Russia charts progress with Bangladesh's first nuclear power project

Russia has completed the feasibility study and prepared the design for construction of Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant - a twin VVER 1200 reactor plant at Rooppur. Bangladesh newspaper The Daily Star reported on 3 October that the study, submitted in June, had found Rooppur to be a suitable site for such a large nuclear power plant.

Issues such a geological fault around the plant site would be addressed by taking measures to make the soil stable and strong, Maksim Elchishchev, who is in charge of NIAEP's Bangladesh project, was quoted as saying. NIAEP is a subsidiary of Russian state owned nuclear power company Rosatom.

At a briefing with local media, Elchishchev reportedly said that Russia and Bangladesh were now at the final stage of financial negotiation for the power project. Russia is expected to provide a state loan to Bangladesh covering 90% of the project, he said, adding that an agreement on this is expected within the next two months.

The first unit of the plant with 1200 megawatt capacity is expected to be launched from 2022 and construction is set to begin from early 2017.

In January 2013, Russia agreed to provide $500 million to finance the initial stages of the project. The agreement was signed during a state visit to Russia by Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The loan will fund preparatory work such as site surveys, feasibility studies and environmental impact studies.

Bangladesh has been considering embarking on a nuclear power program for over five decades, and Rooppur, about 200 km north of Dhaka, was earmarked for the country's first plant as long ago as 1963. The country has worked steadily towards the goal of using nuclear power to help meet its rapidly increasing energy demand and reduce dependence on natural gas, and in February 2011 the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed an agreement with Rosatom for two 1000 MWe-class reactors to be built at Rooppur.

A 2011 Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency to Bangladesh concluded that the country had made "notable progress" in its nuclear infrastructure development, and recognised the country's strong expertise in safeguards, security and radiation protection.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News