Vietnam, S Korea to boost nuclear energy collaboration

Vietnam and South Korea should boost their nuclear energy cooperation, by resuming the bilateral director general-level nuclear industry dialogue channel as one of the ways.

A delegation of South Korea’s Ministry for Trade, Industry and Energy, led by Minister Dukgeun Ahn, made the suggestion at a Tuesday meeting in Seoul with Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, led by Minister Nguyen Hong Dien.

The meeting took place within Minister Nguyen Hong Dien’s visit to South Korea for discussions on nuclear power cooperation, as Vietnam is recently gearing up to resume its nuclear energy development, the South Korean ministry highlighted.

The South Korean delegation clarified that resuming the dialogue, which has been on hiatus since 2017, can help consultations on more concrete collaboration measures.

Besides, regarding trade, both sides agreed to closely communicate and work together to mitigate business challenges Korean companies experience in the local Vietnamese market and to swiftly finalize negotiations on upgrading the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for customs convenience.

They also decided to bolster cooperation in supply chains through the critical minerals supply chain technology cooperation center project to be launched this year.

In 2005, Vietnam's Party Central Committee greenlighted a plan to build two nuclear power plants in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan. Four years later, the National Assembly 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.

Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant, Ninh Thuan 1, can operate from 2035 at the earliest, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in its draft amendment to the power development plan VIII (PDP VIII).

Many countries have expressed their willingness to coooperate with Vietnam in nuclear power, such as Russia, Japan, and France.