of selecting technology to build a nuclear power plant in Vietnam has been studied by our professional agencies, including Vietnam Nuclear Energy Institute, for years to prepare consultancy for the government in the future choice. Currently, there are three popular technology types in the world, including PWR pressure water furnace (accounting for 60 per cent), BWR boiled water furnace (accounting for 21 per cent) and PHWR heavy water furnace (CANDU).

 

-In June, 2006 during the loss of radiation of Eu 152 in Bach Dang District, Hanoi, we followed you in finding source, specifying the source and wiping out pollutants. At that time, we could realise the complicated issues due to the weak source management. Whether will we face the same situation when Vietnam will build its first nuclear power plant?

-The guarantee of security for nuclear units, including the nuclear power plant, will be paid special attention. This is the great issue that countries and such international organisations as IAEA always pay great attention to. Therefore, we have to use different solutions to ensure nuclear material security when we build the first nuclear power plant so that the situation of nuclear materials and fuels loss will not occur again. This issue is also defined in the Law on Nuclear Energy that the National Assembly will approve in this May, which will be foundation for us to carry out this task.

 

People are often worried at what they don’t have knowledge or have little knowledge about. Once we grasp it, everything will be alright. Radiation exists in every places, as we receive radiation from surrounding gravely soil and universe everyday. We can not see radiation with our own eyes, but devices will find easy to discover them. So any units working with radiation have alarm device and their employees have radiation  measuring device. The regulation is to not allow officials to expose radiation beyond the permitted level. Previously, I worked directly with radiation on nuclear reaction pile in Da Lat for 20 years. Currently, I sometime examine units of the institute and visit other places with great radiation source such as pile, and radiation exposing devices in the institute.

Currently, the number of officials in nuclear power in Vietnam is still very small because the country has not trained and recruited additional officials for the industry for years as the government has no policy to develop nuclear power. After the Prime Minister issued the strategy on nuclear energy application for the sake of peace by 2020 with the clear target of developing nuclear power in the future, it has created a great driving force to attract young officials to work for nuclear energy industry. In order to further develop nuclear power, we have to have training programme for official staff, with the special attention to the high-quality recruitment and training, re-training of current staff, improvement of university training quality, training via research and professional groups overseas.

 

In my research, in our country, nuclear electricity can completely compete with electricity made from imported coal in the initial phase. In the long term, the price will be lower after the investment capital is amortised. The price of nuclear power depends little on fuels. When the fuel price doubles, the price of nuclear power increases only 2-4 per cent of the cost, while the price of gas and coal electricity increases up to 60-70 per cent of the cost. Therefore, it will be a “money printer” for us after the initial investment capital is deducted. When developing nuclear power, we will raise capacity step by step to ensure nuclear power to account for a reasonable ratio. We must diversify electricity generating sources to ensure demands in energy security. Under the plan, the nuclear power output will make up about 10 per cent of total electricity output by 2025, and then up to 25-30 per cent by 2030-2040.