Viet Nam is planning to develop a nuclear science and technology centre using a 500 million USD loan from Russia over the next 7 years.

Viet Nam's only nuclear reactor in Da Lat

Mr Tran Chi Thanh, Director of the Viet Nam Atomic Energy Institute, said the centre will help increase Viet Nam’s expertise and ability to operate nuclear power plants, local media reported.

“It will help Viet Nam conduct modern studies and boost the application of nuclear energy in its socio-economic sectors,” he said, as cited by the Saigon Times.

The project will be split across two sites in Ha Noi and the Central Highlands town of Da Lat, said Thanh. The Da Lat site will include a 15 megawatt reactor, 30 times the capacity of the country’s only nuclear reactor that was built in 1963.

He said the reactor will produce radioactive isotopes for medical purposes as the existing plant can only meet 30% of the country's demand.

The centre which is the first major nuclear project, discussed publicly in Viet Nam since the country announced it was scrapping plans for its first nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan Province last November, 7 years after they were approved.

The decision was due to economic reasons, not safety or technological issues, officials said at the time.

The power plants would have cost 400 trillion VND (17.6 billion USD), but the country needs to focus on infrastructure development at the moment, they said.

(Source: VnExpress International)