Bangladesh on Thursday officially received the first batch of uranium from Russia for its Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).
Bangladesh will become the 33rd nuclear power-producing country in the world once Rooppur plant commissioned.
This is Bangladesh’s dream project and for that Russian contractor, Rosatom handed over the radioactive fuel to the RNPP authority at a formal “Graduation Ceremony,”. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin virtually joined the ceremony from Ganabhaban and Kremlin respectively.
Rosatom Director General, Aleksey Likhachev, handed over the fuel at the function presided over by Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman.
Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi also joined the ceremony through video conference.
The second shipment of uranium, the nuclear fuel of the first unit of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, from Russia arrived in Dhaka on a special plane on Thursday (5 October) at 11:40 am at Dhaka Shahjalal International Airport.
However, the first batch of uranium arrived in Bangladesh on September 28. It was transported to the nuclear power plant site by road under heavy security the next day.
Rosatom, as a Russian contractor, has been engaged in building the 2400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant with two units, each having the capacity to produce 1200 MW of electricity.
Once the nuclear fuel is loaded into the power plant’s reactors, power can be produced for one year. After that, the fuel will have to be reloaded into the reactor.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said Russia has promised to take back the spent fuel of the Rooppur Plant to their country. She further said that they have signed an agreement with the Russian Federation for the management of spent fuel.