US embassy cable - 04HANOI682

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000682 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOE FOR NA-241: TDEDIK, GC: DCLARK 
DEPT FOR NP/NE: AKRASS, EAP/BCLTV: EDUNLAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP, ENRG, TRGY, VM 
SUBJECT: REPORT ON DOE/STATE VISIT TO VAEC AND DALAT 
RESEARCH REACTOR 
 
REF: HANOI 0126 
 
1.   SUMMARY: A DOE/State delegation participated in meetings in 
Hanoi and Dalat, Vietnam on February 10 and 12 to discuss with 
Vietnamese officials and reactor operators a U.S. proposal to ship 
fresh fuel assemblies containing HEU to Russia and to convert the 
Dalat Research Reactor to LEU fuel.  The Dalat reactor has 36 
fresh fuel assemblies containing several kilograms of 36 percent 
enriched HEU.  The reactor operators and officials of the Ministry 
of Science and Technology and the Atomic Energy Commission were 
receptive to the U.S. proposal and agreed to work with the 
Department of Energy (DOE) to ship the fresh fuel to Russia and to 
carry out the analytical studies necessary to convert the reactor. 
The Dalat Institute will begin immediately to work with Argonne 
National Laboratory (Argonne) on calculations for reshuffling the 
existing core and will send two scientists to Argonne later this 
spring.  They agreed to permit the fresh fuel shipment as soon as 
they are assured that the removal of the fresh fuel will cause no 
interruption in the operation of the reactor.  The Vietnam Atomic 
Energy Commission and the Nuclear Research Institute in Dalat see 
the fuel shipments and reactor conversion as a way to increase the 
level of peaceful nuclear cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. 
Successful implementation of this effort should provide a solid 
basis for such cooperation in the future.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.   A DOE/State delegation visited Hanoi and Dalat February 10-12 
to present a proposal to remove unused fresh high enriched uranium 
(HEU) fuel from the Dalat reactor and convert the reactor to low 
enriched uranium (LEU) fuel.  The U.S. also proposed to assist 
Vietnam in shipping the spent HEU fuel to Russia after the reactor 
is converted.  The delegation was led by Trisha Dedik, Director of 
DOE's Office of Nonproliferation Policy (NA-241) and included Igor 
Bolshinsky of Argonne National Laboratory, Diana Clark of DOE/GC 
and Allan Krass of State/NP/NE.  The delegation visited the 
Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission (VAEC) in Hanoi on February 10 
and met with a delegation led by VAEC Chairman Dr. Vuong Huu Tan. 
After the meeting U.S. delegation paid a courtesy call on Vice 
Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Huay.  MOST has 
responsibility for VAEC, which in turn supervises the Nuclear 
Research Institute (NRI) in Dalat, at which the reactor is 
located.  On February 12, the U.S. delegation visited NRI and met 
with Director Dr. Nguyen Nhi Dien.  The delegation was given a 
thorough tour of the reactor and hot cell facilities and discussed 
in detail the U.S proposal, and questions and suggestions raised 
by the Vietnamese side. 
 
3.   At the VAEC meeting the U.S. side presented its proposal and 
the Vietnamese side responded with an agreement in principle, but 
also voiced some concerns and raised some questions.  They first 
provided a detailed inventory of the fresh and irradiated fuel 
elements: 142 elements total, with 104 in the core (irradiated), 
36 fresh elements, and 2 instrumented elements used only for 
temperature measurements in the core.  A shipment of fresh fuel 
would, therefore, comprise the 36 fresh elements currently in 
storage at the site.  The 36 fresh fuel assemblies contain a total 
of 4 kilograms of HEU enriched to 36 percent in U-235.  The 
primary concern raised by VAEC was that the fuel shipments should 
cause no interruption in the operation of the reactor, which is 
used for medical isotope production, neutron activation analysis, 
fundamental research and teaching/training.  They also expressed 
concern that conversion to LEU would not significantly degrade the 
performance of the reactor.  Finally, they inquired whether any 
new agreements would be required between Vietnam and the United 
States or between Vietnam and Russian to implement the fuel 
shipments. 
 
4.   The U.S. delegation responded by assuring VAEC that there 
would be no interruption in the reactor's operation and that the 
Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors (RERTR) Program, 
based at Argonne, would be able to demonstrate that conversion to 
LEU would have only a marginal effect on critical reactor 
parameters such as neutron flux and fuel lifetime.  The U.S. 
delegation made clear that VAEC would be provided with all the 
analytical studies necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness and 
safety of the conversion, and that Vietnamese scientists would be 
invited to Argonne to participate alongside U.S. scientists in the 
performance of these studies. 
 
5.   Diana Clark of DOE/GC addressed the issue of necessary 
agreements.  She noted that no agreement would be necessary for 
the fresh fuel shipment, since this can be handled through the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a manner similar to 
that already used in Romania and Bulgaria.  A bilateral government- 
to-government agreement would be required for the spent fuel 
shipment, since U.S. support for such a shipment will be 
contingent on obtaining appropriate liability protection, tax and 
customs exemptions, and privileges and immunities for any U.S. 
participants. 
 
6.   A separate implementing agreement between DOE and NRI also 
will be required under the umbrella of the government-to- 
government agreement.  However, the spent fuel shipment will not 
take place until after the reactor conversion is complete and the 
fuel has had time to cool down, which gives the parties time to 
negotiate these agreements.  The capacity of the spent fuel pool 
at Dalat is 300 elements, and there are currently no spent fuel 
elements stored in the pool.  This means there is no pressure for 
a spent fuel shipment and scheduling of such a shipment can be 
coordinated with spent fuel shipments from other countries.  The 
U.S. delegation also urged the VAEC to begin bilateral discussions 
with the Russian Government on agreements that will be necessary 
if Russia is to accept the spent fuel. 
 
7.   Discussions continued at the NRI facility in Dalat on 
February 12.  This time the Vietnamese side was led by NRI 
Director Dien, who also provided a tour of the reactor, hot cells 
and isotope production labs.  The facility appears to be well run 
and maintained, and there was evidence of an active isotope 
production program.  Dien claimed that NRI provides about 40 
percent of Vietnam's requirements for medical isotopes, with the 
other 60 percent being imported from France and Hungary.  Dien 
provided an overview of the history of the reactor, noting that it 
was originally supplied by the U.S. as a Triga Mark II, with a 
power of 250 kilowatts.  It first went critical in February of 
1963, but was shut down between 1968 and 1975.  The original U.S.- 
origin fuel was removed in 1975.  The reactor was upgraded and 
restarted under an IAEA project (VIE/4/004) in 1983 and now has 
the designation IVV-9 and a rated power of 500 kilowatts.  It uses 
Russian-origin VVR-M2 fuel assemblies, each of which contains 40 
grams of 36 percent enriched uranium.  The reactor has operated 
for about 26,000 full power hours since 1983 and has had its 
control and instrumentation system upgraded under an IAEA 
technical cooperation project (VIE/4/10) in 1992-94. 
 
8.   Since it renewed operation, the reactor has been managed by 
adding new fuel assemblies (FAs) to the core as burnup reduces the 
reactivity of existing assemblies.  The core operated on 89 FAs 
from 1984-94, 100 FAs from 1994-2002 and now contains 104 FAs. 
Current plans are to add six more in 2006, but Dien suggested that 
with Argonne's help they may be able to reshuffle the existing 104 
FAs to permit an extra year or two of operation before adding 
fresh fuel.  The U.S. side agreed to ask Argonne to do the 
calculations necessary to optimize the reshuffling.  Diem agreed 
to provide the data to ANL as soon as possible.  The existing 
fresh fuel inventory is expected to last until 2015, and Dien 
wanted assurance that if the HEU fresh fuel were shipped to Russia 
and the reactor converted to LEU, the U.S. would provide 
sufficient LEU fuel to allow operation to the same date.  The 
Government of Vietnam is studying the possibility of building a 
new 10-megawatt research reactor after 2015, but no definite plans 
exist at this time. 
 
9.  Dien produced a list of "requests" related to Vietnamese 
acceptance of the U.S. proposal. They included: 
 
-- no interruption of reactor operation, 
-- no change in core construction, 
-- minimal change in flux and other important operational 
parameters, 
-- enough LEU fuel to operate until 2015, 
-- two instrumented LEU FAs for research purposes, and 
-- help from U.S. Triga experts on evaluation of the pool tank, 
reflector and horizontal channels, all of which are originally of 
Triga design. 
 
10.  Discussion of these requests and their consistency with the 
U.S. proposal led to general Vietnamese acceptance of the U.S. 
proposal and agreement on the following sequence of steps. 
Argonne will inform NRI of what data it needs to complete the 
reshuffling calculations and will also begin the preliminary 
neutronic and thermo-hydraulic calculations required for 
conversion licensing.  When it is clear that the core reshuffling 
will permit sufficient operation without addition of fresh fuel, 
NRI will permit the fresh fuel to be shipped to Russia.  NRI will 
make a preliminary application to VAEC for approval of conversion, 
which will allow VAEC to begin its analysis.  But VAEC approval 
will depend on submission of a full safety analysis report (SAR) 
and on ministerial approval of the conversion.  Two NRI scientists 
will visit Argonne, probably in April-May or May-June, to 
participate in the studies for the SAR.  VAEC stated that it will 
take approximately six months from the time of receipt of the 
final SAR to grant a license for the conversion.  Once this 
license is granted, the LEU fuel can be ordered from the Russian 
manufacturer.  Allowing six to eight months for fuel fabrication 
and delivery, it seems feasible that conversion of the reactor 
could take place sometime in 2005.  Meanwhile, VAEC and the 
Government of Vietnam will begin discussions with the Russian 
Government and Minatom on arrangements for return of the spent 
fuel.  The spent fuel shipment could be scheduled for as early as 
a year after the conversion is complete, but this will depend on 
the outcome of Vietnam-Russia discussions and the conclusion of 
appropriate bilateral agreements between Vietnam and the U.S. 
 
11.  COMMENT:  The discussions in both Hanoi and Dalat were open, 
friendly and productive.  The concerns and questions presented by 
the Vietnamese side were all serious and reasonable, and they were 
presented in a positive and cooperative manner.  Both VAEC and NRI 
made it clear that they supported the U.S. proposal in principle, 
and once their concerns were addressed, they both agreed that they 
could move forward on the basis of the timetable outlined in 
paragraph 10.  It seems quite clear that VAEC and NRI see the fuel 
shipments and reactor conversion as a way to increase the level of 
peaceful nuclear cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. 
Successful implementation of this effort should provide a solid 
basis for such cooperation in the future.  END COMMENT 
 
12.  Finally, the delegation wants to express its heartfelt thanks 
and appreciation to Gary Sigmon, Jonathan Hilton and Michael 
Cavanaugh for their efficient and indispensable help in preparing 
for and conducting this visit.  This cable was drafted and cleared 
by the delegation. 
PORTER