US bid for Vietnam nuclear reactor slowed by legal obstacle

Bidding by US companies and their foreign partners to build Vietnam’s second nuclear reactor was held up by lack of a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement, officials said Thursday.

Vietnam has contracted with Russia’s Atomstroyexport to constructits first nuclear reactor by 2020.

US-based Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and Japan’s Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd are bidding to build a second reactor. But because both use US-developed nuclear technology, they must wait for the US and Vietnam to sign a so-called 123 Agreement under the US Atomic Energy Act.

“Due to this procedure, the cooperation between Vietnam and the US is slower than the others,” said Dr Ngo Dang Nhan, head of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS).

A US delegation is to visit Vietnam to discuss the 123 Agreement in early July, said Michael Michalak, the US ambassador to Vietnam.

Nhan and Michalak spoke at a conference on nuclear power plant technology and safety in Hanoi.

In a presentation at the conference, nuclear scientist Dr Phuc Dai Tran said Vietnam had selected Atomstroyexport’s VVER-1000 AES-2006 design for its first reactor because of performance advantages over Western reactors.

No reactor of that type is yet in operation. The first AES-2006 reactor is scheduled come online in Russia in 2012.

Reporters at the conference asked whether the decision to employ a new reactor design for the country’s first nuclear plant meant Vietnam was being used as a guinea pig.

“It’s good that journalists are interested, but it’s really not a problem,” said Nhan. “Planners have to follow safety standards.”

DPA

Tags: Vietnam energy, Vietnam nuclear power project