Tin Sokhavuth and Terry Friel report that Russia will help Cambodia develop a nuclear power plant to overcome the their massive reliance on electricity from Thailand and Vietnam, under an agreement signed during the Prime Minister Dmitry Medvdev visit recently. The significance of the deal was highlighted by a recent nationwide blackout when supplies from Vietnam failed, prompting Prime Minister Hun Sen to make a late night Facebook video address to the nation to explain the outage had not been caused by a terrorist attack. He clarified that it is not a politically motivated act by any group, and it is an incident that seems not to be a terrorist attack, Mr. Hun Sen said. While we were transmitting power from Vietnam to Phnom Penh and distributing it to various provinces across the country, the electricity in Vietnam was cut, causing an electrical failure in Phnom Penh and other provinces using the national network.
Cambodian officials have not given details about the Russian agreement. But Reuters reported from Russia that Sergei Kiriendo, the head of the Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom, said Russia could help with technical support, research and training if the country chooses to go ahead with the nuclear option. The Cambodian government is mulling, a nuclear power station, he said. Perhaps, it is better to begin with a research reactor and a research center in Cambodia. Cambodia depends heavily on imported fuel and power. Electricity in the country is among the most expensive in Southeast Asia and a common source of complaint from investors. Cambodia is seeking $3 billion in foreign investment to build six hydropower plants by 2018 as it seeks to keep up with rising domestic power demand powered by an economy growing about 7 percent a year. Cambodia imports almost a third of its energy needs, according to the World Bank.
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