Rosatom’s fuel company TVEL has fulfilled a contract for the supply of nuclear fuel to Vietnam for the Dalat Research Reactor. The fuel was manufactured by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NZKhK – Novosibirskii Zavod KhimConsentratov). The fuel will ensure reliable operation of the reactor until the 2030s. The previous supply of Russian fuel for the Dalat research reactor was completed in December 2010.
The Soviet-built research reactor has been operating on the territory of the Institute of Nuclear Research in the city of Dalat since 1984. It was constructed on the site of the American-designed TRIGA Mark-2 research reactor, which was first launched in 1963 and shut down during the Vietnam war.
The Dalat nuclear reactor, which has safely operated for more than 70,000 hours, is used for the production of radioisotopes, activation analysis and scientific research, as well as for training and advanced training of specialists. To date, the Institute for Nuclear Research has supplied more than 15,000 curies of various radioactive drugs weekly to 23 hospitals, providing diagnosis and treatment to about 500,000 patients a year. The Institute also applies nuclear and isotope technologies for use in agriculture, geology, oil and gas, archaeology, transport, irrigation, and the environment.
Supplies of nuclear fuel for the Dalat reactor come under the Russian-Vietnamese interdepartmental roadmap for development of nuclear technologies to 2030, which was signed in May by the Rosatom Director Alexey Likhachev and Vietnam’s Minister of Science & Technology Nguyen Manh Hung. The document also includes construction of a centre for nuclear science and technology, the Vietnam’s participation in the International Research Centre based on Russia’s MBIR reactor as well as training of personnel for the nuclear industry in Vietnam.
In February, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh instructed two state-owned groups to complete the construction of two nuclear power plants by 2030. Vietnam had a previous nuclear energy programme for NPP construction in the central province of Ninh Thuan. Which was approved in principle in 2009 and was going to feature Russian VVER-1200 reactors. However, the, but project was halted in 2016 for economic reasons. In November 2024, the National Assembly approved a government’s proposal to restart the project.
In September Rosatom and the Vietnamese company Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 2 signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on the Ninh Thuan-1 NPP project, including updating the feasibility study and site profile, as well as to deepen cooperation in infrastructure development and personnel training. Rosatom said its “potential participation in this project could become the driving force behind a strategic partnership for decades to come”.
