Russia and Vietnam Agree on Nuclear Power Plant Project

Russia and Vietnam have officially entered into an inter-governmental agreement to facilitate the construction of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant. The deal was announced by the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom following a signing ceremony in Moscow. The project is designed to address the increasing electricity demands of the Vietnamese economy, which has struggled with major power blackouts. These outages are often driven by an expanding industrial sector and a rising middle class, with supplies further strained by extreme weather conditions like typhoons and droughts. > The agreement outlines the terms and main areas of cooperation between the parties in implementing the construction project. According to the terms of the deal, the project will involve the construction of two Russian-designed power units with a total capacity of 2,400 megawatts (MW). While the framework for cooperation is established, the specific costs associated with the development have not been made public. This agreement marks the revival of a long-standing partnership. Work on nuclear facilities in central Vietnam originally began in the early 2010s but was halted in 2016 when the government in Hanoi suspended its nuclear program due to safety and budgetary issues. Following the resumption of the program in 2024, Vietnam reached out to both Russia and Japan to restart the initiatives. However, Tokyo officially withdrew from the nuclear power plant plans in December, paving the way for the current deal with Moscow.