On August 6, 2019, Bangladesh took a step in increasing their Nuclear production. The
groundwork of this started from 30th November 2017 where, they started building a new nuclearplant at Rooppur, Bangladesh. To need a supply of nuclear fuel mainly Uranium, Bangladesh signed a deal with Russia on the first Tuesday of this month regarding the lifetime supply of the nuclear fuel by Russia to Bangladesh for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant(RNPP – 2400 MW capacity ) project.
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant:
In Bangladesh, the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is an under-construction 2.4 GW
nuclear power plant . Rooppur is located on the banks of river Padma, 140 km west of Dhaka, in the
northwest of the country. It is the nation’s first power plant. It is to be built in two units- having
capacities 1200 MW each. It is to be expected that one of them will be completed in 2022 and the
other in 2024. It is being built by Russian Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation.
The Power Plant proposal was made in 1961. Taking nearly 254 acres of land for the power
plant, government approved the plant. There was no real progress after the discussion took place
between Bangladesh and various other countries that include Canada, Sweden and Norway in 1964
and 1966. Finally, the government of Bangladesh turned to Soviet Union or today we call as Russia in
1974. Even though both nations agreed, there was no written agreement between the two of them.
In 2001, the Bangladeshi government adopted a national Nuclear Power Action Plan. Finally, in 2009, when the Bangladesh again started discussion with Russian government and in February, these two governments signed a memorandum of understanding. The Russian organisation, Rosatom
confirmed that they would start construction of the power plant by 2013. After that in 2013, scientists from Bangladesh started questioning the safety of the power plant. Many issues were
brought up during this time including financial problems, safety and mainly the lack of agreement
between Bangladesh and Russia regarding the nuclear waste disposal. Due to this, the starting of
project was delayed by a year. An estimate of US$ 12.65 billion, proposal was made between the
two nations out of which about 90% is funded as a loan by the Russian government. Russia will
supply the required nuclear fuel and take back the “spent nuclear fuel”.
On 30th November 2017, first concrete was poured for the basement of Unit 1 of the nuclear
island. A big ceremony was held which was attended by the Rosatom’s director-general “Alexey
Likhachev” and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina. Unit-2 was started on 14th July 2018.
After that, Rosatom started installing a 200 ton core catcher as the first large equipment in the
reactor building of Rooppur 1 (There are total of 2 units- Rooppur 1 and Rooppur 2. ). They
described it as a “Unique Protection System.”
Bangladesh-Russia recent Uranium Deal:
In Dhaka (Bangladesh’s Capital City), the deal was signed between BAEC (Bangladesh Atomic
Energy Commission and Russian Nuclear Fuel Supply Company (TVEL) Joint Stock company, which is a top Russian state owned nuclear firm. The implementation of the project is under the work of BAEC. It is a framework methodology focusing on price. By this agreement, both countries will
collectively work to determine the prices of nuclear fuel.
The BAEC has been working on the nuclear power project as a ‘Government Entity.’ The
Cabinet committee in Bangladesh approved the proposal on the Nuclear Power Supply for RNPP. As
the proposal, the Russian firm TVEL, will supply the fuel for the ‘entire lifetime’ of the RNPP, which
has two units, each of 1.2 GW power generation capacity. Bangladesh has to purchase nuclear fuel
from the Russian firm every time there is a need, for the entire lifetime of the power plant,
according to the Inter-governmental Agreement (IGA) signed with Russian Federation in November
2011. A unit of the power plant has to be reloaded about one-thirds of the total required nuclear
fuel every 18 months. The advantage for Bangladesh is that the first three reloads will be provided
by the Russian firm free of cost. The reloading cost is about $62 million which is equivalent to Tk
5.24 billion (Bangladeshi currency is Taka: $1= Tk 84.82 ). This price will remain unchanged till 2027 as per the proposal. The cost of fuel will be reset after every 10 years of supply and the plant’s
estimated lifetime is around 50 years. Initially, it was said by the contractor that the one of the units
will be in operation from 2022 and the other from 2024. Recently it was confirmed by the
representative of the Rosatom that the first reactor of the power plant will come into Bangladesh by
2020. The officials of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Bangladesh are doubtful that the
start of the operation will not be as per schedule.
Impact on India and Role of India:
In 2017, in the 61st general conference of the global Nuclear Watchdog International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), the one who represented India and the Chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission of India was Mr. Shekhar Basu. He mentioned that India is involved in the RNPP project with Russia to help Bangladesh. However, the level of Indian involvement or the collaboration in this power plant project has not been established yet, as India is not a member of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) and a nation has to be a member to find about it. NSG controls the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to produce nukes, a nuclear weapon.
India has been working with major powers (USA, Russia and Japan ) since last few years in
various sectors. India for the first time made an important role in building a nuclear power plant on
Foreign land with the proposed supply of material for the nuclear power plant being built by
Bangladesh with the help of Russia. India has helped Bangladesh by adding their nuclear scientists
and technicians in training at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant which was also built with Russian
assistance and uses their technology. It has helped to boost the Make in India initiative in the middle
of a proposal by Delhi to Moscow for producing some nuclear reactor items in India.
This deal between Bangladesh and Russia has been greatly fruitful to India. Bangladesh has
started working in this field and growing in this field. It will not be false if we say that in few decades, Bangladesh will be in the top list producing nuclear products. India, on the other hand, has started growing too, helping nearby countries and increasing good relations throughout the world. This will help India to grow economically along with science and technology.
Hi guys, I am Kaustubh Desai. I am pursuing engineering from BITS Pilani University. I love reading Science articles as well as writing them. I like to write about current affairs. I spend my free time watching movies and listening to music.
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