Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant can operate in 2035 at earliest: ministry

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).

The Ninh Thuan nuclear power project, located in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan, includes two plants, with two turbines each. The Ninh Thuan 1 is located in Phuoc Dinh commune, Thuan Nam district, while the Ninh Thuan 2 in Vinh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district.

Per normal procedures, a nuclear power plant project can take 148 months from investment preparations to operations of its first turbine and 158 months (10 more months) for the second turbine.

That means the Ninh Thuan 1 can see its first turbine operate from mid-2037 and the second from mid-2038.

Per Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s request of completing the investment procedures in five years (2030), the ministry estimated that the earliest possible timeline for operation is 2035.

The ministry noted that the procedures can speed up through phases of conducting feasibility study (FS) and approving construction tasks.

Another mechanism is to allow state utility EVN as investor to simultaneously negotiate an EPC contract and approve FS.

But the project needs a new design consultant as the original consultant, Ukraine-based Kiev EnergoProjekt, is not available anymore.

The ministry also noted that Russia has experiences in developing nuclear power projects in Belarus, Türkiye, Bangladesh, and Egypt in 7-8 years (from construction to commercial operation), so the 10-year period is feasible (five years for preparation and another between construction and commercial operation).

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 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.