Scott Sagan, co-director of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Co-operation and head of the Global Nuclear Future Initiative, spoke to Viet Nam News on the sideline of a recent forum.

What's the goal of the Global Nuclear Future Initiative?

The American Academy of Arts and Science has long been interested in promoting adequate or improved safety, security and assurances in any country that has developed or plans to develop nuclear power.

Civilian nuclear power has great promises attached to it, but is also an inherently risky technology.

We have gathered a number of meetings around the world - leaders of different non-governmental organisations and governmental officials - to discuss how best to ensure that nuclear power, if it's developed in a country, is done so in a safe and secure manner, ensuring that there's no violation of the non-proliferation treaty.

We want to meet in Viet Nam and are pleased to have the co-operation of the Vietnamese Atomic Agency here, as well as participants from 13 countries.

How do you assess the Vietnamese Government approach to developing nuclear power?

I'm very pleased, as were other participants, that the Vietnamese government has ratified the additional protocols, which is an advance set of safeguards endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

That's a very important step for Viet Nam to have accepted these additional protocols safeguards that enhance the protection of nuclear power, if it goes forward. I'm also pleased with the transparency that the Vietnamese government has advocated, describing the nuclear power programme in great detail to regional neighbours so they can understand what Viet Nam is doing.

Sometimes countries move forward with nuclear power in a very secretive and competitive way, which creates suspicion and alarms, especially in a post-Fukushima environment, where people are naturally concerned about safety.

Viet Nam, I think, is doing a good job of trying to promote understanding and transparency in a way in which it's going about developing nuclear power.

Why do you think Southeast Asia is increasingly becoming a hot-spot for nuclear power talks and discussions?

Southeast Asia has a great demand for energy, electricity, and lacks adequate internal supplies. Nuclear power is widely considered among some, but not all, member countries of ASEAN to be part of their future energy mix.

Viet Nam is taking the lead in moving forward as the first country in the region. Others may or may not follow suit but in order to make their own judgments, they need to understand how Viet Nam is making its decision.

What are the lessons learned that can help countries such as Viet Nam in their pursuit of nuclear power?

If nuclear power is to be produced in a secure and safe manner, we have to share what are the best ways of doing that with each other so that we don't make mistakes the way that some countries have in the past. We want to make sure that there are no accidents like Fukushima or violations of the non-proliferation treaty.

I strongly believe that we need to have co-operation across countries and across disciplines. Nuclear power is a very complex industrial process. We need to have engineers, physicists, political scientists, lawyers, and sociologists all discussing these matters together.

We also have to learn from each other. Each country that moves forward in these areas make occasional mistakes.

In the case of Viet Nam, you need to have extreme vigilance. You can't just adopt a set of rules and assume that they're always followed. Constant vigilance is important. You should adopt the best practices of the international community such as the additional protocol of the IAEA. Not all countries have adopted that yet. Viet Nam did so very recently.

It would be useful to have permanent safeguard attached to your nuclear purchases. So that no matter what happen in the future and that the safeguard, the rules to govern, the procedures that outside inspectors can observe what is going on, can continue on.

Viet Nam is moving forward at a slow and steady pace. It's fortunate that Viet Nam, in my opinion, is not trying to rush. Instead, it's taking a slow, steady, cautious approach, following international rules and co-operating with the international atomic energy agency. — VNS