Rosatom Chief Says Russia Offers Nuclear Energy Development Assistance to Vietnam

Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Vietnam. (Source: Kremlin)

JAKARTA - The head of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, told the RIA news agency in a statement published Monday that Russia offered Vietnam assistance in developing nuclear power plants during President Vladimir Putin's visit to Hanoi last week.

Likachev, who was part of President Putin's entourage during his visit to Vietnam last week, said he had made the offer to Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

"We offered all possible options for cooperation in my conversation with the Vietnamese Prime Minister," Likhachev was quoted as saying by RIA, as reported by Reuters on June 24.

"Rosatom offers foreign partners not only high-power nuclear power plants, but also low-power nuclear power plants, both in land-based and floating versions," he added.

Vietnam does not have any nuclear power plants. The country scrapped plans to build its first two nuclear power plants in 2016 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan and due to budget constraints.

Before Vietnam abandoned its plans to build a nuclear power plant, Rosatom had offered Hanoi a project based on a high-power unit with an advanced Russian reactor, Likhachev said.

It is known that during President Putin's visit, Russia and Vietnam signed agreements on various matters including energy.

Quoting the Kremlin, these include higher education and science, the development of laboratory infrastructure to combat epidemics, tax policy and tax administration, combating customs violations, the construction of the Nuclear Science and Technology Center in Vietnam, the development of Block 11–2 of Vietnam's continental shelf, cooperation between Russia's Novatek and the Petrovietnam Oil and Gas Company, and between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the BVIM Fund.