Vietnam Set to Gain Access to MBIR Research Reactor Facilities
Vietnamese researchers will be able to conduct studies critical to the development of the country's nuclear energy program.
Vietnam is set to gain access to the experimental facilities of Russia's MBIR research reactor. The 150-megawatt fast-neutron reactor is under construction in Dimitrovgrad. An International Research Center (IRC) has already been established around the MBIR as a consortium. Its members receive priority access to experiments needed to support their national nuclear energy programs. The cooperation plans have been formalized in a memorandum signed by the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute and the International Research Center at MBIR.
The Vietnamese side plans to pursue research in several areas. These include testing structural materials and equipment under intense radiation exposure; validating computational codes used to assess the safety of nuclear projects; studying the behavior of different types of nuclear fuel and coolants; and investigating the transmutation of minor actinides and ways to reduce the volume and radioactivity of nuclear waste.
