June 1, 2004

Earthquakes with a magnitude of up to 8.0 could hit the planned site of Southeast Asia’s largest hydropower plant in northern Vietnam, a new study says.

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, director of the Institute of Global Physics, said Tuesday the study analyzed the likelihood of temblors with a magnitude of 5.0 or more occurring at the Son La Hydropower Plant, located 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Hanoi in an earthquake-prone area.

The study – conducted at the request of state-owned Electricity of Vietnam – showed faults in the area may cause powerful earthquakes where Vietnam plans to build its 2,400-megawatt hydropower plant, the largest in Southeast Asia.

Thuy said the new power plant is being built to withstand quakes up to magnitudes of 8.0 or 9.0 on the Richter scale.

“It can happen suddenly so we have to plan beforehand to avoid the consequences,” he said.

The Phong Tho-Nam Pia fault, 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the dam, has already caused earthquakes of magnitude 5.0, he said. Between 1990 and 2003, more than 1,000 mini quakes within 200 kilometers (120 miles) of the site have struck, but caused little or no damage.

EVN plans to begin construction on the Son La power plant in late 2005.
The decade-long project is expected to cost an estimated 37 trillion dong (US$2.3 billion).

The plant – with a dam up to 215 meters in height and a power station with eight turbines – is designed to generate nearly 9.43 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The first turbine is expected to be operable by 2012.

The Son La project was approved last fall by Vietnam’s National Assembly after much debate.