Executives from PetroVietnam and South Korea’s Korea Electric Power Corporation met in Seoul on September 8, 2026, to advance technical discussions on the Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power project, for which Vietnam has not yet named a foreign partner. The talks come as Vietnam works to revive a nuclear program shelved a decade ago, with a target of commissioning its first plants by the mid-2030s.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Meeting held in Seoul on September 8, 2026, between PetroVietnam and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) executives
- PetroVietnam is the designated project owner of Ninh Thuan 2; no foreign technology partner has been formally selected
- Ninh Thuan 1, the companion project, was awarded to Russia’s Rosatom under a March 2026 intergovernmental agreement using VVER-1200 reactors
- KEPCO is citing its completed Barakah nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates, built with South Korean-designed APR1400 reactors, as a reference project
- Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said ahead of the meeting that no partner decision had been finalized
- Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long met his South Korean counterpart in July 2026 and described talks as advanced enough to be submitted to relevant authorities
- PetroVietnam has a new General Director, Le Manh Cuong, in place since May 20, 2026
- Vietnam’s current Minister of Industry and Trade, Le Manh Hung, is PetroVietnam’s former Members’ Council chairman
PetroVietnam and KEPCO intensified negotiations on the Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power project during executive-level talks in Seoul on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. PetroVietnam remains the designated owner of the project, while a definitive foreign technology partner has yet to be confirmed.
Ninh Thuan province is set to host two nuclear plants, each assigned to a different foreign partner. Ninh Thuan 1 was entrusted to Vietnam’s state power operator working alongside Russia’s Rosatom, with an intergovernmental agreement signed in Moscow in March 2026 selecting the Russian-designed VVER-1200 pressurized water reactor. Ninh Thuan 2, under PetroVietnam’s ownership, remains open to bidders.
KEPCO has pointed to its experience completing the Barakah nuclear plant in the United Arab Emirates, which uses South Korean-designed APR1400 reactors, as evidence its technology and delivery track record could transfer to the Vietnamese project.
Ahead of the Seoul meeting, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said no foreign partner had yet been formally selected for Ninh Thuan 2. Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Long met his South Korean counterpart in July 2026, describing those discussions as advanced enough to be submitted to relevant authorities for review. Vietnamese officials have tied partner selection to a broader goal of commissioning the plant by the middle of the next decade, and the September meeting was framed as part of that sequence, focused on deepening technical terms of a possible partnership.
The talks also come amid a leadership change at PetroVietnam. Le Manh Cuong has served as General Director since May 20, 2026, under the Members’ Council then chaired by Le Ngoc Son. Vietnam’s current Minister of Industry and Trade, Le Manh Hung, previously chaired PetroVietnam’s Members’ Council, a continuity of personnel that sources described as carrying no reported irregularity.
Publicly available reporting on the September 8 meeting remains limited to a single primary account, and further details on the technical scope of the discussions have not yet been disclosed.