Vietnam’s plans for nuclear plant halted

By Bennett Murray

HANOI

The Vietnamese government has cancelled plans for the nation's first nuclear plant.

The Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant, which has been planned for Vietnam's Ninh Thuan province since 2009, has been deemed unnecessary for the country's energy needs, the DTI News website reported Thursday.

Duong Quang Thanh, chairman of the National Assembly's electricity committee, confirmed that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed off on a 14-year energy infrastructure development plan that didn't include the plant.

"The latest survey predicted that power growth rate will be at 11 per cent in the 2016-2020 period and fall to 7-8 per cent in the 2021-2030 period. So there will be no power shortage in the country in the near future," he told DTI News.

While groundbreaking for the proposed plant had been meant to take place in 2014 with help from Russia, Japan’s Fukashima nuclear disaster in 2011 reportedly caused the government to rethink the plan.

Vietnam’s energy needs are currently met through a combination of coal, oil, gas and hydropower.