23.06.10 Vietnam Focus Vietnam to build thirteen nuclear reactors by 2030

Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung

Vietnam's government has announced that it plans to build 13 nuclear reactors, by 2030, with combined capacity of 15 gigwatts. Once in place, Vietnam's nuclear power will account for 10 per cent of the country's total generation capacity, according to purpose devised-development plan approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Vietnam's need for development of nuclear powered generating capacity is a direct result of an increasingly ferocious demand for electricity, in a country which shows one of the fastest economic growth rates in Asia.

The plan stated that the first reactor, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, is expected to be fully functional by 2020, the second by 2021. The reactors will be erected in eight locations in the provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Ha Tinh and Quang Ngai, with 30 to 40 per cent of the construction work to be carried out by domestic labour.

The first plant is expected to cost around $8 billion, and will be constructed using Russian light water reactor technology. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2014, and the plant is expected to be operational by 2020.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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