Russia will help Vietnam train nuclear energy experts beginning this year, according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Vietnamese Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan and General Director of Russian Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corp Kyrienko in Moscow March 17. The MoU was made on the occasion of Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan’s trip to Russia Mar 12-17. As a result, Russian government and Rosatom will provide the Southeast Asian country with 20 scholarships a year, the Vietnamese government said on its website. Vietnam has chosen Rosatom to build its two first nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of 4,000 MW in the central province of Ninh Thuan. The country estimates to need between 6,000 and 10,000 workers for construction of the plants beginning 2014 and over 1,000 skilled staff to manage and run them once they are operational in 2020.
