Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to build eight nuclear power plants in five central provinces over the next few decades.
The plan aims to gradually build and develop a safe and effective nuclear power industry in Vietnam, officials said.
Planners envision buying new technologies needed to design nuclear power plants so that Vietnamese experts can help design the plants with foreign partners.
The plan also aims to boost the involvement of local entities in the building of the plants so that Vietnam might one day build, install, operate and maintain all its own nuclear power plants without foreign involvement.
Local firms will take up 30-40 percent of the work on the eight planned plants.
Officials have said that Vietnam’s nuclear development plan is a peaceful one, launched purely for the purpose of energy security.
According to the plan, the first engine unit of Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant No.1 in the eponymous south-central province will open by 2020, while the second engine unit will go online the following year.
Construction of Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant No.2 and preparations to build other plants will also start at that time.
By 2030, the construction of the other plants will begin and nuclear power will be one of Vietnam’s main energy sources.
Aside from Ninh Thuan, plants will also be built in the central provinces of Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai and Ha Tinh.
