The state-controlled Tuoi Tre newspaper reported the National Assembly will give its approval for the decision later this month.
Approval for building two nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000MW was given by the assembly in 2009.
While a contract to construct the first plant was awarded to Russian companies, the contract for the second plant was secured by Japanese companies, Associated Press reported.
The construction, which was initially scheduled to begin in 2014, was postponed to 2020.
State-run Electricity of Vietnam Group head Duong Quang Thanh was quoted by Tuoi Tre as saying that the nuclear power are economically viable due to availability of other cheaper energy sources.
Thanh said the government’s power demand growth projection was revised to 11% for 2016-2020 and 7-8% in 2021-2030 compared to 17-20% per year in 2009, when the plants were approved.
Thanh said: “Currently, power demand growth is not high, while domestically generated and imported sources of energy are sufficient for social-economic development. In particular, prices of imported sources of energy are much cheaper now.
“Nuclear power, therefore, cannot compete economically with other sources of energy.”
Currently, coal, oil and gas-fired power plants generate nearly half of Vietnam's power needs.
National Assembly's Science, Technology and Environment Committee vice chairman Le Hong Tinh was quoted by the newspaper as saying that increase in cost of construction of the plants to $18bn was another reason to scrap the plans.
Image: The National Assembly will give its approval for the decision later this month.. Photo: courtesy of xedos4/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
