Bangladesh Commonwealth) _ Bangladesh is now the 33rd nation in the world to produce nuclear energy after receiving the first Russian supply of uranium fuel for its first nuclear power plant.
Together with Rosatom, the Russian government-owned nuclear energy business, the South Asian nation is constructing the first of two nuclear power facilities. The $12.65 billion project is 90% financed by a Russian loan with a 28-year repayment term and a 10-year grace period.
At a ceremony on Thursday in Ishwardi, where the plant is located, in the northern district of Pabna, the uranium, which arrived in Bangladesh late last month, was turned over to the authorities. Vladimir Putin of Russia and Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh both participated in the ceremony via video link. Putin declared, “With you, we are constructing the complete atomic industry, not just a nuclear power plant.”
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stated that “today is a day of pride and joy for the people of Bangladesh” during a video conference with the president of Russia that the Russian Embassy in Bangladesh referred to as a “nuclear fuel delivery ceremony.”
Putin congratulated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for overseeing the project, which was the outcome of a bilateral agreement in 2011, while speaking with Hasina via a video link. According to Bangladeshi media, Rafael Mariano Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also participated via video conference. Rafael Grossi, the director of the IAEA, congratulated Bangladesh on social media.
Bangladesh is a success tale for emerging nations in the development of nuclear power, he said, having advanced its program under the [IAEA’s] direction.
The Rooppur plant’s completion date, which is around 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of the capital Dhaka, has undergone many revisions as a result of construction delays brought on the COVID-19 pandemic limitations and sanctions imposed on Moscow as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.
The plant’s first unit, which has a 2,400 megawatt generation capacity overall, was supposed to begin operations in July of next year, but that date has been postponed.
First Russian foreign minister to visit Bangladesh since its independence in 1971, Sergei Lavrov, promised Bangladesh last month that Moscow was committed to finishing the project on time despite challenges posed by Western sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.
The engineering section of Rosatom is responsible for the design and construction of the nuclear power plants, which will have a lifespan of 60 years with the option of an additional 20 years of operation, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. 1,500 of the 2,000 employees who will run the plant once it is operating will receive their training there.
According to the international media, Bangladesh has had its greatest electricity crisis since 2013, as a result of unpredictably bad weather, the difficulties of paying for fuel imports despite dwindling foreign currency reserves, and a weakening of the national currency.
Bangladesh now relies on imported gas, which has seen a dramatic increase in price since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bangladesh had intended to rely less on natural gas, which currently supplies approximately half of the nation’s electricity.
According to Osman, the first unit in Rooppur would start operating in July 2024, and the second unit will start operating in July 2025. The fuel is anticipated to keep the reactor running for a year before fresh fuel needs to be supplied.
In spite of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Bangladesh and Russia have always maintained cordial ties. In order to cooperate in the nuclear power industry, trade, finance, and other areas, Dhaka and Moscow have inked a number of agreements.
