President obama okayed a nuclear accord with vietnam on February 24, sending it to Capitol Hill for review. If Congress does not produce opposing legislation within 90 days, the pact will then enter into force. The agreement, which allows U.S. firms into Hanoi's commercial nuclear power market, was signed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, held in Brunei in October (NN, Nov. 2013, p. 43). As part of the agreement, Vietnam pledges to rely on international markets for its nuclear fuel services rather than pursue its own enrichment and reprocessing capabilities. That commitment, however, is political rather than legal, according to October 24 remarks by an unnamed State Department official, a situation that could lead to some degree of congressional opposition, as Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) is on record as having expressed concern over the accord's lacking a legally binding commitment.
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