The Russian government will provide university scholarships for 70 Vietnamese students pursuing an atomic energy course in 2014, announced the Ministry of Education and Training.

The scholarships will cover tuition, accommodation, round-trip airfare, visa fee, medical insurance and a monthly allowance.

After graduation, they must work for Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant in the central province of the same name, under the management of Vietnam Electricity.

As many as 240 Vietnamese students have been trained at Russian universities and research institutes specialising in nuclear power, according to the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation of Russia.

Rosatom has also enabled Vietnamese specialists to attend apprenticeship programmes at nuclear power stations under construction in Russia.

In 2013, 51 Vietnamese apprentices made fact-finding tours to Russia’s Rostov Nuclear Power Plant to prepare for building and operating the country’s future nuclear power plant projects.

Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant, the Ninh Thuan 1 will be designed by Russian groups and put into operation between 2023 and 2024 in a bid to ensure national energy security in subsequent years.

Located in the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan’s district of Thuan Nam, the nuclear plant will have a total capacity of 2,000 MW from two turbines.

Source: VNA