Vietnam Emerging Nuclear Program

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Vietnam has a long and rich history dating back to the Paleolithic Age. As with any country in a geopolitical location, many generations of Vietnamese have experienced both economic and social hardships and opportunities. More recently, however, Vietnam has become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and is eager to be a developed country by 2020. As it charts a path to economic improvement, the Southeast Asian nation has a nuclear energy program that has emerged as one of its most ambitious projects yet. For the past few years, Vietnam has been making plans to enter the commercial nuclear sector and has chosen seven prospective sites along its 2,200 mile (3,500 kilometer) coastline. Aspiring for 15-16 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2030, several countries have expressed interest in participating in the Vietnam nuclear program. Vietnam initiated its Doi Moi (Renewal) Policy in 1986, in pursuit of a socialist-oriented market economy to revive its stagnant economy. One purpose of the reform was to create a multi-sector market economy regulated by the government.

The economy began to grow and went from a centralized planned economy heavily dependent on imports to one that is market oriented. Based on a recent visit to Hanoi, capitalism, Vietnam style, is alive and well. Vietnam is home to 90 million people, which ranks it among the top 20 nations in world population. Electricity Vietnam produced 54.4 billion kWh of electricity in 2012, which was 3.6 billion kWh more than it originally planned. A forecast by the Ministry of Industry and Trade has nation-wide electricity demand reaching 562 billion kWh by 2030, yet that supply could only meet one-half of the requirement. Residents consume about one-third of the electricity generated while the industry sector uses more than one-half. Blackouts are becoming common and air quality needs to be improved. In response, Vietnam has a large-scale plan to build seven, two-unit nuclear plants by 2030.