- Vietnam seeks faster nuclear talks with Russia after Japan’s exit
- PM Chinh has set a January deadline and asked officials to find new partners
- Rising power demand and blackouts are driving the push
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for faster negotiations with Russia concerning the establishment of a nuclear power plant, after Japan's departure from a minor project. The move indicates the renewal of Hanoi's ambition to talk about nuclear energy as a security strategy for long term power supply.
During a recent government meeting, Chinh said that the slow pace of cooperation agreements worried him and he went on to say that Vietnam's reliance on foreign partners was the primary cause of the delays. He specifically mentioned Japan's withdrawal from one of the planned projects, which according to Tokyo was due to the unrealistically optimistic timelines.
In that regard, the Prime Minister has ordered the concerned ministries and agencies to speed up the negotiations with Russia and have them done by January. Besides, he told the officials to look for other international partners who could come in to take over the role of Japan and assist the whole nuclear program to move on as planned.
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The rapidly increasing one of electricity demand has been the main factor that led to Vietnam’s nuclear power interest restoration. One of the most important sectors of the economy, namely manufacturing, has to bear the consequences of the overloading of the already weak grid. For the last few years, power cuts and blackouts have been a common problem for Vietnam during the times when the demand is high.
Besides, the renewable energy capacity has not been able to keep up with the demand due to the delays in the projects and trouble in grid integration. The whole situation has made it clear that the mix of energy sources needs to be more diversified and reliable.
The government plans to achieve the aforementioned objectives by returning to its nuclear power plans and diversifying sources of energy by stabilising electricity supply, supporting continuous economic growth and lessening the risk of getting affected by future energy disruptions.