Vietnam will give many incentives to local students who pursue domestic undergraduate courses in nuclear energy, an education ministry official said at a conference in the Central Highlands last week.

These students will be exempt from tuition, dorm expenses, and other basic expenditures when they are enrolled in nuclear-related majors, according to Ly Tien Hung, of a technology and environmental science arm under the Ministry of Education and Training. 

Top students will be provided with scholarships worth 15 times a course’s tuition while final-year students in good academic standing may be sent to nuclear leaders like Russia or Japan for further education, Hung revealed.

Those who are following nuclear power programs in Russia will be entitled to an extra monthly government allowance of US$200, which will be adjusted commensurately with the inflation rate, during their study time if they are committed to working at nuclear power plants in the central province of Ninh Thuan upon graduation, he said.  

Vietnam is working on projects to build two reactors in Ninh Thuan which are expected to come on stream in 2020-21.

It also has plans to construct more nuclear power facilities in the central provinces of Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, and Ha Tinh after that time frame.

Dr. Bui Duc Hien, with Hanoi-based Electric Power University who is in charge of training people for the nuclear reactors, said at the conference that there will be a workforce shortage when the plants come into operation, citing the slow training work.  

The nation will need 4,400 skilled workers for the atomic energy sector by 2020, Dr. Hien elaborated, adding that around 1,600 engineers will be needed for the Ninh Thuan reactors. 

The government assigned six local universities to start training people for the nuclear power industry in 2010. They are scheduled to churn out more or less 2,000 university graduates in seven years.