Nguyễn Hoàng Linh, director of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, delivers Việt Nam's national statement at the IAEA General Conference in Vienna. — Photo courtesy

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam reaffirmed its commitment to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, with safety, security, and non-proliferation as its priorities, at the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual General Conference in Vienna.

The Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Lê Xuân Định, attended the conference's 70th session, which ran from September 14 to 18.

Speaking to the plenary, Nguyễn Hoàng Linh, director of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, said Việt Nam's policy is to use atomic energy for economic and social development, energy security, and sustainable growth. He stressed that nuclear programmes must be run responsibly and transparently.

The national strategy for the peaceful use of atomic energy, he added, runs to 2035 with a longer-term outlook to 2050. The country is now preparing the ground for nuclear power projects in Ninh Thuận and a nuclear science and technology centre, with a new research reactor, in Đồng Nai.

On the sidelines, Định met Karine Herviou and Najat Mokhtar, the IAEA's deputy directors-general for nuclear safety and security and for nuclear sciences and applications respectively, as well as senior officials from its Department of Nuclear Energy.

Việt Nam asked for more IAEA support in building nuclear power infrastructure, refining its regulatory framework, strengthening safety and security capacity, training staff and promoting nuclear applications.

The delegation also met Alexander Trembitsky, head of Russia's Rostechnadzor nuclear regulator, and Evgeniy Abakumov, deputy director general of the state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The talks covered implementation of the cooperation agreements between the two sides and new areas of joint work, including quantum technology, nuclear fusion and the use of artificial intelligence in nuclear energy.

The Agency officials separately held talks with IAEA departments responsible for legal affairs, safeguards, nuclear security and technical cooperation.

They also met the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, the World Institute for Nuclear Security, Électricité de France and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, among others.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute attended the 55th General Conference of the Asia-Pacific regional cooperation agreement on nuclear science and technology research, development and training.

It held bilateral meetings with Rosatom, the International Research Centre based on the MBIR fast neutron reactor, ROK's Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, among others.

Those talks focused on speeding up the Đồng Nai research centre project, consultancy work on the Ninh Thuận power projects, and cooperation on research, applications and workforce training.

The General Conference is the IAEA's main annual policy forum. Member states use it to review the agency's work and discuss nuclear safety and security, safeguards and non-proliferation, technical cooperation, and applications in health, agriculture and the environment. — VNS