State-run VTB Bank, Russia’s second largest lender by assets, is ready to grant a $1 billion loan to Rosatom civilian nuclear power corporation to build Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant, VTB Management Board Member Valery Lukyanenko said on Thursday, Feb 21, according to RIA Novosti.

“We are ready to support Rosenergoatom [part of Rosatom], which is taking part in the construction there … We said a week ago we are ready to allocate around $1 billion,” he said.

The cost of building the Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant in southern Vietnam is estimated at $10 billion. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in November 2012 Russia would grant a state loan for construction of the power plant, which will have two energy units with a capacity of 1.2 GW each.

The work to prepare the construction site started in December 2011. Construction is expected to start in 2014.

Vietnam plans to complete its first nuclear power plant in cooperation with Russia by 2020, and build a second plant in a joint project with Japan in a move to create 15 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2030.