The problem of location in Hanoi

According to Director of Institute of Atomic Energy, Mr. Vuong Huu Tan, currently, the location of the center is located in the research and proposal. All the work is at the starting point.

For the 3 locations of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Lat, in most meetings and conferences, scientists proposed to build the center near Hanoi. According to scientists, this location will satify all conditions, especially to take full advantage of human resources available in Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute.

The model of Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant

Prof Academcian Nguyen Van Hieu (Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology) said: "Building the enter near Hanoi shall attract skilled human resources, very few people want to go to far places , and work at places that do not have enough facilities. Not only the Soviet Union, but also France and many countries in the world have built Research institute or Center in the capital and have been very successful".

Therefore, according to Vietnamese scientists, the closer to Hanoi the Nuclear Science and Technology Center is put, the better it will be, at least in Hoa Lac high-tech zone, or near the National University of Hanoi, which is favorable for the development in long term. "However, the most difficult problem is still the location, which place shall have good physical conditions, hydrological conditions to effectively exploit the available human resources?" - said Mr Tan.

Recently, Minister of Science and Techology has signed a decision (No. 2700/QD-BKHCN) to establish the Nuclear training center under Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute. This is one of the contents of the project "Training and improving the human resource in the field of atomic energy" approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1558/QD-TTg on August 18th 2010.

Accordingly, the Nuclear training center will provide training, retraining and improvement of  qualifications for researchers and experts working in the facilities of the Institute in particular, and for the training needs of nuclear facilities nationwide in general. The center will join other training institutions and universities to train human resources of nuclear power technology for the National program on nuclear power.

The center is developing specific training programs based on the teaching models of countries which  have advanced nuclear science and technology such as Russia, Japan, France, South Korea ... to train and foster a team of researchers and engineers in nuclear technology with high expertise to directly serve the needs of the country's nuclear program and the application of atomic energy.

Not affecting people’s lives

Regarding the safety issue, scientists and managers claimed that building the center in Hanoi would not affect people's lives.

Prof. Nguyen Van Hieu said: "We have seen many lessons in countries around the world, notably the Soviet Union, they made a mistake to build a nuclear research institute more than 100 km from Moscow, then they decided to build an atomic institute right in the heart of Moscow with six reactors without affecting people".

Prof. Cao Chi also said that the construction of the center in a big city would not affect people's lives. This is a research and training center, so there will be no dangerous radioactive substances.

"In fact, in Vietnam, the reactor located in the heart of Dalat has not had any bad effects and is still opearting. The Nuclear Science and Technology Center will study in different directions, if the center is built in Dalat, it will be very limited. So, the center will not be located in Dalat. Human is the most important resource to exploit, or it will be a terrible waste " – said Mr Tan.

The project is estimated to be submitted to the Government in 2011.

By Minh Duc