Vietnamese students complete Russian training

A group of 28 Vietnamese students have become the first international graduates of a course on nuclear technology at Russia's National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. The six-year course is part of a program supported by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

A group of 28 Vietnamese students have become the first international graduates of a course on nuclear technology at Russia's National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. The six-year course is part of a program supported by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The 28 Vietnamese graduates (Image: MEPhI)

Their graduation ceremony was held on 13 February, during which five were presented with honours certificates.

It was attended by representatives from MEPhI, the Vietnamese Embassy, the Kaluga Regional Administration and Rosatom, as well as from the Russian government.

MEPhI first vice rector, Oleg Nagornov, said the students had produced "excellent results during their studies", adding that the education they had received would enable them to find work in scientific and industrial organisations.

Originally the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, MEPhI was renamed in 2009 and restructured to incorporate a number of other educational establishments. While partly funded by Rosatom, it is managed by the Federal Education Agency.

The number of foreign students enrolled in its courses has rapidly expanded, MEPhI said. About half of them come from countries where Rosatom is building nuclear power plants, such as Finland, South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam.

In October 2010, Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement with Vietnam for the construction of the first nuclear power plant in the Southeast Asian country. The agreement calls for the construction by Rosatom subsidiary AtomStroyExport (ASE) of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant at Phuoc Dinh in the southern Ninh Thuan province, as a turnkey project. The plant will comprise two 1200 MWe VVER pressurised water reactors and be owned and operated by state-owned Electricity of Vietnam.

Russia and Vietnam also signed an agreement in November 2011 covering the construction of a nuclear science and technology centre at Hanoi Polytechnic University. Under the terms of that agreement, the Russian government provided loans worth $500 million for the centre's construction.

However, last November Vietnam's legislature endorsed the government's decision to abandon plans to build the country's first two nuclear power plants in favour of renewable energy and power imports amid lower crude oil and coal prices. The National Assembly had in 2009 ratified the plan to build about 4000 MWe of nuclear capacity in Ninh Thuan. Rosatom and Japan Atomic Power Company were selected to build the units, with the Russian state providing a loan of $8 billion for the first.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News