The signing ceremony.

Nation mulls plan to build nuclear power plants

Nuclear power and unanswered questions

Vietnam may have nuclear power by 2020

National Assembly deputies approve nuclear power project

Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan was present on March 17 when Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan and Rosatom’s general director signed the document in Moscow.

Beginning in September, 2010, Rosatom will train Vietnamese experts in the fields of nuclear power while Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant is under construction. The Russian government and Rosatom will cover part of the training fees for Vietnamese experts.

Vietnamese universities will cooperate with Rosatom and the Russian National Nuclear Research University to implement training projects in the area of nuclear power.

With the agreement of 77.48 percent of deputies, the National Assembly on November 25 2009 officially approved the resolution on the construction of the first two nuclear power plants in the southern province of Ninh Thuan. The first plant, named Ninh Thuan 1, will be based in Phuoc Dinh commune, Thuan Nam District while the second one, named Ninh Thuan 2, will be built in Vinh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, with a capacity of around 2,000 MW each.

According to the NA’s decision, the technology used in the two plants will be the pressured water reactor technology, the most modern generation of reactors at the time the project was designed. The estimated funding in late 2008 for the two plants is around 200 trillion dong. The construction of the first plant will be kicked off in 2014 and the first turbine will be put into operation in 2020.

There are currently about 600 experts, engineers and technicians working in the nuclear power sector. Of that number, only 10 percent are doing research while the rest are working on nuclear technology applications. Vietnam is obviously short staffed for the new industry.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has co-ordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to carry out a human resources training programme. MoET has developed a human resources development plan for the nuclear power industry.

VietNamNet/government’s website