Vietnam needs 2,400 staff for 2 nuclear power plants, only 460 people trained

Vietnam requires approximately 1,200 staff to operate a 2,000 MW nuclear power plant, or 2,400 are needed for two 2,000 MW nuclear power plants in the central province of Binh Thuan.

Ly Quoc Hung, head of the science and technology department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, made this statement during a meeting on nuclear power workforce development held on Thursday.

To date, the country has sent 460 individuals to study nuclear power abroad. This includes 429 people sent by the Ministry of Education and Training to Russia and 31 sent by state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) to Japan and Russia.

However, Hung pointed out that only a portion of these learners are currently working at EVN, with many employed in sectors unrelated to nuclear power.

At the meeting, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien urged relevant agencies, including EVN as the project investor, to assess the training demand in Q1/2025 and evaluate the training capabilities of Vietnamese institutions by Q2/2025.

He also encouraged the use of international cooperation, such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) and official development assistance (ODA), to support the development of training programs.

In 2005, Vietnam's Party Central Committee had greenlighted a plan to build two nuclear power plants in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan. Four years later, the parliament approved the plan with an initial investment of VND200 trillion ($7.9 billion at the current forex rate).

In November 2016, the parliament decided to halt the 4,000 MW project, citing safety, funding and technology reasons. In November 2024, it agreed to resume the nuclear power project in Ninh Thuan after an eight-year suspension.

Originally, the Ninh Thuan nuclear power project featured two plants. Ninh Thuan 1 was scheduled to be a cooperation between Vietnam and Russia, while Ninh Thuan 2 a collaboration between Vietnam and Japan.