Vietnam plans to introduce a casualty insurance plan with the help of a Japanese insurer for nuclear power plants it plans to jointly build with Japan and start operating by 2020, it has been learned.
One of the nation’s leading casualty insurance companies, Tokio Marine Holdings, which has a subsidiary in Vietnam, has said it will extend full cooperation in drawing up an insurance scheme for Vietnam’s planned nuclear facilities.
The Vietnamese government has agreed in principle to have both the nuclear power plants and their casualty insurance arrangements drawn up in accordance with the “Japan model,” according to informed sources. According to a survey by the International Monetary Fund, Vietnam, which has a population just under 90 million, will likely maintain an annual economic growth rate of 5 to 6 percent for years to come.
Fearing power shortages in the near future, the Southeast Asian country plans to begin operations of four nuclear reactors from around 2020. Japanese firms have received orders for two of the four reactors, although the contract has yet to be officially signed. The insurance scheme Vietnam plans to introduce is an insurance framework called a “nuclear energy insurance plan” in Japan. In preparation for compensation payments to victims of a nuclear accident, 23 casualty insurers have been jointly forming a “Japan nuclear power insurance pool” in concluding insurance contracts with electric power companies.
The Vietnamese government has recently allowed Tokio Marine’s subsidiary in Vietnam to join a government panel to study private-sector insurance plans to be followed in the event of a nuclear crisis.
Vietnam is considering designing an insurance plan modeled after Japan’s insurance system, the sources said.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reconfirmed the purchase of the reactors from Japan during his trip in October, when he met with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
