Skip to main content

Good Morning, Vietnam

We'll know this month if Vietnam will be joining the nuclear family,  img_2423 but the signs are good:

A law on nuclear energy is expected to be approved by the National Assembly this month, paving the way for the country’s first nuclear power plant. An investment report and procedures to build the plant in southern Ninh Thuan Province would be completed and given the all clear by the NA next year, deputy director of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), Nguyen Manh Hung said.

The story notes that the country has had to get cracking on bringing its workforce up-to-speed for this project, but nuclear energy has been on the radar for awhile.

The country currently [as of 2004] has a 500-kW research reactor at the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute, with a workforce of three assistant professors, eight doctors, 30 masters and 82 engineers.

I could not find information on what kind of plant Vietnam might be planning or from what source - France's AREVA seems a good potential partner, but the two countries' history might not make France the go-to partner of choice. (The story says the plant will have four turbines with a combined capacity of 4,000MW worth US$6 billion. Seems a bargain.)

Another story from the Vietnam News Agency suggests some possibilities.

A visiting delegation of representatives from major US corporations arrived in Vietnam yesterday to start seeking business opportunities on a trip organised annually by the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC).

...

The delegation comprises 50 high-ranking officials from 23 groups and companies, including the General Electric Company, AES, Boeing, Chevron and ConocoPhilips. The tour is led by USABC chairman Matthew P. Daley and Stuart Dean, the president of GE Southeast Asia.

The company to note here is GE, whose GE Hitachi unit could be very useful (but note comment about AREVA above and apply here). It's early days and presumably, Vietnam has a process to go through that has not even begun yet. Forgive a little anticipatory excitement - let's see how that vote goes.

Photograph used with kind permission of vietnam-in-pictures.com.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

Wednesday Update

From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...