Russia to Build Vietnam's First Nuclear Power Plant in Ninh Thuan Province

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Under an agreement signed between the governments of Russia and Vietnam, the Russian Federation's nuclear power export company AtomStroyExport (Moscow, Russia), which is a subsidiary of Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation (Moscow), will build Vietnam's first nuclear power plant, to be known as Ninh Thuan 1.

According to the terms of the agreement, AtomStroyExport will construct the plant as a turnkey project. The plant will consist of two water-cooled, water-moderated energy (VVER) pressurized-water reactors, each with a generating capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW), and will be constructed at Phuoc Dinh in the southern Ninh Thuan province.

In November 2009, the Vietnamese National Assembly approved a "draft law on nuclear energy," which included a pre-feasibility study performed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade for 2,000 MW of nuclear-generated electricity in the province.

The draft law called for the construction of at least one nuclear plant to begin by 2014 and that by 2050 nuclear power should supply as much as 30% of the country's energy needs.

A comprehensive feasibility study for the Ninh Thuan 1 power plant will be completed by 2012, with the project plan expecting construction of the plant to begin in 2014. The first reactor is expected to commence operations in 2020, followed by the second reactor a year later. Director General Sergey Kiriyenko of Rosatom is confident that the proposed timeframe is achievable and commented, "After the two blocks are built successfully, we'll start negotiations on building two more blocks on this site and on new sites."

In line with similar recent agreements reached by Rosatom with Iran and Turkey, the Russian company will supply nuclear fuel for the plant and will also remove the used fuel for reprocessing. Financing for the project, costs of which are reported to reach as much as $11 billion, also will be arranged by Rosatom and are expected to be sourced at least 85% by the Russian Ministry of Finance.

When completed, the plant will be handed over to the state power generation and distribution company Electricité du Vietnam (EVN) (Hanoi, Vietnam), which will own and operate it.

Rosatom faced fierce competition from a number of sources over Vietnam's--and southeastern Asia's--first nuclear power plant. Vietnam has previously signed nuclear agreements with France, China, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the United States, and reports earlier this year indicated that a Japanese consortium consisting of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited (TYO:7011) (MHI) (Tokyo, Japan), Toshiba Corporation (LSE:TOS) (Tokyo) and Hitachi Limited (NYSE:HIT) (Tokyo) had placed bids for the project.

Electricite de France S.A. (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris, France), Korean Electric Power Corporation (NYSE:KEP) (KEPCO) (Seoul, South Korea) and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (Shenzhen, China) also were reported to have expressed strong interest at the time.

Vietnam plans to complete the construction of an additional 12 nuclear reactors by 2030. The third and fourth units to be built at Phuoc Dinh are to be completed by 2023 and 2024, respectively, while a four-reactor plant is planned for Vinh Hai in the Ninh Hai district. The first two reactors at Vinh Hai are scheduled to commence operations in 2021 and 2022, followed by the second pair in 2024 and 2025.

Two further reactors are planned to be set up in north-central Ha Tinh province, and the remaining six reactors will be brought online by 2030.

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