Investment direction to meet energy resources in Vietnam (I)

The Government has urgently completed the first nuclear power plant investment project to submit to the National Assembly for approval and soon put it into practice to ensure national energy security.

Electrification growth is directly proportional to economic growth. As a developing country, the destination is attractive to investors, the annual GDP increases by more than 7% on average, so Vietnam needs a steady and steady increase of electricity for modern industrialization. chemistry of the country. While fossil energy resources are exhausted, environmental pollution; Renewable energy with low economic efficiency, investment in nuclear energy is outstanding.

In this situation, the Government urgently completed the first investment project of nuclear power plant (DHN) to submit to the National Assembly for approval and soon put it into practice to ensure national energy security.

Need to develop power source one step ahead

Through Vietnam's energy source planning studies, after 2015 we will have to import energy. At that time, after the construction of Son La project, hydroelectricity will not have any significant reserves. Oil and gas and domestic coal mining are about to reach the limit. In the form of imported energy, it is possible to consider options: import of electricity grid, import of coal or nuclear power, in addition to forms of renewable energy and measures to enhance energy saving.

Savings are national policies and must be taken seriously in order to reduce the rate of electricity growth compared to economic growth, which means to limit the elasticity to an essential level between 1.1 and 1.5. (this is the ratio between energy growth and economic growth). But limiting the need to use excessive electricity is counterproductive, disproportionately stagnating the economy.

When the only energy import is coal, the huge number of tens of millions of tons of coal imported annually will lead to deformation of the entire electricity industry, a series of specialized jetties that have to work overloaded day and night to be sufficient coal transfer. In addition to environmental pollution such as greenhouse gases, sulfur gas, NOx causing acid rain accompanied by coal burning is a disaster for humanity. Coal electricity also left behind the consequences of thousands of coal ash dumps, where dust accumulation with toxic heavy metals and environmental radioactivity increased dramatically.

Renewable energy is very useful for special and remote areas, so it is necessary to develop them, but should only be aimed at a number of specialized and service purposes, but where the national grid is not reachable because they are not easy to achieve a significant proportion of output and are not economically competitive due to high investment rates. Moreover, renewable power sources are not necessarily clean: wind power makes noise, solar panels can create heavy metal wastes during production at factories before they generate electricity, both all types occupy the area and break the natural landscape .

The import of electricity from other countries has low economic efficiency due to its high price, difficult to take initiative in supply .

Which energy source will meet the electricity demand for people?(Illustration)

Finally, the development of nuclear power is somewhat dominant, due to its superiority. Economically, there is a huge power capacity and a concentrated density, saving space, stable source, so do not quickly adjust to peak hours. On the environment, being the only large source with almost no greenhouse gas emissions, its toxic waste is very small in comparison to coal slag, the remaining problem is how to treat them for the economy. and safe.

Generation of nuclear power technology in the world

People often segment relatively well the development of the nuclear power industry according to generations of nuclear reactor technologies.

The first generation, which was the first reactors, did not have a specialized feature for power generation. This generation is outdated.

The second generation, the pre-Chernobyl reactors with the intention of designing for electricity production, are mainly water reactors for nuclear and thermal conductivity. In general, the second generation kiln has not yet had international standards.

The third generation, is the current technology. After selecting a number of existing furnaces in the second generation and improving the safety and upgrading, learn from the experience after Chernobyl. Third-generation kilns include the three most dominant types of power generation in the order of popularity: pressure water boilers (PWRs), boiling water boilers (BWRs) and heavy water furnaces (PHWRs). . Water is used for thermal load and is also a catalyst for nuclear reactions. Unlike the principle of water kiln, Chernobyl-type reactor is a specialized technology of the Soviet Union using solid graphite material to catalyze the reaction (which is one of the reasons leading to the unsaved accident situation). OK).

Nuclear power plant in France: Only discharge steam, not emissions,
toxic gases such as coal-fired electricity - Photo: wiki

Today there are nearly 450 nuclear power units in 30 countries worldwide operating and nearly 40 projects under construction. Nuclear power plants all over the world manufactured under water kiln technology, including those from the second to the third generation, have a high number of operating hours so it is very reliable in terms of safety. onions. They may suffer from technical problems, but have never had an environmental accident. The third-generation kiln still maintains the principle of a kiln that has been popularized by second-generation kilns, so has not significantly reduced the amount of highly active radioactive waste and the main way to treat waste fuel is still buried. permanently stored. This method has not satisfied public opinion.

The United States and many industrial countries are actively developing fourth generation kilns to replace the third generation. It is expected that after 2025, new kilns will be commercialized.

Fourth-generation kilns, based on high-temperature gas thermal technology, both increase heat exchange efficiency, save fuel, and reduce radioactive waste after burning and minimize the ability to remove intestines. fuel to manufacture illegal nuclear weapons. The main advantage of the fourth generation is that it is possible to design standard modular modules of small and medium scale, easy to mass assemble, save construction time, and increase investment efficiency. While fourth-generation technology will reach a decisive step to eliminate serious nuclear accidents, minimize the amount of highly active radioactive waste, but a smaller amount of waste is still a problem. Permanent disposal or burial.

Fifth generation technology, including some major directions. These include the type of energy transmitting device that integrates the accelerator with the subcritical reactor, capable of thoroughly resolving nuclear safety issues, minimizing high levels of radioactive material, preventing stratagem. nuclear weapons. Especially the fusion reactor is considered to be an endless source of clean energy, because heavy hydrogen fuel is taken from ocean water and the product after the fusion reaction like non-radioactive helium gas. So far, the fifth generation has not yet fully confirmed both technologically and economically, so there is no sure way to know when they will contribute to power generation. Take the mold around after 2050 human species will have a fifth-generation reactor to provide heat and electricity.

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