Russia's Rosatom hopes to win Saudi nuclear plants' tender

DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - Russian state nuclear company Rosatom hopes to win a tender announced by Saudi Arabia to build nuclear plants in the kingdom, Alexei Likhachyov, head of Rosatom, told reporters.

"As far as I understand, they (Saudi Arabia) should make a decision next year about the construction and a constructor. We hope it will be us," he said.

Rosatom has sent initial proposals to Saudi Arabia for nuclear power generation and would make a bid if a tender is announced, the company said earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia is considering building 17.6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2032, the equivalent of about 17 reactors, making it one of the biggest prospects for an industry struggling after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Vladimir Soldatkin)