Nuclear Reactors 428 - Vietnam Cancels Major Nuclear Contract With Japan
The global nuclear industry was heavily impacted by the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March of 2011 in Japan. Many countries reexamined their nuclear safety standards and there were many changes in regulations and some upgrades to existing plants. Plans for new plants underwent review and some were altered. In addition, some countries such as Indonesia and Chile suspended or abandoned their orders for new nuclear power reactors. Some countries such as Germany abandoned nuclear power completely and began shutting down existing reactors.
Japan has been involved in the nuclear export industry for decades with the supply of nuclear components to foreign reactor construction. Japanese Prime Minister Abe has made export of nuclear technology central to his plans to bolster Japan's economy. One of his ambitions was to have Japan's nuclear industry actually carry out the complete construction of a foreign power reactor. Japan has not ever done before. One of the projects that would have let Abe fulfill his ambitions was a contract to construct two nuclear power reactors for Vietnam in the central Ninh Thuan province.
Hanoi contracted the Japanese to build the nuclear power reactors in 2010. The contract was with Japan Atomic Power, a consortium of Japanese nuclear firms including Tokyo Electric Power, Toshiba and Hitachi. This week, the Japanese government announced that it had been informed by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung that the Vietnamese government was going to cancel the project soon. The Vietnamese parliament is scheduled to formally vote to cancel the contract next week.
At the time of the contract signing, Vietnam projected that it would be experiencing a seventeen to twenty percent increase in demand for electricity between 2016 and 2030. This prompted long range plans for Vietnam to eventually build fifteen gigawatts of nuclear power capacity. However, now Vietnam estimates that demand for new capacity will be eleven percent between 2016 and 2020 and seven to eight percent between 2020 and 2030. This serious drop in estimated future demand caused Vietnam to reconsider its commitment to nuclear power.
This development is a severe blow to the Japanese nuclear industry, already in deep distress since the Fukushima disaster resulted in the closing of all the Japanese nuclear power reactors. Only a couple of reactors have been restarted since the Fukushima disaster.
Japan is also dealing with new problems related to the sale of nuclear components abroad. It has been reported that only about half of the nuclear components being exported from Japan are checked. Now it turns out that France has had to close down twenty of its power reactors over fears of substandard components supplied by the French company Le Creusot Foundry and Japan Casting & Forging Corporation. There is evidence that JCFC forged quality control documents for nuclear components shipped to France. JCFC is now under investigation by the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority over the charges of forging the documents for exported parts.
Despite Abe's strong promotion of nuclear power and nuclear exports in Japan, a large proportion of the Japanese people are opposed to nuclear power and the restarting of the Japanese reactors. With the international demand for nuclear power reactors declining and the new charges of forgery against a Japanese nuclear component manufacturer, it may be time for Abe to reconsider his support for nuclear power and nuclear exports.
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