Nine hundred of the 1,000 respondents partaking in a survey conducted by the Ninh Thuan authorities throwed their support behind the restart of a nuclear power project in the south-central Vietnamese province.

The Ninh Thuan authorities asked 1,000 residents for their opinions on the revival of the nuclear power project which was suspended in November 2016, Nguyen Van Muoi, deputy head of the provincial information and education board, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The respondents were mainly officials, armed forces, and residents directly impacted by the project.

As many as 92 percent said they were aware of the project resumption.

Ten percent of the respondents expressed no opinions and a mere 0.35 percent disagreed with the plan over safety concerns.

Muoi added that certain residents had voiced concerns over possible incidents and risks during the project development, so they proposed choosing prestigious foreign contractors with advanced technologies to build the plant.

The official mentioned that many residents have proposed special policies for those affected by the project, expressing hopes for stable jobs and livelihoods once the project is underway.

Le Kim Hoang, director of the Ninh Thuan Department of Planning and Investment, asserted that reviving the nuclear power project would have a significant impact on the province's economic development.

He described it as both an opportunity and a driving force for the province's progress in the coming years.

Hoang confirmed that the provincial authorities had urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work out a specific road map to execute the project and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to redetermine the scale, planned completion time, and technology for the plant so that Ninh Thuan Province can recalculate the needed land.

Chairman of the Ninh Thuan People’s Committee Tran Quoc Nam said the nuclear power plant is an important national project.

It was suspended in 2016, and since then, the provincial administration has been supporting the livelihoods of residents in the planned site.

The national government and the law-making National Assembly have agreed to allocate VND273 billion (US$10.7 million) to the province for the development of infrastructure, healthcare, schools, and dyke projects.

Nam said that the resumption of the nuclear power project is a driving force, opportunity, and aspiration of Vietnam to move forward.

On November 30, The National Assembly passed a resolution to revive the project, approving the government's proposal to restart its construction.

The Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant is projected to require an investment of billions of U.S. dollars to ensure safe, efficient, and sustainable operations.

In 2009, when the government designated state utility Vietnam Electricity as the project's investor, the initial design outlined two plants with a combined capacity of over 4,000 MW, requiring an estimated investment of approximately VND200 trillion ($7.8 billion).

The project was suspended in 2016 out of many concerns about safety, high investment costs, technological issues, and developments in the global energy situation then.

Like us on Facebook or  follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!