Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant will be able to withstand an earthquake of 9-magnitude, a representative of the Russian company contracted to build the facility told the press in Hanoi Friday.
Sergey Boyarkin, deputy general director of the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, or “Rosatom,” said the plant, to be built in the central province of Ninh Thuan in 2014, will also be far enough from sea to be safe from tsunamis, VnExpress reported.
The expert said he saw no problems with the chosen location for the plant, even though seismic surveys are still underway, stressing that the Russian-built nuclear plant would withstand any earthquake.
Vietnam can rest assured about the plant’s safety facing in times of disaster, Boyarkin said.
Asked if the country’s tropical weather will affect the plant, Boyarkin said Russia has experience building nuclear plants in different climate zones, saying that his company has built reactors in China and India, both of which are tropical zones.
According to the expert, Rosatom wants to build the two-reactor plant for no more than US$6 billon.
Although Vietnam and Russia signed an agreement to build the plant at $10 billion at most, that does not mean that the construction will take up the whole investment, he said.
Instead, the remaining amount will be spent building infrastructure and other related works, as well as building a center for nuclear science and technology, Boyarkin said.
The 4,000 MW nuclear power plant was expected to begin operation in 2020 together with another plant, also in Ninh Thuan. Thirteen plants in all with a total capacity of 16,000 MW will operate across Vietnam in the next two decades.
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