Japan, Russia to build Vietnam’s first nuclear power plants

Vietnam will cooperate with Russia and Japan in establishing the country’s first two nuclear power plants in the central province of Ninh Thuan.

Under an agreement signed by the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and Russia’s Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation Sunday, the first one will begin operations in 2020.

The agreement was witnessed by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, on a two-day official visit to Vietnam starting Saturday.

Also Sunday the two leaders witnessed other agreements in different fields, including cooperation in energy.

They agreed to increase trade between the two countries to US$3 billion in 2012 and $10 billion in 2020 via various solutions like setting up a free trade zone.

Trade between Vietnam and Russia in the first eight months this year reached $1.17 billion.

In the meantime, at a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan in Hanoi Sunday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam has chosen Japan as its partner in building the country’s second nuclear power plant.

Kan made a two-day visit to Vietnam last weekend.
Vietnam will also cooperate with Japan in developing the country’s rare earth industry, Dung said.