The Vietnamese government fears that the country’s strong economic growth will be jeopardized without the energy provided by nuclear plants. Vietnam, which relies mostly on hydroelectricity, is expected to become a net importer of energy in 2015. “One of the reasons for the introduction of nuclear power in Vietnam is the shortage of conventional fuel supply sources, including imported,” Le Doan Phac, deputy director general of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Agency, the government’s main nuclear research and development body, said in an e-mail message.

Russia and Japan have won bids to build Vietnam’s first two plants; South Korea is expected to be selected for the third.

For Japan, the contract was the fruit of years of high-level lobbying by its government and nuclear industry, which is threatened at home by a strong public reaction against nuclear power after the crisis last year. About 500 Vietnamese have gone through workshops by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency since 2001. Toshiba, a plant manufacturer, has also offered one-month courses since 2006 to win the construction contract.

Like Russia, which has pledged Vietnam loans of $8 billion to $9 billion to finance the first plant’s construction, Japan is expected to offer a package of low-interest loans through the Japan Bank of International Cooperation. Japan is expected to use its overseas development assistance to Vietnam to build roads, ports and other infrastructure to support the nuclear plant.

With the memories of the Fukushima disaster still raw in Japan, the Japanese government’s active role in selling nuclear plants to developing nations like Vietnam has drawn sharp criticism. Critics say that the government and nuclear industry’s joint efforts are reminiscent of the kind of collusive ties that led to the Fukushima disaster. The government’s low-interest loans — taxpayers’ money — will benefit only politically connected plant manufacturers, they say.

“When it comes to selling nuclear plants, it’s not a commercially viable business, so you invariably need the injection of public funds,” said Kanna Mitsuta, a researcher for both Friends of the Earth Japan and Mekong Watch, a Japanese private organization.

Critics said that Japan and other nuclear powers were desperate to sell plants to developing nations as dreams of a nuclear renaissance in advanced economies have dried up since the Fukushima disaster.