An mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reviewed Vietnam’s infrastructure for a new 15-MW multi-purpose research reactor which is expected to operate in 2026.

IAEA experts at the event in Hanoi on December. Photo: IAEA

Three sites proposed for the reactor’s location include one in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and two in the southern province of Dong Nai. 

The project follows an agreement signed in June 2017 between Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (VINATOM) under the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology.

According to the IAEA, operations of a research reactor requires a national infrastructure including a legal and regulatory framework to ensure that national and international obligations are met during planning, design, construction, operation, and decommissioning.

Accordingly, IAEA and related agencies have discussed about guidance on the preparation of a research reactor project which includes 19 issues ranging from nuclear safety and security to the fuel cycle, waste management, and funding and financing regulated in the IAEA’s Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review for Research Reactors (INIR-RR).

The discussions were held in Hanoi on December 3-7.

The Vietnamese delegation provided a number of documents to facilitate the assessment of the national nuclear infrastructure developed in preparations for the new research reactor project. The new facility is to serve diverse needs, such as in education, training, radioisotope production and materials science.

“Vietnam has demonstrated strong government support and understanding of long-term national commitments for developing the nuclear infrastructure for the new research reactor,” said mission leader Andrey Sitnikov. 

Vietnam, with the support of IAEA and Russia (formerly USSR), assumed the operations of Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute in Lam Dong’s Da Lat city in 1984. Currently, it is Vietnam’s only reactor researching and producing radioactive products. 

Vietnam has outlined an ambitious plan to develop nuclear energy by building two nuclear power plants with total capacity of 4,000 MW in the central province of Ninh Thuan under Russia’s support. 

The two projects, which were estimated to cost VND200 trillion (US$8.7 billion) and put into operations by 2028, were rejected by the National Assembly in 2016, attributing economic reasons to the reject. 

Hanoitimes