Vietnam will receive a $8bn loan from Russia to build its first nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuan.
Russia's Rosatom will build the 2,000MW Ninh Thuan 1 plant, which will be equipped with two advanced light water reactors.
Work is expected to begin in 2014 and be complete by 2020.
The Russian consortium also signed a contract with Vietnam Electricity Group to provide consulting services to develop a site approval dossier and feasibility study for the plant, funded by the government.
Last year, Vietnam said it will build 13 nuclear reactors in eight separate plants with a combined capacity of 15,000MW by 2030.
