Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is a planned 2.4 GWe nuclear power plant of Bangladesh. It will be the country's first nuclear power plant, and the first of two units is expected to go into operation in 2023. It is to be built by the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation.

Location

The nuclear power plant will be built at Ruppur, 200 km north-west of Dhaka, at Paksey union on the bank of the river Padma in the Ishwardi subdistrict of Pabna District, in the northwest of the country.

History

The proposal was made in 1961. Government took 253.90 acres of land in that year to build the plant. In 1963 the plant was approved. Discussions took place with the Canadian government in 1964 and 1966. Discussions with the governments of Sweden and Norway were also going on in those years. However, no real progress was achieved. After the independence of Bangladesh, the Government of Bangladesh started discussion with the Soviet Union in 1974, however no agreement was reached. In 2001 the government adopted a national Nuclear Power Action Plan.

In 2009 the Bangladesh government again started discussion with the Russian government and on 13 February the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding. Rosatom said they would start construction by 2013.

In 2013 a group of Bangladeshi scientists and the global diaspora voiced profound concern over the safety and economic viability of the plant. Several separate issues were raised, from the unsuitability of the site to the obsolescence of the VVER-1000 model proposed, questionable financing arrangements and a lack of agreement with Russia over nuclear waste disposal.

In 2015 the proposal was delayed by a year. Rosatom offered a two VVER-1200 reactor power plant, increasing output to 2.4 GWe.

By December 2015 the The Daily Star reported that the estimated cost of the plant had climbed to US$13 billion, from statements of around US$4 billion made earlier in the same year. Transparency International Bangladesh expressed concern on 28th December 2015 about the safety of the proposed plant, stating "Even reputed Russian environmentalists consider Russian nuclear reactors unsafe".

In 2016 ground preparation work commenced. The $12.65 billion contract is 90% funded by a loan from the Russian government. The two units generating 2.4 GWe are planned to be operational in 2023 and 2024. Rosatom will operate the units for the first year before handing over to Bangladeshi operators. Russia will supply the nuclear fuel and take back spent nuclear fuel.

Research

Bangladesh’s development strategy sees the country becoming a middle-income nation by 2021, in large part by emphasis on its science and technology sector to drive economic growth. The ministry of science and technology (MoST) estimated in 2014 that US$ 6.2 billion will be needed in the next decade to achieve the goals of Vision 2021. The Science and Technology Act 2010 is helping to boost this, and MoST is now allocating over $150 million per year to nuclear technology development as gas reserves become depleted.

The country has had a TRIGA 3 MW research reactor operational since 1986.

See also

• Nuclear energy in Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC)