The panorama of the International Conference on Nuclear Energy 2012 (Photo: MC)
Participating in the conference were scientists, energy policy makers of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear energy experts from the UK, France, China,… together with Vietnamese scientists and managers in atomic energy.
Delivering a speech in the Conference, Dr. Le Dinh Tien, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, concurrently the Director of Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety affirmed that Vietnam’s consistent opinion has been to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in a responsible manner while to ensure safety and security. After the Fukushima incident in March 2011 in Japan, Vietnam has continued its program on nuclear power development to ensure energy for the social and economic development but the first priority is to ensure nuclear safety and security at the highest level.
Discussions made at the Conference have mentioned that nuclear energy was and has become an important energy source for human beings. With advantages of reducing population and greenhouse effect which causes the global climate change while fossil fuels has quickly become exhausted, this energy source has become an important part in many countries’ power industry. However, together with the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, safety and other security- related issues, issues of controlling risks of popularizing nuclear weapons, ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants against natural disasters, which are beyond forecast of human beings as earthquakes and tsunami have been of great concerns for the nuclear power development in the world.
According to the National Power Development Plan, Vietnam’s first nuclear power plants on will be put into operations by 2020. By 2030, the total nuclear power volume will be 10,700 MW, accounting for 10.1% of the country’s total power capacity.