Vietnam signed an agreement with Russia on Monday for an $8 billion loan to help finance the construction of its first nuclear power plant, as it pushes ahead with plans to build a fleet of nuclear power plants.
Representatives from two countries’ finance ministries signed the loan agreement in Hanoi, said Phan Minh Tuan, director of Vietnam Electricity Group’s Nuclear Power & Renewable Energy Projects Pre-Investment Board.
He said the first tranche of the loan will be disbursed in 2014.
The loan will be for the construction of the 2,000-megawatt Ninh Thuan 1 plant with two advanced light water reactors in the southern province of Ninh Thuan.
Russia’s Rosatom has been chosen to build the plant, with construction work slated to begin in 2014 and be completed by 2020, the Vietnamese government has said earlier.
Nobody at the Russian embassy in Hanoi could be reached by telephone.
Vietnam Electricity Group said Monday it has also signed a contract with a Russian consortium of three entities for consulting services to develop a site approval dossier and feasibility study for the plant.
The 18-month study is to be funded by the Russian government, it added.
In September, Japan Atomic Power signed a contract with Vietnam Electricity Group for a similar study for Vietnam’s second nuclear power plant nearby, the Ninh Thuan 2 plant, which is expected to use Japanese technology. The Ninh Thuan 2 Plant is scheduled to go online in 2021.
The Vietnamese government said last year it planned to have 13 nuclear reactors in eight separate plants with a combined capacity of 15,000 megawatt by 2030.
