Roundup: Vietnam discussing halt of 1st nuclear powerplant project

In a suddenly-adjusted agenda, Vietnamese lawmakers on Thursday discussed a proposal on reviewing to halt the project of Vietnam's first nuclear power plant in southern coastal Ninh Thuan province.

The proposal sparked lively debates across the country among officials, experts as well as netizens.

Speaking on local Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper on Thursday, Duong Quang Thanh, chairman of the Member Council of Vietnam's power monopoly EVN, cited the national electricity planning recently approved by Vietnamese government as saying that from now till 2030, there will be no nuclear power plant. Instead, many power sources will be developed to meet up with power demand of Vietnam, said Thanh.

According to new calculation, Vietnam's annual electricity demand growth will stand at around 11 percent during 2016-2020 period and at 7 to 8 percent during 2021 to 2030 period, much lower than that of 17 to 20 percent as calculated in 2009, when the policy of Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant project was adopted, said Thanh.

At present, the country's electricity demand growth remains low, while the total supply by domestic and import sources are enough to ensure socio-economic development. As a result, the costly investment into nuclear power will make it unable to compete with other energy sources in economic term, Thanh explained.

In an interview with local VNExpress online newspaper on Thursday, Le Hong Tinh, vice chairman of Vietnam's National Assembly (NA) Committee on Science-Technology and Environment said reviewing to halt the project at the moment is "timely and necessary."

According to Tinh, the nuclear power project is no longer feasible. Following an earlier plan, the electricity price would be around 4.9 U.S. cents each kWh while it has risen to over 8 U.S. cents each kWh now, said Tinh.

"In addition, in the context that Vietnam's public debts are approaching the ceiling, if we continue to invest into a big project, there is a possibility that the public debts will keep increasing. It's better to stop now rather than stop after implementation," Tinh told VNexpress.

Echoing Tinh, Nguyen Minh Due, standing member of the Executive Committee for the Vietnam Energy Association and vice president of Energy Science Council, said "Nuclear power plant not only requires big investment but also is quite sensitive to the environment. The project has been in pre-feasibility stage with not much investment, so halting it at the moment is reasonable."

However, the insider said stopping the project may affect future electricity supply. He urged the government to develop other power plants that can make up the loss, as well as boost the development of renewable energy such as wind power to create more supply sources.

Local netizens seem to be more divided than officials and experts about the possible halt. Some showed happiness and welcome the proposal while others were more skeptical.

A reader called Truong Xuan hailed the proposal on Youth online newspaper on Thursday by writing "The proposal will be a right and timely decision. Vietnam needs to develop clean and safe energy sources."

Being more cautious, reader called Huynh Le Thanh Hai wrote "It is unclear whether the stop will be good or bad. Everything has two faces. Hydropower and thermal power plants, despite offering cheaper construction price, use limited natural resources to run. In the coming time, when oil is depleted, what will be alternative supply for such power plants? Meanwhile, despite clean, wind power, solar power or tidal power, all require big investment and contribute humble proportion to energy consumption."

Hai then proposed "a pause" not "a stop" to have better insights into nuclear power plant project, improve safety standards and get more careful preparation.

In November 2009, some 77.48 percent of then Vietnamese legislators agreed on policy of investing Ninh Thuan nuclear power project. The project included two plants with capacity of around 2,000 megawatt each.

After group and hall discussions, Vietnamese NA is expected to adopt a resolution on stop the project on Nov. 22. Endit