Published by American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Cambridge, MA 02138, 2014
Download the PDF

Preface

In 2006, with the adoption of the document “Strategy for Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy up to 2020,” Vietnam’s government officially announced its long-term plan to meet rising domestic energy consumption by including nuclear energy in its energy portfolio. The following year, another document, “Strategy Implementation Master Plan,” was released to provide further details on the roadmap that the Vietnamese government intended to follow to develop a nuclear energy program. According to the latter document, Vietnam’s nuclear program would include the construction of two 1,000 megawatt of electrical power (MWe) reactors in Phuoc Dinh in the southern Ninh Thuan province by 2015, originally scheduled to be in operation by 2020. Following this, another 2,000 MWe nuclear power plant (with two reactors) is set to be built in Vinh Hai, a seaside community 40 kilometers from Phuoc Vinh, and scheduled to come online by 2021.

Despite recent obstacles that have forced the government to delay construction on the first two nuclear plants, Vietnam is thus poised to become the first state to operate nuclear plants in Southeast Asia, outpacing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, which have long been interested in nuclear energy. Tiếp tục đọc “Nuclear Power in Vietnam: International Responses and Future Prospects” →