OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2015. The first meeting of a joint Russian and Vietnamese working group on the developing of Vietnam's nuclear infrastructure was held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Russian delegation included members of the working group and other representatives of the ROSATOM, including Rosenergoatom Concern and a regional center of ROSATOM for South-East Asia, as well as representatives of the Federal Environmental, Industrial and Nuclear Supervision Service of Russia (Rostechnadzor). The Vietnamese party was represented by various senior ministries and agencies responsible for developing the nuclear power industry in the country.

The meeting was aimed at creating a joint cooperation plan to support the development of Vietnam's national nuclear power infrastructure. Various aspects of Vietnam's infrastructure development were discussed at the meeting as Vietnam plans to construct a Russian-design nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Ninh Thuan province. Mr. Hoang Anh Tuan, Director General of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Agency and co-chairman of the working group on behalf of Vietnam, spoke about the current status of the national nuclear infrastructure development, for instance, about the compliance with the recommendations of the IAEA developed in accordance with INIR missions.

"Creation of the nuclear infrastructure is one of the key tasks for the countries aimed to develop the nuclear power industry. We are pleased that our Vietnamese counterparts have chosen us as a partner in this field. ROSATOM's competencies allow us to offer support for all 19 elements of the nuclear infrastructure. In cooperation with our counterparts we have developed a joint action plan for 2015-2017," Yuri Sokolov, Director of the Department of Scientific and Technical International Cooperation of Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC and the co-chairman of the joint working group on behalf of Russia, said.

The Russian side presented a draft nuclear infrastructure development plan for Vietnam. The plan was designed on the basis of the existing experience of cooperation with the countries that are new in nuclear power industry (such as Belarus, Bangladesh, Turkey, Jordan and Nigeria). At present, the expertise in implementing the Russian national nuclear power program which has been accumulated over the course of 70 years is kept in ROSATOM's competence centers by business area and forms the basis for a successful support of the countries that are new in the nuclear infrastructure development area.

The Vietnamese party presented its suggestions for cooperation based on the most relevant and important needs.

Joint approaches and suggestions for cooperation were formulated on each area of the nuclear infrastructure development. Vietnamese specialists are to be provided with training programs and workshops, consulting services. Some business solutions have also been proposed to create the competence centers. As for the stakeholder engagement, the participants agreed to work together on promoting public acceptance of nuclear power in Vietnam.

Russian and Vietnamese joint efforts to develop Vietnam's nuclear infrastructure go back to 2010, when the Cooperation Agreement on constructing an NPP with two power units in Vietnam was signed. Since 2010, over 340 students from Vietnam specializing in nuclear technology have studied in Russian institutes and universities. Over 150 Vietnamese specialists have completed internships at the Rostov NPP, which was undergoing construction works. Over 50 specialists from relevant agencies have completed training in nuclear infrastructure issues. Since 2012, the Nuclear Energy Information Center has been in operation in Hanoi, which has been visited by 20,000 people. In February 2015, ROSATOM and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Information Support of Joint Projects in the Nuclear Power Industry in 2015-2020.