Vietnam should scale back its nuclear program, National Assembly representatives argued Friday, cautioning that massive spending on the country’s first nuclear power project would burden the economy.

In a report released last week, the government said commercial nuclear power was necessary in Vietnam considering the country’s fast-growing demand for electricity.

However, Nguyen Minh Thuyet, a representative from Lang Son Province, was quoted by online news website VietNamNet as saying that Vietnam is not ready to build the two-plant project in the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan.

The project is estimated to cost US$12 billion, 75 percent of which will be funded by foreign loans, he said. The figure could grow to $16 billion if more modern technology is used.

“We will be caught off guard when the estimate surges,” Thuyet said, noting that government projects always exceed their spending estimates. He said $12 billion is already half of the country’s national reserves.

Despite the massive spending, the project will only be able to produce 4.4 percent of domestic power needs in 2025, he said. Moreover, Thuyet pointed out that nuclear power prices would be three times higher than current power rates.

“Is this a risk worth taking?” he asked.

Risky business

Thuyet also said Vietnam would need to spend $900 million to import uranium for the two power plants. Then the country would have to buy new nuclear materials worth $320 million every 18 months.

Representative Le Nhu Tien from Quang Tri Province said he was also worried about the fact that Vietnam would have to depend completely on foreign materials.

“Global uranium output can only meet 57 percent of global nuclear demand… The government needs to assess the long-term material supplies needed for the project.”

Several representatives said the government should only build one nuclear power plant at the moment, arguing that one plant would be better given the current economic situation and that the pressure on developing human resources for two power plants at the same time could also be eased.

But Industry and Trade Minister Vu Huy Hoang said the government had calculated power supply and demand carefully. “The power shortage will be critical in 2020, so it is necessary to build two nuclear power plants.”

“Both coal and oil reserves are running out, and we don’t have any other alternative energy resources right now,” newswire VnExpress quoted Hoang as saying.

The government has already launched research on energy solutions, said Hoang, but he warned that it would be a long time before the country would be able reduce its consumption of electricity and oil.

The National Assembly will make a final decision on the government’s nuclear power plan at the end of the ongoing session later this month.

If the two plant project is approved, construction would start in 2014 in order to open commercial operations in 2020.