The Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) and the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) signed a cooperation agreement on the training of nuclear power workforce in Hanoi on April 6.

Under the agreement, about 30 students and officials will be sent to the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute (MEPHI) annually to study nuclear power, with the training cost covered in half by Russia’s Rosatom State Energy Corporation and the remaining half by the MoET.

At the signing ceremony, MoET Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga affirmed that the MoET will work responsibly with EVN in training high-quality workforce to serve the country’s future nuclear power plants.

EVN Deputy General Director Dinh Quang Tri said that since 2004, EVN had sent 172 officials to take short-term courses in nuclear power plants in Japan, the Republic of Korea and France. Last year, the group also sent officials to Russia and Sweden to pursue doctorate degrees in the field.

Vietnam plans to kick off construction on the Ninh Thuan No.1 nuclear power plant in December, 2014, with its reactors going into operation in 2020 and 2021.

Construction of the country’s Ninh Thuan No. 2 nuclear power plant will begin in May, 2015 with its reactors going into commission in 2021 and 2022./.