Construction on Ninh Thuan 1&2 nuclear power plants, the first of their kind in Vietnam, will be extended southwest as stipulated in new changes to their master plan approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on June 17.

The changes were announced at July 16 conferences in Thuan Nam and Ninh Hai districts of the central province of Ninh Thuan, where the two respective power plants are based.

Ninh Thuan 1 power plant in Vinh Truong village, Thuan Nam district will sprawl over 443.11 hectares of land and 440.57 hectares at sea.

Ninh Thuan 2 power plant, based in Thai An village, Ninh Hai district, will spread 380.91 hectares of land and 337.63 hectares at sea.

Each will be equipped with four 1,000-1,200 megawatt turbines installed over two phases.

Local authorities are responsible for resident resettlement to pave the way for the construction, which has been delayed a number of times following safety lessons learned from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan, with an initial focus on infrastructure, such as roads and water and electricity supply.

In collaboration with the Electricity of Vietnam, they will build synchronous infrastructure within and near the plants.

The first turbine of Ninh Thuan 1 plant is expected to be connected to the national grid by 2020.-VNA