Vietnam's Nuclear Programme

Vietnam's government announced in June 2010 publicly that it is planning to build eight nuclear power plants including 14 units until 2030. It's starting with the educaton of 2,400 nuclear ingeneers who will work on the programme.

In October 2010 Vietnam and Russia signed an agreement which includes the construction of a nuclear power plant in the south of Vietnam (Ninh Thuan province) by the Russian company Rosatom. It will be ready for use in 2020 and consist of two blocks, both generating 1,200 MW performance. Vietnam get's a credit from Russia for the project.

Also in October 2010 Vietnam signed a treaty with Japan for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in also Ninh Thuan province under Japanese directives.

An overview over the planned sites of the new Vietnamese nuclear power plants. The two blue circles show the sites of the plants under Russian and Japanese directives as described left. Image: http://www.nuklearforum.ch

Despite the desaster in Fukushima in March 2011 the both countries reconfirmed their plans in August 2011.

Now, in December 2011, first preparations for the by Russia's Rosatom built power plant are already undergoing. Heavy drilling machines are preparing the plot already.

Source: http://www.nuklearforum.ch

As the Bangkok Post wrote in an article in November 2016, the Vietnamese government has cancelled the planned construction of the two nuclear power plants. Financial reasons have been named as the cause for the decision. Four, five years after the start of the initiative, one wonders how far constructions (and costs) have already gone. However, Vietnam Electricity (company) announced that the country will continue promoting nuclear power.

A central motivation for a country to run nuclear power plants is to gain the capability to built nuclear weapons.