It was the first delivery of fuel since 2010 for the Russian-designed research reactor which has been operating since 1984, and which was built on the site of the US-designed TRIGA Mark-2 research reactor which ran from 1963 until the early 1970s.
The research reactor is used for radioisotope production – supplying 23 hospitals each week and 500,000 treatments and diagnoses each year – scientific research, and for specialist training and professional development.
TVEL is the fuel division of the state corporation Rosatom, which said the supply was part of the Interdepartmental Roadmap signed in May 2025 for the bilateral development of nuclear technologies to 2030 which also covers “the construction of a nuclear science and technology centre, Vietnam’s participation in the International Research Centre based on the MBIR reactor consortium, and the training of personnel for Vietnam’s nuclear industry.”
In February, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh instructed two state-owned groups to complete the construction of two nuclear power plants in the country by 2030. Vietnam had a previous nuclear energy programme, with a project in the central province of Ninh Thuan approved in principle in 2009 which was going to feature Russian VVER-1200 reactors, but project work was halted in 2016 because of “economic conditions”. The National Assembly approved the government’s proposal to restart that project in November last year.
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, which is suggesting a two VVER-1200 unit plant, said its “potential participation in this project could become the driving force behind a strategic partnership for decades to come”.
