Vietnam to Build First Nuclear Power Plant in Ninh Thuan

3:26:38 PM | 8/7/2005

Vietnam to Build First Nuclear Power Plant in Ninh Thuan

 

Vietnam may build its first nuclear power plant in the central coastal Ninh Thuan province to meet the country's increasing demand for energy in the future, according to head of the Atomic Energy Institute, Vuong Huu Tan.  

 

Scientists have carried out explorations and studies on hydrometeorology, seism and wind in Ninh Hai and Ninh Phuoc districts’ Vinh Hai and Phuoc Dinh communes to prepare for installing the first nuclear pile.

 

Now, the country is considering two options. In the first option, the plant will have two piles with a capacity of 2,000 MW, accounting for 5% of the power plants’ total capacity and 13.9% of total electricity output.

 

For the second option, the plant is estimated to have four piles and a capacity of 4,000 MW, two times higher than Hoa Binh hydropower plant’s capacity and 29% of the national electricity output.

 

The plant is scheduled for operation between 2017 and 2020. When completed, the power source from the plant will be directly connected to the North-South 500-kV line, merging into the national grid.

 

According to a calculation, developing this nuclear power plant requires up to 5,000-6,000 people, of the total, skilled workers account for 80%, with about 300-400 managers Tan said.

 

This number will be fully met because there are many human resource training centers for nuclear power plants in Japan, India and France. Japan has just agreed to train 30 staff from Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

 

According to Tan, there are three built nuclear pile groups: water-water, water-graphite and gas-graphite as well as high temperature gas piles. Vietnam intends to choose water-water technology with three confirmed types of piles.

 

The country is estimated to spend $1.7-1.8 billion for the first 1,000 megawatts, said Tan. This money will be loans from countries, which sell equipment for Vietnam.

 

Vietnam is forecast to lack around 8 billion kWh of electricity by 2015, 36-65 billion kWh by 2020 and 200-340 billion by 2030.

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