The cooperation between Vietnam and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been pushed up since 2000s. Through cooperative projects, IAEA made a significant contribution to the development of capacity and advancement of research, expansion and application of atomic energy of Vietnam. 

Cooperative agreement in atomic energy between Vietnam and IAEA

According to Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology, over the last few years, through technical cooperation projects (TC-VIE), each year IAEA has supported Vietnam in average 6-7 projects with total expenditure of about $1 billion/year, mainly in the fields of security and safety of atomic energy, application of atomic energy for peaceful purposes in health, agriculture, industry, environmental protection, …

In order to establish the legal foundation for deployment of technical cooperation projects, Vietnam and IAEA signed twice country program frameworks on cooperation in atomic energy (periods of 2003-2008 and 2010-2015). The cooperation and aid of IAEA contributed significantly to the growth of infrastructure, completion of law system, training of human resources, and advancement in ability of research – implementation in atomic energy of Vietnam over the past year.

Also through the cooperation with IAEA, Vietnam produced several mutative rice cultivations with short growth duration, high yield and quality, high resistance to pest and adverse environmental conditions by a method of irradiation, such as DT10, VND95-20, …

Concurrently, IAEA assigned about 80 groups of experts to support Vietnam, in which the group of Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (INIR) worked with related ministries, sectors and concerned local authorities of Vietnam to evaluate the reality of nuclear infrastructure and address main-point issues in development of nuclear infrastructure for Vietnam.

Currently, the collaboration between Vietnam and IAEA has made new steps of development. Both sides expected to expand and foster the cooperative relation in atomic energy, nuclear power in particular. On November 02, 2015, at the headquarters of IAEA, Vienna – Austria, Pham Cong Tac - Deputy Minister of Science and Technology and Mr. Dazhu Yang – Deputy Director of IAEA together signed Country Program Framework on the cooperation in atomic energy in 2016 – 2021. The cooperative agreement between Vietnam and IAEA is an essential legal requirement for continuing the effective implementation of cooperative relation of Vietnam and IAEA in terms of expansion and application of atomic energy for peaceful purposes; and also contributes to the cooperation with other member countries of IAEA, specially the countries owning advanced nuclear technologies.

In addition, Vietnam is also the first nation to cooperate with IAEA to build and conduct the Plan for integrated nuclear power infrastructure. The plan in the period of 2016 – 2020 mainly concentrates on 10 prior contents such as development of human resources, completion of legal framework and ordinance, project finances, guarantee for nuclear security and safety, response to incidents, improvement of management system, … The goal of the plan is synchronous and comprehensive development of nuclear power infrastructure in accordance with instructions of IAEA and reality of Vietnam, meeting the requirements of implementing Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Project. 

Ngoc Anh