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”.
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.
Conclusion
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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