Radioactive cloud will come to Vietnam March 25

LookAtVietnam - A
radioactive cloud will come to Vietnam
on March 25 but it will not affect human’s health, according to the Agency for
Radioactive Nuclear Safety.

Chief of the Agency for Radioactive Nuclear Safety, Dr. Ngo
Dang Nhan said that according to Norwegian scientists, a radioactive cloud from
Japan will come to southern Vietnam
on March 25 but it will not harm people’s health.

Responding to worries of radioactive infected foods from Japan, Nhan said that foods imported from Japan
would be tested for radioactivity.

“If we discover any signal of danger, we will release
warnings,” he said.

A radioactive cloud from Japan’s
Fukushima I plant moved south over the Pacific
and reached the north of the Philippines
on March 22.

By yesterday, no radioactive dispersion was found in Vietnam,
Ministry of Science and Technology reported.

The nuclear incident at the Fukushima I plant has remained under the
control of the Japanese Government, the ministry said.

The cooling of the plant’s reactors with seawater pumped in
from specialized fire engines has paid off, with the temperatures of the
reactors having gone down, the ministry added.

PV

Radioactive cloud, acid rain rumor rejected | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Radioactive cloud, acid rain rumor rejected | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update: "VietNamNet Bridge – Hydro meteorological experts rejected the rumor that “radioactive clouds and acid rains” from Japan would come to Vietnam.


They said that radioactive clouds and acid rains could not reach Vietnam.

The rumor was spread very fast on March 15 through Yahoo Messenger (YM) and mobile text messages after the fire at the reactor No.4 of Japan’s Fukushima had been reported.

After lunch, Thang, manager of an information technology company in Hanoi, received a phone call from his wife, asking him to pick up their child at kindergarten early because “I have heard that there will have radioactive clouds and acid rains in Hanoi on the afternoon”.

“Actually, I had received YM messages warning about radioactive clouds and acid rains in the morning but I didn’t believe in them. But, so many people told me about it so I decided to pick up my son early,” Thang said.

Teachers were also worried about the rumor. A teacher from the foreign-invested Dream House Primary School in Tay Ho district, Hanoi, said the school asked teachers to not allow pupils to play outdoors when it rained. Outdoor morning exercises were performed inside classes.

“We didn’t want to scare them, so they only told them to play indoors, not the true reason,” the teacher said.

Phan Dinh Son, Director of Bao An Computer and Supermarket Equipment Company in Hanoi, permitted his staff to go home early to avoid “acid rains” in the afternoon.

Le Thanh Hai, deputy director of the National Center for Hydro meteorological Forecast, said that “the rumor was false.”

“No wind can bring radioactive dusts from Japan to Vietnam. There is no wind from Japan to China and then to Vietnam. There is only wind blowing from Vietnam to Japan. The current rain is caused by monsoon, not acid rain,” he said.

According to research, radioactive dust of the Chernobyl explosion in Russia in 1986 was blown to Vietnam. Hai said “that wind can blow from Russia to Vietnam, not from Japan to Vietnam.”

A scientist from the Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong confirmed that the rumor is false and doesn’t have any scientific ground.

“Acid rains are caused by the greenhouse effect of industrial factories. Nuclear power plants are built to prevent this phenomenon. It is completely wrong to say that explosions at nuclear power plants cause acid rains,” he explained.

He also said that the institute had been keeping track of the explosions and fires at Japan’s nuclear power plants, but it didn’t detect radioactive dust in Vietnam.

“Radioactive gases from explosions in Japan are at low levels, and Vietnam is very far from Japan. Certainly, we will still keep an eye on the situation,” he said.

Vuong Huu Tan, chief of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, also confirmed that his institute will keep track of the situation in Japan and the change of environment to give timely warnings to the people.

International experts say that it is very difficult to see a similar disaster like the Chernobyl in Japan.

The worry over radioactivity spreading is increasing in Japan after four of six reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plants were on fire or exploded.

Japan has evacuated people in a 20km diameter from the plant. Those who live in the diameter of 20-30km around the plant are requested to stay home.

The radioactive content in Tokyo, around 240km from Fukushima, is 40 times over the normal level but officials said that this level is not dangerous for human.

PV

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Vietnam ready to go Nuclear

HANOI, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Vietnam is ready to make a decision to establish a nuclear power programme, following careful research, said Head of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute Vuong Huu Tan.Vietnam news agency (VNA) reported that at a workshop on nuclear power, which took place in Hanoi on Friday, Tan affirmed that developing infrastructural facilities for a nuclear power programme needs to undergo three stages and that actually making the decision is the very first step.According to participants at the workshop, to successfully begin construction of the country's first nuclear power plant and carry out a long-term nuclear power development programme, Vietnam needs to develop human resources, an appropriate legal system and technical infrastructure, with the participation of related ministries and agencies.This also forms part of the national energy development strategy, which runs until 2020, with a vision to 2050 which aims to produce nuclear electricity accounting for 15-20 percent of the country's total power output.-- BERNAMA

Bush signs legislation to allow US sale of civilian nuclear materials to India

President Bush on Wednesday signed legislation that reverses three decades of U.S. policy and allows American businesses to enter India's multibillion-dollar nuclear market.
The U.S. agreement on civil nuclear cooperation permits American businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India's civilian — but not military — nuclear plants.
Critics in India argue the constraints compromise their country's right to conduct nuclear tests. Some private U.S. arms control experts say the deal is likely to speed up nuclear arms competition in Asia.
The Bush administration, however, considers the deal a key achievement of the president's second term.
"By undertaking new cooperation on civil nuclear energy, India will be able to count on a reliable fuel supply for its civilian reactors, meet the energy demands of its people, and reduce its independence on fossil fuels," Bush said at a ceremony in the East Room. "For our part, the United States will gain access to a growing market for civilian nuclear technologies and materials that will help American businesses create more jobs for our people here at home."
The signing of legislation, which approve U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation, is the result of three years of work by Indian officials and the Bush administration. The president said the measure would build on the growing ties between the world's two largest democracies, the United States and India.
Throughout the Cold War, relations between India and the United States were chilly. In the past decade, however, ties have grown closer in a range of areas, including trade, energy and security. The United States is now India's largest trading partner.
"This agreement sends a signal to the world: Nations that follow the path to democracy and responsible behavior will find a friend in the United States of America," Bush said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee are expected to sign the overall bilateral nuclear cooperation accord on Friday.
Congress last week gave final congressional approval to legislation authorizing civilian nuclear trade with India, which built its atomic bombs outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
By signing the authorizing legislation, Bush is required to certify that the agreement with India is consistent with U.S. obligations under the treaty, an accord designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. He must also certify that it is U.S. policy to cooperate with international efforts to further restrict transfers of technology related to uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
U.S. opponents of the nuclear agreement say lawmakers rushed consideration of a complicated deal that could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. The extra fuel the measure allows India to purchase, those critics say, could boost India's nuclear bomb stockpile by freeing up its domestic fuel for weapons.

China state paper lashes India-US nuclear deal

China's top newspaper called a nuclear agreement between India and the United States a "major blow" to non-proliferation, raising pressure as the deal faces opposition in an international atomic cartel.
The commentary on Monday in the People's Daily, the ruling Chinese Communist Party's official paper, was a rare public response from Beijing on the controversial US proposal to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India.
Diplomats in Vienna said on Sunday that a revised US proposal to lift the ban did not sufficiently ease fears the move could compromise efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
Washington needs an unprecedented exemption from the Nuclear Suppiers Group's normal rules to help seal its 2005 civilian nuclear energy deal with New Delhi. But at the group's meeting, six member nations demanded changes to ensure Indian access to nuclear markets would not indirectly help its atomic bomb programme.
Chinese officials have remained tight-lipped about the deal and given no sign they would outright block it, but official media and experts have raised worries.
The Party's official paper was unusually forthright on Monday.
"Whether it is motivated by geopolitical considerations or commercial interests, the US-India nuclear agreement has constituted a major blow to the international non-proliferation regime," said the commentary by a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading state think tank.
"Irrespective of the fate of the US-India nuclear agreement, the United States' multiple standards on non-proliferation issues have met with a sceptical world."
Without NSG approval in early September, the US Congress may run out of time for final ratification before it adjourns at the end of the month for autumn elections.
The deal is controversial since India has shunned the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which commits members to nuclear disarmament, after developing atom bombs with Western technology imported ostensibly for peaceful nuclear energy.
Experts have said China is unlikely to stymie the nuclear deal and risk pushing Delhi closer to Washington when Beijing is seeking to avoid confrontation with its rising Asian neighbour.
But many have also said that Beijing worries about how the deal will affect regional security and arms controls.
China and India, the world's two most populous nations, are forging new ties amid soaring trade and business links, though serious differences over their Himalayan border, the cause of a 1962 war, fester.
India and rival Pakistan both tested nuclear devices in 1998, raising tensions between the neighbours. Pakistan is a close partner of China.
China was not among the six nations that raised objections in the NSG meeting, but the commentary was a reminder that Beijing was irked by the nuclear agreement.
The United States' initial proposal to the NSG was "vague" and "left the concerned papers very dissatisfied", the newspaper said.
"As there is no constraining link between supply of nuclear materials and India conducting a nuclear test," it added. "India need not assume strict non-proliferation responsibilities

India can't settle impasse over US nuke deal

A meeting Wednesday between the Indian government and its communist allies failed to settle an impasse over a landmark nuclear deal with the United States. Faced with a choice of breaking with the communists and heading to early elections or abandoning the deal, seen as a cornerstone in the strengthening partnership between New Delhi and Washington, the government chose to stall for more time. "The committee completed its discussions on all aspects of the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation agreement. The next meeting of the committee, to be convened in due course, will finalize its findings," said Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, reading from a terse prepared statement after the meeting. He declined to answer questions. Mukherjee represented the governing Congress party at the hour-long talks with leaders of the communist parties and heads of several smaller members of the ruling coalition. The nuclear deal would reverse three decades of American policy by allowing the shipment of atomic fuel and technology to India, which has not signed international nonproliferation accords and has tested nuclear weapons. India, in exchange, would open its civilian reactors to international inspections. While the government appeared to be trying to stall, its time could be running out. U.S. officials said earlier this year that with American elections coming up _ and no guarantee the next American administration will keep the deal on the table _ India needed to complete its end of the pact before the U.S. Congress starts its summer break in July because many lawmakers will be busy campaigning in the fall. The deal has faced stiff opposition from India's communist parties, which don't want to see New Delhi drawn closer to Washington. The communists, who prop up the government from the outside, have threatened to withdraw their support if the current administration presses on with the nuclear pact, a move that could topple the government and lead to early elections. For India to move ahead with the deal it needs to sign a separate deal with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that's needed before the U.S. Congress can approve the pact. There was no change of heart from the communists after the talks. "We will not allow this government to go for the IAEA board approval," said Debabrata Biswas, a senior communist official who attended the meeting. With no concessions from the communists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be forced to either move forward without their support _ a risky political move _ or abandon the much touted nuclear agreement. There had been intense political maneuvering ahead of the meeting, with Congress holding a series of talks with its coalition partners in a bid to determine if they had the support to break with the communists. But the move, spearheaded by Singh, who has staked his reputation on the deal, was dealt a blow by the release of figures last week that put inflation at 11.05 percent, a 13-year high _ dampening the appetite of the political parties for early elections. For U.S. President George W. Bush, the deal would be a major foreign policy success amid the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For India, it would provide much-needed nuclear fuel for its energy-hungry economy. ___
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Vietnam leads way for nuclear Power in Asia

HANOI - General Electric of the United States and Asian rivals in the nuclear power sector such as Daewoo and Toshiba are among companies looking to win big contracts in Southeast Asia as the region's countries turn to the once-shunned energy source to fuel future economic growth. GE and companies from France, Russia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and China turned out in numbers at a nuclear industry exhibition in Hanoi last month, bidding to help Vietnam develop its first nuclear power facilities. High global fuel prices in the 1970s resulted in a raft of plants being built in Europe and North America. After a retreat in the 1980s over safety issues, interest in the nuclear option is reviving
as Asia's surging power demands help spur global fossil fuel prices and pressure mounts to reduce growth in greenhouse gas emissions. Vietnam is on track to become Southeast Asia's first country to take the nuclear plunge, with the government and its main energy-related agencies, the Vietnamese Atomic Energy Agency and Electricity Vietnam (EVN), advancing plans for huge expansion in power generation. Vietnam plans to have four nuclear generation plants with a total of 8,000 megawatts (MW) capacity in operation by 2025. Two of those plants, each with two 1,000 MW units, are to be up and running by 2020 in Ninh Thuan province on the country's central coast. Construction is set to begin in 2015 and the government has earmarked US$6 billion for each plant. So far, there is little if any public opposition to the development in the authoritarian country, increasing Vietnam's commercial attractiveness to the global nuclear industry. In Indonesia, the government aims to have its first nuclear plant in operation some time after 2015 on the Central Java north coast. The outlook here is less certain, as public opposition is strengthening nationally and locally, to the extent that at least one Islamic religious leader has issued an edict against the plan. With national, regional and presidential elections scheduled for next year, Indonesia's nuclear plans could be derailed, some industry executives fear. Thailand is also carrying out a feasibility study for a nuclear plant to be built in the country by 2020, although again public opposition might hinder progress. Community and non-governmental organizations in recent years managed to derail construction of two large coal-fired power plants in southern Prachuap Kirikhan province. Elsewhere in the region, nuclear feasibility studies are underway by relevant government agencies in the Philippines and Malaysia. The nuclear momentum appears to be strongest in Vietnam, where the government last August doubled its previous generation target of 4,000 MW to 8,000 MW goal by 2025. A law providing the framework for development of nuclear power plants and foreign investment in the industry, wider civilian applications for nuclear science, and safety and non-proliferation standards and controls is expected to be passed this month by the National Assembly. This will enable the government to get on with project planning and establish a tendering process for power plant construction, fueling and operation. Before those laws were in place, the recent Hanoi exhibition attracted a who's who of global energy firms. Executives from France's Areva and Electricite de France (EDF) rubbed shoulders with their counterparts from Japan's Toshiba and Federation of Electric Power Companies, South Korea's Daewoo and the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company. Representatives of General Electric, Russia's Rosatom and Atomostroi and China's Guangdong Nuclear Power Company were also present, as were officials of the United Nations' Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. The four-day exhibition from May 13-17 was the third in the country since 2004. Foreign companies are expected to play critical roles in supplying technology, education and training for Vietnamese scientists, engineers and technicians. The government also clearly hopes to finance the plants' construction through export-import credit schemes of the respective companies' governments. The exhibition served a dual purpose of providing information to the Vietnamese public about the government's plans. In late May, more than 400 local representatives of the coastal Ninh Thuan province were invited by the government to voice opinions about proposed plants at a seminar co-organized by local power company EVN and Electricite de France. The state-controlled press reported that the response to the plant by the two districts' representatives at the meeting was largely positive. Powerful diplomacyThe Vietnam exhibition also underlined the close links between business and government in the international nuclear industry. The French consortium was strongly supported by the French Embassy in media statements and interviews at the Vietnam event. At a press conference, French nuclear power industry representatives pointed to a new government agency, the French International Nuclear Energy Agency, which had been established to provide experts to collaborate with foreign governments on feasibility studies, safety concerns and other issues. The China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company's presentation signaled China's new goal of entering the global nuclear business as an investor and supplier rather than as a recipient of foreign expertise, equipment and investment. China's nuclear power expansion plans are the most ambitious in the world in terms of scale and speed of development. Established nuclear power players, including from Japan and South Korea, said they see Chinese rivals as a fast-rising, low-cost competitive threat. Japan's Toshiba, Hitachi and Mitsubishi are also in the nuclear hunt and seem well placed to benefit from Tokyo's strong commercial diplomacy in the region. Coinciding with the Vietnam exhibition, the governments of Japan and Vietnam signed a bilateral assistance agreement. As part of that pact, Japan is scheduled to help Vietnam prepare and plan for the introduction of nuclear energy, educate experts in nuclear power and help the country formulate nuclear safety regulations. Vietnam has also signed nuclear cooperation agreements with the governments of Russia, France, South Korea and the US. One potential commercial ace up the sleeve of Japanese companies is their government's push for new incentives to invest in nuclear power development in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. Tokyo is lobbying for new nuclear facilities to be eligible, after the Kyoto climate change accord expires in 2012, for clean development mechanism (CDM) credits for carbon dioxide reduction achieved by not building new coal- and gas-fueled power plants. Given the scale of nuclear power plants and the fact that plants emit nearly no greenhouse gases, CDM credits that could be sold on global carbon markets and used by companies and governments to meet mandatory carbon emissions targets elsewhere could have huge value. The Japanese government put its case forward at a UN climate change meeting in early April. The proposal was left on the table, due mainly to developed countries' still strong concerns over safety and weapons proliferation. The Tokyo proposal is expected to resurface at another UN meeting on climate issues in Copenhagen in late 2009. The CDM scheme for nuclear power is expected to get a wider hearing as governments grapple with putting in place a successor agreement to Kyoto. If adopted, the CDM proposal could have enormous implications for Southeast Asia's nuclear power development. The high capital costs associated with building nuclear power plants are at this point still expected to constrain the region's nuclear future, but those start-up costs would be mitigated significantly if new plants were entitled to CDM credits.

US-India nuclear deal hits a fresh snag

The passage of a landmark nuclear deal between India and the United States has hit a fresh snag with senators in Washington piling the pressure on New Delhi to keep its distance from Iran, officials said.
Although the US Congress agreed in December to let talks on the energy deal move forward, Indian and US officials are still at odds over the fine print of an accord seen as the centrepiece of a new post-Cold War relationship.There was some cause for optimism after talks in Washington earlier this week, with Indian diplomats saying problem issues like the treatment of spent fuel and India's right to test nuclear weapons could be overcome.
But in the aftermath of the talks on how India should get previously forbidden nuclear technology, seven US senators wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telling him not to cosy up too much with Iran.
Washington is trying to isolate Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme and alleged support for terrorism. "We are deeply concerned by India's increasing co-operation with that country," said the letter, which was widely published in the Indian media.
The senators-who still have a say over whether the nuclear accord can go through-objected to "the exchange of visits between high-level officials, enhanced military ties, and negotiations of agreements to establish closer economic relations." The text also singled out India's hopes to buy Iranian gas via a multi-billion dollar pipeline-a project which, like the nuclear energy deal with the US, is seen as crucial for energy-hungry India to fuel long-term economic growth.
These problems, the senators said, "have a significant potential to negatively affect the relationship between the US and India." Indian officials, however, are putting on a brave face over the letter-the second in as many months.
"It is a pressure point no doubt, but I would not regard it as a deal breaker," a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
But an Indian foreign ministry official said the US pressure over how his country chooses to conduct its traditional non-aligned foreign policy could leave the government exposed to more domestic criticism over the deal.