Russia is bankrolling a research center to help train nuclear industry workers in Vietnam, where energy policy calls for significant investment in the technology over the next two decades.
With no nuclear power plants currently in operation, the country lacks the workforce to operate a reactor fleet. To that end, the head of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute recently told a conference that plans are underway to build a nuclear technology center in Da Lat as early as 2015. Vietnam's Tuoi Tre news service reported the facility will cost $500 million, financed by loans from the Russian government.
Vietnam selected Russia's Rosatom to build the country's first nuclear plant, which is scheduled to begin construction late next year. According to the World Nuclear Association, the country has reached agreements to build 2,000 megawatts of generation capacity using Russian reactors at Phuoc Dinh and another 2,000 megawatts using Japanese technology at Vinh Hai. Long-term plans have called for as much as 6,700 megawatts of nuclear generation to be installed by 2030.