MillenniumPost
World

Work to start on B'desh nuke project aided by Russia

Dhaka: Work will start on Thursday on constructing the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh at Rooppur with Russian collaboration, according to an announcement from Russia's atomic energy corporation Rosatom.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the first concrete pouring for the reactor building on the banks of Padma River in the Pabna district, Rosatom, which is also collaborating in building the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) in India, said in a release here. Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev will be present on the occasion.
"Rooppur NPP with two VVER 1200 reactors and total capacity of 2,400 MW is constructed on the basis of Russian design 160 km away from Dhaka," Rosatom said. Bangladesh signed the general contract for construction with Russia in December 2015.
"The commissioning of Unit 1 of Rooppur NPP is scheduled for 2023, while Unit 2 is scheduled for 2024," it said.
"The scope of our obligations includes technical responsibility for the entire project, NPP designing, delivery of equipment and material, training personnel, putting the plant into operation, providing guarantee of operation for the power units and delivery of spare parts, among others," Rosatom's engineering arm ASE Group Senior Vice President Alexander Khazin told reporters here. The inter-governmental agreement for Rooppur was signed in 2011. The project is being implemented by the state-run Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.
The construction contract envisages building the latest "Generation 3-plus" nuclear reactor — the VVER-1200 — powered by advanced fuel, which Russia has also offered to supply for the second nuclear power project to follow Kudankulam, which envisages the construction of
six reactors. AGENCIES

Next Story
Share it