Experimental Nuclear Reactor in South Vietnam
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Thu Apr 21 10:35:12 2005
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:34:28 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: [Vsg] Experimental Nuclear Reactor in South Vietnam
Dear All,
May I have a question? In a translated Polish book, which was published decades ago and lacked any kind of bibliography, I found a short reference to that in 1963, just before the fall of Diem, South Vietnam obtained a small experimental nuclear reactor. What I know about the South Vietnamese nuclear research center at Dalat suggests that this statement is true, but I need some data about this reactor. When did its construction start, when did it begin to operate and when did the American government make the decision to give such a reactor to South Vietnam?
Best regards,
Balazs Szalontai
From kleinen@uva.nl Thu Apr 21 12:57:16 2005
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 21:56:29 +0200
From: John Kleinen <kleinen@uva.nl>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Balazs,
I am not a specialist in this regard but Vietnam has operated a nuclear reactor for research purposes since 1963. After 1975, the reactor was restored and became the Da Lat reactor at present with a low capacity of only 500 kw. During the past years, the plant seems to be safely operated and effectively exploited, contributing to socio-economic development. The reactor was previously operated and maintained by only 10 engineers trained in the former Soviet Union but now more than 100 scientists and employees work within the research facility. Many Vietnamese studied nuclear physics in the former SU and elsewhere. For the pre-1975 period, evidence in official handbooks of the Republic of Vietnam; I assume that details can be found in US archival facilities like the one in Texas. There are some studies of the electricity capacity of Vietnam and often Dalat is mentioned.
John Kleinen
From tbalaban@earthlink.net Thu Apr 21 14:31:14 2005
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 17:28:33 -0400
From: John Balaban <tbalaban@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
The director of the DaLat reactor was (Prince) Dr. Nguyen Phat (or Phuoc) Buu Hoi, nephew of Bao Dai. He later directed the Institut du Radium in Paris. Buu Hoi's brother was an official in the North while he was a Diem cabinet member (Minister of Health?) in the South. Their was mother abbottess of Buddhist nuns in Hue. His name figures in the Pentagon papers, as he was apparently asked by Diem's brother Nhu to open peace talks, secretly in Vientiane, with the North.
You can find his scientific work on the Internet, just type in "Buu Hoi."
From tonthat@homemail.com.au Thu Apr 21 14:43:44 2005
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 07:40:07 -0700
From: ton that quynh du <tonthat@homemail.com.au>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear John,
Bao Dai's name was Vinh Thuy, indicating that Buu Hoi was a generation senior than Bao Dai, hence Buu Hoi can not have been Bao Dai's nephew.
Du
From tbalaban@earthlink.net Thu Apr 21 16:55:57 2005
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:55:47 -0400
From: John Balaban <tbalaban@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Oops. I should have known better since I knew Buu Hoi.
A lineage of the royal family (wouldn't that also include men with names that begin with Ton That?) can also be found by searching "Buu Hoi". The names of subsequent generations were created by a poem written by Minh Mang (1791-1841), 4th son of Emperor Gia Long. Minh Mang's "Poem for the Emperor's Lineage" provides the given names of subsequent royal generations.
See http://users.panola.com/vietnam/summary.html
John Balaban
From Edward.G.Miller@Dartmouth.EDU Thu Apr 21 17:18:18 2005
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:17:53 -0400
From: Ed Miller <Edward.G.Miller@Dartmouth.EDU>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: 'Vietnam Studies Group' <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear John and list:
Buu Hoi never served in Diem's cabinet. Shortly after Diem's appointment as SVN prime minister in 1954, Buu Hoi was briefly involved in a French manuever to remove Diem from office. However, he and Diem subsequently patched things up, and he did consent to serve the Diem government in a variety of overseas posts. Following Diem and Nhu's raids on the Buddhist pagodas in August 1963, Buu Hoi became the official South Vietnamese representative at the United Nations--his Buddhist background notwithstanding. He replaced Madame Nhu's mother, who had resigned in the wake of the raids.
Cheers,
Ed
From kleinen@uva.nl Fri Apr 22 01:05:33 2005
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:04:46 +0200
From: John Kleinen <kleinen@uva.nl>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Balazs,
A quick Internet search learnt that Vietnam indeed has rebuilt its own Triga reasearch reactor with the help of the Soviet Union.The head of the Dalat Nuclear Research Center was a certain Duong Huy Pham of the Vietnamese National Institute for Reactor Research.The 250-kilowatt Triga Mark IV reactor, which operated from 1962 to 1968, had been stripped of its fuel by the departing Americans in 1975. Nuclear research activities had already been affected by the Vietnam war, but in 1975 all activities stopped. In 1978, a cooperation project for reconstruction of the reactor with Soviet aid was approved, and construction began in 1981. Later the Indians signed a contract with the Vietnamese. More information on http://www.vaec.gov.vn/NRI/reactor.htm.
John
From wfz@isciences.com Fri Apr 22 07:34:03 2005
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 10:33:34 -0400
From: W. F. Zimmerman <wfz@isciences.com>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: 'Vietnam Studies Group' <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Along these lines, does anyone know anything about Vietnam's thinking on nuclear non-proliferation? It would seem to me that the internal impetus for proliferation would probably have been highest in the period after the end of the Vietnam War and the border conflict with China.
From thjandl@yahoo.com Sat Apr 23 19:49:29 2005
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2005 19:49:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Thomas Jandl <thjandl@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Vietnam is thinking rather actively about a nuclear reactor. I have friends in the olitical arena who talk about it in terms of energy needs (about 12-14% growth rates per annum, depending of course on the continued economic growth), but one can hear that it is about national pride.
I used to work in nuclear waste management, so I tell them just how expensive it would be for Vietnam to deal with the aftermath -- geologically, I see no place for a repository in the country – but they soldier on and say how important it would be for a country like
Vietnam ...
So I see them move towards serious exploration in the not too distant future.
From jhaughto@beaconhill.org Sun Apr 24 09:25:18 2005
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2005 12:25:40 -0400
From: Jonathan Haughton <jhaughto@beaconhill.org>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Cc: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
From the Economist Intelligence Unit's Vietnam Country Report, March 2003: "Russia is hoping that Vietnam will turn to it for help with some major infrastructure projects. One is launching a proposed Vinasat satellite; the other is building a nuclear power plant. Vietnam set up a committee on atomic energy in 2002, and hopes to build a nuclear power station by 2020, in the interests of energy diversification."
Jonathan Haughton
Suffolk University, Boston
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Mon Apr 25 11:25:45 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 20:24:40 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: [Vsg] Re: experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear All,
thank you so much for this flood of information! Let me return your kindness with a diplomatic report that I recently found in the Hungarian archives. It was written on 18 November 1983 by the Hungarian Embassy in Hanoi. The documents describes the visit of a Soviet party and government delegation headed by Gaidar Aliyev in Vietnam. The Vietnamese leadership submitted a long list of economic requests to the Soviet delegation. Among others, they asked the Soviets for a big steelworks, a new hydroelectric power station, and an electricity-generating nuclear power plant. The Soviets reacted rather negatively to the Vietnamese requests, pointing out that Vietnam had used previous Soviet economic aid quite ineffectively. Many of the major Vietnamese requests, including the one for a nuclear power plant, were rejected by the Soviets. The Soviet delegation obviously considered the request for a nuclear power plant incompatible with the underdeveloped character of the Vietnamese economy. Their sharp criticism of Vietnamese economic mistakes surprised the Vietnamese leaders, who were eventually compelled to promise to use Soviet aid more effectively.
I may make a comment on the timing of the request for a nuclear power plant. In 1983 the Soviets started to construct Cuba's first nuclear reactor, Juragua-1, and the Vietnamese leaders, who had been in very close contact with the Cubans since the 1960s, were probably inspired by the Cuban example.
All the best and thanks again,
Balazs
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Mon Apr 25 12:11:51 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:11:04 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear John,
thanks a lot for your assistance! The website you quote says that the South Vietnamese reactor was built in 1962, while in your previous message you noted that the reactor started to operate in 1963. Is it correct if I conclude from these two pieces of info that the Americans started building the reactor in 1962 and it began to operate the next year? Or is it possible that the construction of the reactor started in 1961, the year in which the Da Lat nuclear research center was established? Excuse me for being so demanding, but I consider the issue of timing quite important. I try to reconstruct how the Americans and the Soviets gave nuclear technology to their Asian allies, and this is why I need precise dates. For instance, the construction of North Korea's Soviet-built nuclear research reactor is said to have started in 1962 or 1963, but this also needs further confirmation.
All the best,
Balazs
From tbalaban@earthlink.net Mon Apr 25 12:16:16 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:16:04 -0400
From: John Balaban <tbalaban@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
I really don't know. Wish I could help with this; it's pretty interesting.
What happened to the reactor at the end of the war, I wonder.
From wfz@isciences.com Mon Apr 25 12:17:07 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:16:41 -0400
From: W. F. Zimmerman <wfz@isciences.com>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: 'Vietnam Studies Group' <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Have you considered doing a Freedom of Information Act request on the US agencies that administered the technology transfer?
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Mon Apr 25 12:26:41 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:24:36 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
A good idea, but how to do it? I am not an American citizen. Worse still, I am currently in Hungary, Eastern Europe, and I won't be able to visit the U.S. in the coming one or two years. Any suggestions?
All the best,
Balazs
From wfz@isciences.com Mon Apr 25 12:37:36 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 15:37:16 -0400
From: W. F. Zimmerman <wfz@isciences.com>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: 'Vietnam Studies Group' <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
I would start with a review of the open literature on transfer of atomic technology. If I remember correctly, programs such as "Swords Into Plowshares" were quite prominent at the time of your interest. Those were the days of wild-eyed atomic zeal. I suspect there have already been some interesting revelations about atomic technology transfer. Only a few years before 1962, the US Air Force was looking seriously at atomic-powered bombers and "Project Orion", the hydrogen-bomb-powered spaceship ...
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Mon Apr 25 12:45:10 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:44:10 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Thanks a lot for your advice! I will try to find something along these lines. This story about "Project Orion" is particularly nice. It reminds me to the military project aimed at providing the U.S. Navy with a fighter-plane that would also function as a submarine. As far as I know, they still do not have such a plaything in their arsenal...
I would start with a review of the open literature on transfer of atomic technology. If I remember correctly, programs such as "Swords Into Plowshares" were quite prominent at the time of your interest. Those were the days of wild-eyed atomic zeal. I suspect there have already been some interesting revelations about atomic technology transfer. Only a few years before 1962, the US Air Force was looking seriously at atomic-powered bombers and "Project Orion", the hydrogen-bomb-powered spaceship ...
From Edward.G.Miller@Dartmouth.EDU Mon Apr 25 14:29:08 2005
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:28:35 -0400
From: Ed Miller <Edward.G.Miller@Dartmouth.EDU>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: 'Vietnam Studies Group' <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear Balazs:
I don't know when the Dalat reactor became operational, but I did find a couple of items in my notes that may be of interest here. First, the Diem government had a declared interest in research on nuclear power from a pretty early date. An article in the government mouthpiece CACH MANG QUOC GIA (National Revolution) on 7 November 1955 noted that the Diem government had publicly called for American help to build a nuclear research center "in a Southeast Asian country." (The article left little doubt about which Southeast country the government had in mind.) Second, a short piece in the May 1959 South Vietnamese journal NGHIEN CUU HANH CHANH (Administrative Research) announced that Washington and Saigon had concluded an agreement the previous month to cooperate in the construction of an atomic research facility.
I am sure that there would be other coverage of the reactor and the project in other South Vietnamese periodicals from the early 1960s. Also, in addition to the relevant American documents available at NARA and other US archives, I believe it very likely that there would be material on this in National Archives #2 in Saigon.
Cheers,
Ed
From kleinen@uva.nl Mon Apr 25 23:37:25 2005
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 08:36:49 +0200
From: John Kleinen <kleinen@uva.nl>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
Dear Balazs,
I believe the other John (Balaban) is answering the question you asked me.
Never mind. I guess that that the 1962 date is most acurate, because it came also from published sources like the Atomic Energy Commission. I think that a quicker way to know all this is Vienna, don't you think so? As I said, I am not a specialist in this field. I came across this information while checking some data about the Hoa Binh dam and Vietnam's need for electricity. The Hoa Binh dam figures in my research as a possible "noise" factor to understand developments in the Red River estuary. But that is quite another discussion.
Best regards,
John Kleinen
From HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu Wed Apr 27 09:02:32 2005
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 18:01:49 +0200
From: Balazs Szalontai <HPHSZB01@phd.ceu.hu>
Reply-To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Subject: RE: [Vsg] experimental nuclear reactor in South Vietnam
As for the question of non-proliferation: I find it quite interesting that the Soviet Union's decisions with regard to the construction of nuclear power plants in allied countries were not always motivated by its policy of non-proliferation. For instance, in 1983 the IAEA published a list of countries that had signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and this list included Vietnam as well. By contrast, Cuba did not sign the treaty (she would do it only after the end of the Cold War). Still, in 1983 the Soviets started to build a reactor in Cuba, whereas they rejected Hanoi's request for a nuclear power plant. Of course, we must take into consideration that the Soviet-built VVER (light-water) reactors constructed in Cuba and Eastern Europe were incapable of producing plutonium, and thus providing Cuba with such a reactor was not particularly risky. On the other hand, in the mid-1980s the Soviets agreed to build four VVER reactors in North Korea only because the North Koreans eventually accepted to sign the non-proliferation treaty in exchange. In the previous decades the DPRK repeatedly asked the USSR for a nuclear power plant, but Moscow kept rejecting its request. On its part, the DPRK kept refusing to sign the non-proliferation treaty and the nuclear test-ban treaty.
Balazs Szalontai