Who has the best N-Reactor for Cambodia: India, China, North Korea or Iran?

India May Export N-Reactors to Thai, Cambodia, vietnam

Oct 06, 2010
OulookIndia.com
Kolkata

The Nuclear Power Development Corporation of India is in talks with some countries of the Asia-Pacific region for the sale of its mainstay 220 MWe and 540 MWe reactors, its chairman S K Jain said today.

"We are having detailed discussions (about sale of the reactors) with Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam," Jain told newsmen on the sidelines of a technical session at Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre auditorium here.

NPCIL, which has two models of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PWHR) on sale, has signed an MOU with a company in Kazakhstan on the export of the reactors and it was in its "final phase", Jain said.

India had moved a resolution in 2007 at the IAEA General Conference of Member States in Vienna to enable export of small reactors.

The country had been targeting exports of indigenous PHWRs to developing nations that wanted nuclear power, but were constrained by small grids.

The 220 MWe reactors, according to sources, were particularly useful for countries with small grids and it involved relatively low investments.

Major developers of nuclear reactors in the European Union and North America have moved on to reactor size of 700 MWe or 1,000 MWe and above.

Iranian Nuke for Cambodia?

Cambodia Denies Media's Report on Nuclear Power Plant

2010-08-30
Xinhua

Cambodia Monday denied media's report that suggested the country might have deal with Iran to build a nuclear power plant.

Koy Kuong, spokesman of Foreign Ministry said Monday that Cambodia has not made any deal with Iran on anything related to nuclear power plant.

Koy Kuong made the statement following media's report that suggested during the recent visit to Iran. Hor Namhong, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs might have discussed any issue on nuclear power plant.

Koy Kuong said, during the visit, there were only three documents were signed: cooperation in petroleum, economic cooperation and visa exemption.

Hor Namhong made an official visit to Iran early this month.

Cambodia has earlier expressed its interest, for the future, to access a nuclear power plant in order to secure sufficient power supply, but stressed it would not be any time soon.

Since June, Iran has been imposed with new sanctions by the United States, European Union and the United Nations in a way to stop its sensitive uranium-enrichment program which they fear of nuclear weapons production.

But the Irani government had denied the charge, saying the program was only for a peaceful purpose.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Chernobyl Disaster

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Vietnam urges SE Asia to consider nuclear power use

DALAT Vietnam, July 22 (Reuters) - Vietnam called on Southeast Asian countries on Thursday to consider using nuclear power for peaceful purposes as Asia faces rising energy needs to fuel economic growth.

The countries should "promote cooperation on planning and energy policy to ensure security of energy supply and demand, extraction and conversion, transport and distribution of oil and gas", Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in the opening speech to a meeting of ASEAN energy ministers.

He urged members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to "consider the possibility of cooperation in using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as a source of alternative low-carbon and sustainable energy".

The call followed a proposal by Russia to help Southeast Asian countries build nuclear power plants and develop its use.

Several countries in the 10-member ASEAN such as Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia have plans to build or are moving forward with building nuclear power plants to tackle electricity shortages.

Along with Russia, senior energy officials from Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are in Dalat this week for a series of meetings.

Dung said ASEAN needed to step up research and promote projects on a regional power grid and a trans-ASEAN gas pipeline to ensure support on electricity, oil and gas in the bloc.

Cooperation in trade and investment in the field of clean coal technology transfer to meet fast-growing demand for the fossil should be promoted among ASEAN members, he said.

ASEAN members should also cooperate closely on the use of renewable energy sources, with a target to bring it to 15 percent of total energy consumption by 2015, he added.

Vietnam chairs ASEAN activities in 2010. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Alan Raybould)

VN, US sign nuclear energy pact

30/03/2010
AFP

Vietnam and the United States signed a pact on Tuesday described as a key foundation for development of peaceful atomic power in the communist country.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak (R) and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Le Dinh Tien (L) raise a toast after signing a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation in the nuclear energy field in Hanoi. Vietnam and the United States signed a pact on Tuesday described as a key foundation for development of peaceful atomic power in the communist country.

"This is an important moment in our bilateral relations," US ambassador Michael Michalak said before endorsing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on nuclear energy cooperation.

"This MOU is a key step in furtherance of our common non-proliferation goals, and a significant building block in the development of Vietnam's peaceful, civilian nuclear power programme."

In November, Vietnam's communist-dominated parliament brushed aside criticism and approved construction of the country's first nuclear power stations. Initial plans call for four reactors, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts, at least one of which should be operational from 2020.

Vietnam and the United States have signed several deals to boost nuclear cooperation in the past few years, and Michalak said he expects Tuesday's memorandum will be a step towards a legally-binding agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

This "would allow even broader and deeper nuclear cooperation between our two countries and would facilitate the participation of the US companies in the Vietnamese nuclear sector," he said.

Vietnam and the United States this year mark 15 years since they re-established relations after the Vietnam War.

Sources last month said Vietnam has decided to award Russia's state atomic energy firm, Rosatom, a contract to build the country's first nuclear power plant.

Japan is also reportedly interested in helping to build future Vietnamese nuclear power plants.

Vietnam is rapidly modernising with average energy demand growing at about 10 percent per year, authorities say.

ASEAN summit to promote nuclear energy, solar power

SINGAPORE, Nov 13, 2007 (AFP) — Southeast Asian leaders will promote the use of civilian nuclear power, along with other alternative energy sources, when they meet in Singapore next week, a draft statement obtained Tuesday said.

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will also agree to establish a "regional nuclear safety regime" to ensure that plutonium, a key ingredient for making atomic weapons, does not fall into the wrong hands.

A draft of an ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability, obtained by AFP, said the leaders will agree "to take concrete measures to promote the use of renewable and alternative energy sources such as solar, hydro, wind, tide, biomass, biofuels and geothermal energy"

They will also support "civilian nuclear power" for interested countries -- a move which environmental campaigners see as worrying.

But the draft says ASEAN will ensure "safety and safeguards that are of current international standards and environmental sustainability".

Heads of state and government from ASEAN's member states Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are to sign the document next Tuesday during their annual summit.

Host Singapore has said it wants climate change to be the focus of the summit, but the meeting is instead expected to be dominated by rogue ASEAN member Myanmar's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in September.

The document commits ASEAN states to implement environmentally sustainable practices, improve cooperation to fight trans-boundary pollution and to take action against illegal logging.

Weak law enforcement to control the use of fire for clearing agricultural land in ASEAN's biggest member, Indonesia, has been identified as a main cause of the haze that blankets wide swathes of the region each year.

ASEAN leaders will also pledge to improve energy efficiency, reduce the loss of biodiversity in the region and halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2010, according to the draft.

But the decision to promote civilian nuclear power has sparked criticisms from environmental activists.

Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have announced plans to build nuclear power plants by 2020 in a bid to cut their dependence on crude oil and natural gas.

World oil prices topped 98 dollars a barrel earlier this month.

"If they are going nuclear, I think they are going into disaster for the region," warned Nur Hidayati, a campaigner for the environment watchdog Greenpeace.

"The nature of this region is that it is very unstable, and so when there is an accident, the whole region will suffer," she told AFP by telephone from Indonesia, referring to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Southeast Asia also does not have the technology, the expertise or the raw materials to operate a nuclear power plant, she charged.

This means governments will have to import them from foreign sources, defeating the objective of gaining energy security, Hidayati added.

However, she supported ASEAN's efforts to promote solar, hydro, wind and geothermal power.

"There is still a lot of potential in the region that is not being tapped effectively. It is better for governments to look at these alternative energy sources that are relatively clean and safe," she said.

Singapore has embarked on a strategy to establish itself as a centre for solar energy development.

Last month, Norway's Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) said it planned to invest more than 3.0 billion euros (4.31 billion US) to build a manufacturing plant in Singapore for solar wafers, cells and modules.