Vietnam will delay the construction of its first nuclear power plant until 2020 to further assess the project's environmental effects, an official has said.
Hoang Anh Tuan, chief of the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Nuclear Atomic Energy Department, made the announcement during a conference last week, news website VnExpress reported.
He said relevant agencies were still assessing the environmental effects of the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant, with the help of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Vietnam originally planned to start working on the plant in 2014 with technical assistance from Russia's state nuclear firm Rosatom. The country also picked a Japanese consortium to develop a second nuclear power plant, also in the province.
The estimated cost of the project is US$8-10 billion, with funding set to come from Russia.
Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, an energy accident at Japan’s Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, initiated primarily by the tsunami and earthquake in 2011, the government ordered relevant agencies to review measures to ensure safety in the project.
The location for the project was then changed, leading to prolonged site clearance and relocation.
The Ninh Thuan 1 plant is expected to have a capacity of around 4,000 MW, meeting 3-4 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.
The Nuclear Atomic Energy Department said Vietnam lacked experience in nuclear power generation, making it difficult to prepare for the project.