Proposal_for_Ninh_Thuan_Nuclear_Power_Plant

Building Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant: Challenges and Benefits 5 years ago, a senior energy expert of World Bank in Vietnam, Mr. Richard Spencer stated “Vietnam will become an electricity importing country in 2015” (Pham 2008). However, this bad situation came sooner than expected when Vietnam had to import 2.7 billion kWh in 2012, and scheduled to import extra 1 billion kWh in 2013 (Phuong 2013). Therefore, to ensure the growth of economy and people activities, Vietnamese government gave a proposal for building a nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan province with an expectation about finding the answer to the power supply problem as America, Japan and China before. Yet, this proposal has been a controversial. This paper will talk about some hitches in managing waste treatment and unskilled labor force that are concerns in carrying out building nuclear plant in Ninh Thuan, and the economic and environmental benefits that nuclear power brings to. Nuclear power or nuclear energy is an alternative power source that heat is created by the uranium’s nuclear fission, and then transferred through a heat transfer mechanism and turbines to create electricity. The main material of nuclear power includes either one of uranium 233, uranium 235, enriched uranium or plutonium (Nuclear Material 2012). Nowadays, there are 440 nuclear power plants worldwide. Nuclear energy supports 30% electricity in Europe and Japan, 20% in America (ENS 2013). Vietnam is just a sapling in nuclear energy field, thus, people can see clearly immediate difficulties in setting to work the proposal. Professor Tran Dai Phuc, who has more than 40 years of experience in working at nuclear power field in different countries, said “Vietnamese human resource for nuclear energy is in alarming, lacking in both quality and quantity” (Ngoc 2013a). Considering about the labor quantity first, to operate the Ninh Thuan nuclear plant, it requires at least 2000 staff including specialists, technical experts and skilled workers. However, Vietnam is having only 600 staff working in nuclear sector at the present (Tran n.d) so it takes at least a decade to meet the labor demands. Besides, the quality of the labor force is weak too. Vietnamese employees do not have real experience in working at nuclear plants or facing real situations because of lacking laboratories. Professor Tran Dai Nghia also said that although our country had 5 universities and a center that trained about nuclear power, the trainers were not much, even they were not specialist in this new energy sector (Ngoc 2013b). If we let this ill workforce to run the most advanced technology, it will be an incalculable catastrophe for Vietnam’s nuclear power industry. Most of people who oppose the proposal are afraid of the leakage of radioactive material risk that probably caused by ill management skills in waste treatment. After 3 year in the reactor to create heat for electricity, the used nuclear fuel become waste however it is still radioactive and dangerous (Radioactive Waste 2012). To avoid leaking nuclear poison, it requires a complicate and close waste treatment process include packing waste, putting package into canisters, burring canisters in repositories built under the ground and guarding the guarding the graveyard. The weakness of managing waste treatment showed through the matter of Vedan Company that polluted Thi Vai River by releasing in 2008 that caused severe damage on 2.7000 ha of its vicinities (Nhat 2009). People still suspect that whether Vietnam can ensure to carry out well or not. Although there are many existing drawbacks ahead, when Vietnam is successful in building nuclear power plant, this new electricity source will bring many benefits. The most typical benefit is economic benefit when generating electricity from this new source is cheaper and more efficient than from coal and oil. According to the World Nuclear Association (2013), the energy yielded from one kilogram natural uranium is more than 20,000 times form same amount of coal; especially one gam of Uranium 235 can deliver as much as 3.5 metric tons of coal. Besides, because all nuclear fission happen completely in nuclear reactors so generating electricity form uranium does not depend on weather or climate change as hydropower, solar energy or wind energy, thereby, it can supply electricity stably and regularly. Moreover, while coal and oil just concentrate in some particular countries as in Middle East, become scarcer and their values get higher and higher that Vietnam cannot compete with other countries in the future to find fuel sources, uranium is allocated in many countries as Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, North Korea, Brazil, etc. and Vietnam also have an average uranium’s volume (VARANS 2009), it will save lots of money in importing and transfering fuel. Thus, Vietnam can meet the huge electricity demand with lower costs for economic development. Nuclear energy brings not only economic benefits but also environmental benefits. Nuclear energy does not burn anything to create electricity so it does not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury compounds as coal-based energy or strong greenhouse gas, methane as hydropower (Clean Energy 2013). Thus, the ground-level ozone foundation and acid rain will be prevented. This environmental advantage was proved in the U.S. when each year, nuclear power plants here prevents 5.1 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 2.4 million tons of nitrogen oxide, and 164 million metric tons of carbon from entering the earth's atmosphere (Nuclear Energy 2013a). In addition, the water released from nuclear power plants is not only clean and safe but also does comply with controlling standards for temperature designed to save aquatic life from harm (Nuclear Energy 2013b), so ponds surrounding plants are deal habitats for birds, fish and trees. Conclusion, in my point of view, I strongly approve of the proposal for Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant. Vietnam is not the only case that gets troubles when starts to enter this new energy industry Although difficulties about unskilled labor force and loose waste treatment control mechanism, are can be denied, I believe that with engagements for technical supports and experts from Russia, Japan and French in nuclear power sector (Vietnamese Energy 2013), this new electricity source will meet the demand for cheap energy support for social and economic development soon, and contribute to diminish air pollution in the future. Total words: 1032. Reference: • “Clean Energy”, 2013, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, viewed October 2, 2013, accessed < http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-and-you/affect/air-emissions.html> • “Nuclear Energy”, 2013a,b, Community Science Action Guides, viewed October 1, 2013, accessed • “Nuclear Material”, 2012, United State Nuclear Regulatory Commission, viewed October 3, 2013, accessed • “Nuclear Power Plant, Word-wide”, 2013, European Nuclear Society, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • “Phap se ho tro Viet Nam ve chương trinh dien hat nhan” 2013, Nang Luong Viet Nam, viewed October 1, 2013, accessed • “The Economic of Nuclear Power”, 2013, World Nuclear Association, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • “Trien vong va nhung thach thuc phat trien dien hat nhan o Viet Nam”, 2009, Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • Ngoc, B, 2013a,b, “Bao dong do nhan luc hat nhan Viet Nam”, Bao Dat Viet, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • Pham, T, 2007, “2015, Viet Nam se thanh quoc gia nhap khau dien”, Viet Bao, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • Phuong, M, 2013, “2013Viet Nam se nhap khau them 1 ty kWh dien”, Viet Nam Plus, viewed October 5, 2013, accessed • Tran, M, n.d, “Viet Nam Phat Trien Dien Hat Nhan”, Niem Tin, viewed October 4, 2013, accessed < http://niemtin.free.fr/dienvnhatnhan.htm> • “Radioactive Waste – Myths and Relative”, 2012, World Nuclear Association, viewed October 6, 2013, accessed [pic] |Subject: |College English | |Subject Code: |ENG112 | ASSIGNMENT 3 SCORE SHEET |Critical discussion and elaborate explanation of opposing viewpoints ( /25) | | |Convincing arguments and appropriate examples ( /25) | | |Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation ( /10) | | |Appropriate and varied vocabulary ( /15) | | |Accurate grammar and varied sentence structures ( /15) | | |Appropriate referencing and format ( /10) | | |TOTAL SCORE /100 | | Note: if the assignment does not reach the minimum word limit or exceeds the allowed number of words by 10%, one point will be deducted from the final score. FINAL SCORE = TOTAL SCORE ÷ 5 = ………./20 ----------------------- Grade (Office Use Only) Date received (Office Use Only)