Nuclear Safeguards Infrastructure Development: Collaboration with Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety

Year
2009
Author(s)
Rebecca Stevens - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Jacqueline Shipwash - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Donald Kovacic - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Fred Morris - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Kenneth E. Apt - Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mark Killinger - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Linda H. Hansen - Argonne National Laboratory
Matthew C. Van Sickle - U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration
Nu Hoai Vi - Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety
Abstract
Vietnam’s nuclear fuel cycle consists of a research reactor and nuclear research institutes that develop radioisotopes, perform scientific research, and support other medical and industrial uses for nuclear technology, and the country is currently planning to build its first nuclear power plant to address its increasing energy needs. . Recognizing the importance of the nineteen issues laid out in the IAEA document “Milestones in Development of a National Infrastructure for Nuclear Power,” Vietnam is considering how to address these issues and to mold its current legal and regulatory structure to accommodate a nuclear power program. This structure has undergone major changes in the last several years and continues to do so. The Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS), which regulates all nuclear and radiological activities in Vietnam, was established as a regulatory agency in 2003. The Atomic Energy Law passed by the National Assembly in June 2008, specifies the requirements for Vietnam’s plans for future nuclear power program, and VARANS is an important player in developing Vietnam’s plans for regulating the program. In response to this, the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration’s International Nuclear Safeguards and Engagement Program (INSEP) has entered into a collaboration with VARANS under the U.S. Department of Energy and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Arrangement for Information Exchange and Cooperation on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, which was signed in August of 2007. The support is in the form of mutual collaboration in the areas of strengthening of the state system of accounting and control, implementation of the Additional Protocol, and development of the nuclear safeguards legal and regulatory structure. All of these areas are directly related to the effectiveness of safeguards in Vietnam, both for the present and the future since Vietnam is developing an effective safeguards infrastructure as a critical component of civilian nuclear energy. This paper describes the benefits that Vietnam has received through technical collaboration projects with DOE/NNSA.