RosAtom may build four units of a nuclear power station in Vietnam at a total cost of USD 15 billion. For purposes of securing the contract, Russia’s nuclear agency would need to provide financing for the project, covering part of the expenses with its own money.

The head of RosAtom Mr. Sergei Kiriyenko mentioned that Russia and Vietnam are planning to construct a nuclear power facility. The cost of this project, Mr. Kiriyenko estimated, would be USD 15 billion. The plant would have four units, each having a capacity of 750 – 1 000 MW. The total capacity of the plant would be around 4 GW. According to Konstantin Gulyaev of Capital Investment, the project may be finished by the year 2015.

Vietnam has reasons for being interested in nuclear energy. As Petr Tsvetov from the Asian and African Countries Institute of the Moscow State University observed, the issue of energy for the rapidly expanding Vietnamese economy is highly significant. At this time, however, Vietnam is not using nuclear energy, even though the government has already made the construction of a nuclear power station a priority. There are large reserves of uranium to be mined in Vietnam.

During the time of the Soviet Union, scientists from Vietnam collaborated closely with their Russian counterparts. Some Vietnamese researchers even worked at the Dubna center. Following the fall of the U.S.S.R., Vietnam’s government made efforts to negotiate new agreements with the Russian side, but no interest existed at that time. Russia began to exhibit interests in nuclear cooperation 3-4 years ago. The situation has changed somewhat now, since Russia has formidable challengers, namely France and South Korea.  

It is difficult to predict how successful Russia’s negotiations with the Vietnamese government would turn out to be.

Russian atomic agency RosAtom is now engaged in a series of talks for projects around the world calling for the construction of several dozen nuclear power units.

AtomStroiExport is already constructing five nuclear power reactors in Iran, India, and Bulgaria.