Vietnam, Russia cooperate to build 10MW nuclear reactor in southern province

Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and Russia's Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation will jointly build a nuclear research center with a 10 MW reactor in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Tran Chi Thanh, head of the ministry's Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, announced this at a regular press meet on Thursday, adding that the facility will produce radioisotopes for medical and industrial purposes, conduct silicon irradiation with neutrons to produce semiconductor materials, train workforce for nuclear energy sector, and conduct research in material and physics science.

In June, as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Vietnam, Rosatom and MoST signed a memorandum of understanding on building the nuclear research center, stressing that it was meant for peaceful purposes.

Since it would be the first time that Vietnam operates a large-scale nuclear reactor along with silicon irradiation, Vietnam has requested Rosatom to help with human resources training and participation of Vietnamese experts in the project, Thanh said.

He said the ministry has already prepared human resources for the project's pre and post operational phases.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Hoang Giang reaffirmed Vietnam’s consistent policy of developing nuclear power for peaceful purposes and socioeconomic development, benefiting sectors like healthcare, agriculture and international trade.

The project will proceed per regulations of both countries as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he added.

Vietnam currently runs one 10-MW nuclear reactor as part of Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. The institute was established in 1963 by the U.S. as the TRIGA Mark-2 Nuclear Reactor.

The facility stopped operations before the 1975 reunification of Vietnam. The former Soviet Union then helped Vietnam restart the facility in 1984 and doubled its capacity to 500 kWt later.

Research work by the institute has helped the country manufacture nuclear equipment, produce radioactive isotopes, monitor and issue warnings about environmental radiation, and advance radiation technology, biotechnology as well as management of nuclear waste, Giang said.

Dong Nai province is a manufacturing hub in southern Vietnam and home to the under-construction Long Thanh International Airport.