GLOBAL CLIMATE DEBATE

U.S., Vietnam Sign Nuclear Power Deal

Vietnam, a developing country with a growing energy demand, now has a memorandum of understanding on peaceful nuclear cooperation with the United States.

U.S. officials say the deal, which addresses nuclear safety and nonproliferation concerns, will likeley lead to another agreement allowing U.S. companies to build nuclear power plants in Vietnam.

Vietnam's demand for power is expected to grow by 16 percent a year until 2015, according to government projections, and the country's booming economy has made it difficult for supply to keep pace with demand.

Vietnam has already signed nuclear energy cooperation agreements with Russia, China, France, South Korea, India and Argentina, and there are reports that Russian industry has the lead to build Vietnam's first reactor, to be operating by 2020.

U.S. officials say it could take six months to a year to negotiate a broader agreement that would allow U.S. firms like Westinghouse and General Electric into Vietnam's nuclear power sector.