Vietnam and Russia have signed a formal intergovernmental agreement to construct Vietnam’s first commercial nuclear power plant, reviving an energy programme that was shelved a decade ago and accelerating it with new urgency as a war in the Middle East disrupts global fuel supplies.
The agreement, signed on Monday, March 23, 2026, in Moscow, covers the construction of the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant in south-central Vietnam. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin witnessed the signing, which was formally executed by Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev and Tran Van Son, Minister and Head of the Office of the Government of Vietnam. Rosatom is Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation.
The plant will comprise two VVER-1200 pressurised water reactor units with a combined installed capacity of 2,400 megawatts (MW), modelled on existing units at Russia’s Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant. Vietnam aims to have the first unit operational by the end of 2031. A feasibility study for an associated nuclear science and technology centre, also to be built with Russian support, is expected to be completed in April 2026.
Vietnam’s return to nuclear energy comes against the backdrop of a sharply deteriorating energy situation. Since a US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began in late February 2026, the resulting disruption to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz has sent fuel prices soaring across Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, petrol costs have risen approximately 50 percent and diesel around 70 percent. The government is seeking stable, long-term power sources to protect its fast-growing manufacturing economy.
“We see it as the foundation for a long-term industrial partnership, which will strengthen Vietnam’s energy independence and open up new opportunities for economic growth,” said Likhachev. Mishustin said the plant would generate momentum for wider bilateral cooperation in high technology and applied research.
Vietnam had originally approved plans for the Ninh Thuan 1 project in 2009, with Russia selected to build the facility and an 8-billion-dollar loan agreed to finance it. Those plans were abandoned in 2016 after Vietnam’s National Assembly rejected them on grounds of cost and safety concerns following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011. In November 2024, the National Assembly reversed course, approving a government proposal to revive the programme as part of a revised national power development plan that allocated 136 billion dollars by 2030 toward long-term energy security.
Japan, which had been lined up to build the second plant at Ninh Thuan 2, declined to re-engage last year, citing the tight construction timeline set by Hanoi, leaving Russia as the sole foreign nuclear partner at present.
State-owned enterprises Vietnam Electricity and PetroVietnam have been designated as the respective investors in the Ninh Thuan 1 and Ninh Thuan 2 projects. Details on financing arrangements, regulatory approvals and construction timelines are still being finalised. Vietnam’s total planned nuclear programme envisages two plants with a combined capacity of approximately 4,000 MW.
Beyond nuclear energy, the Moscow meetings produced a preliminary deal between Russia’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek and a Vietnamese buyer, adding further momentum to bilateral energy cooperation.
Rosatom, which has built or is currently building nuclear plants in countries including India, Turkey, Hungary, Egypt and Bangladesh, has positioned the Vietnam agreement as a showcase of its ability to expand its international nuclear portfolio despite growing Western pressure on Moscow’s global operations.
