beyondbrics

Back when the northern half of Vietnam was a Soviet client state, and the southern half an American one, neither superpower would have contemplated building a nuclear power plant here.

But today Russia and America are again jockeying for influence in Vietnam, and this time they’re offering reactors.

The head of the Russian state-owned nuclear power monopoly Rosatom, Sergei Kirienko, was in Hanoi on Friday, shaking hands with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

In December, Dung had visited Moscow. Two months later, he announced that the first of two nuclear reactors Vietnam plans to build by 2020 would be contracted to Rosatom’s export subsidiary, Atomstroiexport.

Dung plans to co-sign the final version of the construction agreement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when the latter visits Hanoi in October.

Meanwhile, Hanoi has been working towards a Section 123 Agreement with the US, which would allow it to import American nuclear technology.

Westinghouse Electric and Japan’s Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, both of which use American technology, are bidding on the contract for Vietnam’s second reactor. A team of American experts visited Hanoi in early July to work on a Section 123 Agreement, and US Ambassador Michael Michalak says he thinks the legal framework could be in place by the end of this year.

Vietnam has not laid out a clear explanation of why it awarded the first reactor contract to Rosatom. At a workshop on nuclear safety in Hanoi in June, one Vietnamese expert said recent Russian high-pressure water reactors displayed higher performance than Western designs, and at a lower price.

But some analysts noted that, while in Moscow in February to sign the deal for the first reactor, PM Dung also placed orders for as much as $3.2 billion worth of Russian military hardware.

In Hanoi in July, at around the same time US and Vietnamese experts were working on the Section 123 Agreement, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers, and offered implied support for Vietnam’s position in its dispute with China over maritime territory in the South China Sea. In August, the US and Vietnamese navies conducted limited training activities together, for the first time ever.

Meanwhile, Vietnam doesn’t appear to have considered buying a nuclear reactor from a Chinese company. Vietnamese energy officials occasionally announce meetings with French nuclear power executives, particularly on safety issues. But South Korean companies seem to be out of the running.

To make a long story short: Vietnam experts believe the choice of which company will build the country’s second nuclear reactor is affected by strategic considerations.

In defence affairs, Vietnam generally likes to say that it wants to be a friend to all nations. That goes double for nations that have powerful militaries and nuclear technology.

Hanoi has already allowed Moscow to present it with a token of its affection. It seems likely that Washington’s turn is next.

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