Vietnam scraps plans to build nuclear power plants
Vietnam has decided to ditch plans to build two nuclear power plants in its southeastern Ninh Tuan province owing to soaring costs and safety concerns.
The plants were originally approved in 2009 and should have been built with assistance from Russia’s Rosatom and a Japanese consortium. They would have been the first in Southeast Asia, but construction has been repeatedly delayed.
They were slated to have a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts to supply energy for the fast-industrialisung country. However, the government eventually suspended the projects, saying that will the nuclear no longer feature in the country’s future energy mix.
Le Hong Tinh, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee, said a key reason for the government’s decision was that the price for the plants had doubled to $18 billion. But no budget for the plants has been included in a long-term energy plan approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
In June 2010, Vietnam announced plans to build 14 nuclear reactors at eight sites across five provinces by 2030. They were expected to produce 15 gigawatts of power, or about 11 per cent of the nation’s energy mix. Four more units were added to the first two sites in Ninh Thuan, then six more at six sites.
However, it now turned out that nuclear power plants are not economically viable any more because of other cheaper sources of power and slowing demand for electricity and the declining price of other sources of energy.
The Vietnam gvernmetn said it will buy power from neighbouring countries and is looking to boost its own energy production, mainly consisting of hydropower and coal firing plants. Wind and solar power are other options.
Vietnam has decided to ditch plans to build two nuclear power plants in its southeastern Ninh Tuan province owing to soaring costs and safety concerns. The plants were originally approved in 2009 and should have been built with assistance from Russia's Rosatom and a Japanese consortium. They would have been the first in Southeast Asia, but construction has been repeatedly delayed. They were slated to have a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts to supply energy for the fast-industrialisung country. However, the government eventually suspended the projects, saying that will the nuclear no longer feature in the country's future energy mix....
Vietnam has decided to ditch plans to build two nuclear power plants in its southeastern Ninh Tuan province owing to soaring costs and safety concerns.
The plants were originally approved in 2009 and should have been built with assistance from Russia’s Rosatom and a Japanese consortium. They would have been the first in Southeast Asia, but construction has been repeatedly delayed.
They were slated to have a combined capacity of 4,000 megawatts to supply energy for the fast-industrialisung country. However, the government eventually suspended the projects, saying that will the nuclear no longer feature in the country’s future energy mix.
Le Hong Tinh, vice chairman of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee, said a key reason for the government’s decision was that the price for the plants had doubled to $18 billion. But no budget for the plants has been included in a long-term energy plan approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
In June 2010, Vietnam announced plans to build 14 nuclear reactors at eight sites across five provinces by 2030. They were expected to produce 15 gigawatts of power, or about 11 per cent of the nation’s energy mix. Four more units were added to the first two sites in Ninh Thuan, then six more at six sites.
However, it now turned out that nuclear power plants are not economically viable any more because of other cheaper sources of power and slowing demand for electricity and the declining price of other sources of energy.
The Vietnam gvernmetn said it will buy power from neighbouring countries and is looking to boost its own energy production, mainly consisting of hydropower and coal firing plants. Wind and solar power are other options.
