The government is drawing up plans to finance Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant project with foreign loans, the Minister of Industry and Trade has said.

The project will cost at least US$10.3 billion, 75 percent of which will be funded by foreign loans, local newswire VietNamNet cited minister Vu Huy Hoang as saying at a National Assembly session Friday.

In a report released Friday, the government said commercial nuclear power was a necessary option for Vietnam given the fast-growing demand for electricity in the country. The government estimated that power demand may rise about 13 percent this year.

The two-plant project will include four reactors with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts for 60 years. The first of the two plants, both located in the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan, is expected to start commercial operations in 2020.

Nuclear power generation will be able to meet up to 20 percent of commercial power demand in 2050, according to government forecasts.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien