Vietnam should consider nuclear power production to ensure national energy security, according to a Russian expert.

 Vietnam’s nuclear power development strategy and the construction of its first nuclear power plants in the central province of Ninh Thuan have been introduced to local residents in central Khanh Hoa province.

 The UK's remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has announced.

VietNamNet Bridge - Nuclear power will be cheaper than other power sources only if there are many power plants, said Dr. Le Van Hong from the Vietnam Energy Institute, when asked about production costs of nuclear power.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Vuong Huu Tuan, director of the Viet Nam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Technology, tells Khoa hoc&Doi song (Science and Life) that a Fukushima-like disaster will not happen in Viet Nam.

VietNamNet Bridge - Experts said they still cannot predict the cost of electricity production in the next 10 years, when Vietnam develops nuclear power, but said that nuclear power would not be the main source of electricity supply.

The growth rate of the commercial electricity sector and power production in the last four years was 3-4 percentage points lower than predicted, according to the latest report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).

 US President Barack Obama has arrived in India for a three-day visit amid an unprecedented security operation.

VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (Vinatom) and the United States (US) Westinghouse Electric Company have inked an agreement on human resource training cooperation for Vietnam’s nuclear power plant projects.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A two-day Forum of Nuclear Industry Suppliers, or ATOMEX Asia, opened on Tuesday, Nov 18, in HCM City.

A comprehensive cooperation agreement between Vietnam and the US has been signed on consultancy capability, research and development, and training and services in the nuclear energy field.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The government of Vietnam has moved ahead with its nuclear power development program, but the public has yet to be educated about the benefits and dangers of nuclear energy.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam needs about 6,000 graduates or holders of higher degrees to work in the atomic energy sector, including nuclear power, to meet national atomic energy development targets by 2020.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Although Vietnam needs a qualified workforce for its nuclear energy development program, it has been wasting trillions of dong on overseas training courses that have not brought results.

American firms have urged the US Congress to ratify the Vietnam-US cooperation agreement in the nuclear sector in order to create more jobs, and Russia and Japan have signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Vietnam.

Vietnam’s proposed nuclear power program remains controversial, with a number of issues hotly debated: Does the country really need to build a new 15-20 MW research reactor? Who will be Vietnam’s partners? Which technologies should be used...

 The Russian government will provide university scholarships for 70 Vietnamese students pursuing an atomic energy course in 2014, announced the Ministry of Education and Training.

 VietNamNet Bridge – President Truong Tan Sang will pay a State-level visit to Japan from March 16-19 at the invitation of Japanese Emperor Akihito, a Vietnamese Foreign Minister’s spokesperson has said.

 VietNamNet Bridge - The U.S. government has made positive initial moves for its investment in Vietnam’s nuclear power development.

 VietNamNet Bridge would like to introduce opinions by Mr. Tran Thanh Minh, former Dean of the Da Lat University, a senior expert of nuclear power in Vietnam, about North Korea’s plan to test the fourth nuclear bomb.