The Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman once dreamt of Bangladesh becoming a nation of nuclear power. That dream has now turned into reality. After a long waits, Bangladesh at last started its journey as the nuclear-powered country. They’re going to be 33rd member of Nuclear-power club.
The Russian authorities involved in the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Ishwardi, Pabna will officially hand over the 'fresh nuclear fuel' or uranium to Bangladesh on Thursday for the production of nuclear power. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Russian President Vladimir Putin and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi will participate virtually in the uranium transfer ceremony. Alesky Likhachev, director general of Russia's state nuclear agency Rosatom, will be present to hand over the uranium. Science and Technology Minister Architect Yafes Osman will receive uranium on behalf of Bangladesh.
Yesterday (Wednesday), around the project area, there was huge interest of the people and huge arrangements were seen in Rooppur centering on the uranium handover ceremony. On this occasion, a huge pandal has been constructed in the project area. Banner-festoons have been hung in the surrounding area. The green city of Rooppur, home to the Russians involved in the project, has been painted with beautiful murals. To make the uranium transfer ceremony successful, science and technology minister and officials of the ministry and a high-level Russian delegation are staying in Rooppur.
Science and Technology Minister Yafes Osman on Wednesday told the reporters, "We have been waiting for this day for seven years. During this time, those involved in the construction of the project worked tirelessly. Even during the period of Covid-19, the work of the project was not delayed even for a day. Nowhere in the world has such a project been completed so quickly. Where we’ve been able to complete the work in seven to eight years, others took 10 to 12 years. This is a time when Bangladesh is entering the nuclear club. At the same time, Bangladesh has also joined the Board of Governance of IAEA. It may take another year and a half to go into commercial production of the first unit of the project, including the transmission line and other tests. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed that the people of North Bengal get benefits from the electricity of this power plant. Many countries are shocked by the progress of Bangladesh in this project. Electricity from this power plant will contribute 2% to GDP. Besides, Bangladesh has no more worry with the Russian government over the issue of waste management.”
Rooppur Power Plant Project Director Dr. Md. Shaukat Akbar said, “In the construction of nuclear power plant, we have to follow international guidelines step by step. The grand task of constructing the first unit of this project is in its final stages today. Nuclear fuel has already arrived in our project area and had to be stored in compliance with international restrictions. We are maintaining it with project machinery through our trained manpower. While importing and storing nuclear fuel, the nation has achieved the ability to store fuel by complying with all international restrictions. We have upgraded the project area to a nuclear facility now. Rooppur Nuclear Power Project will be considered as a nuclear facility internationally from today. We are working in unison with other ministries with a view to transmit the power of this power plant to the national grid. We hope that if everything goes well, this power plant will go into production by September next year. And Rooppur power station was converted into a nuclear power station. We are proud as a nation to enter the nuclear club.”
The project director also said, "It has been checked whether we have achieved the ability to store uranium or not. The area where we are storing fuel is called the metal balance area. The amount of fuel we have brought there will be measured and reported to the relevant international authorities. Before moving from one step to another in a nuclear project, it is important to verify that all is well in the previous steps. If everything goes well, we will start generating electricity on a trial basis by September 2024.”
He also said the current progress in the construction of transmission line of this power plant is satisfactory. After two years of operation of this power plant, the Bangladesh government will start paying installments for the construction of the power plant to the Russian government.
Project stakeholders said the price of electricity produced by this power plant has not been determined yet. The process of determining its price is going on. However, one thing for sure, the price of nuclear power will be lower than the price of electricity produced by the country's big power plants.
A nuclear power plant can take up to 10 months to connect to the national grid. The progress of the project is being regularly monitored from the Prime Minister's office. Meanwhile, the work of the first unit is 90% and the work of the second unit is 70% completed.
According to the sources, two more units will be constructed later in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. In addition, the government has plans to build another nuclear power plant in South Bengal region. Regulatory compliance has to be maintained at eight stages while constructing the reactor building of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant so that the safety of the project implementers has to be ensured at every step. It took six and a half years to complete the work on the first unit of the project.
Before inserting uranium into the reactor building, the fuel will be injected after checking that all environmental conditions are in order. Now, Rooppur authorities are preparing for fuel loading. The feature of this project is the Bangladeshi trained manpower has been working with it from the first switching. As a result, when the day Bangladesh will take the charge of the power plant from Russian experts, then it will be decided whether there is a need for such a large number of foreign experts to manage the project. Local skilled manpower has already been recruited to manage the project. Bangladeshi manpower is doing everything from the unloading of the uranium that has arrived to testing and storage.
The grid required to build a smart Bangladesh in 2041 will start from the Rooppur project. Hence, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant is creating the infrastructure to build Smart Bangladesh. Dedicated railway communication will also be created from here.
It is known that the shipment of uranium for this power plant will come step by step. Fuel shipments will arrive every week. All measurements have already been completed after the first shipment of fuel arrived. It has already been identified which lines will come first for power transmission of the project by storing it using dummy fuel before it arrives. And these works are being monitored from the Prime Minister's office. The project stakeholders also said if the related organizations including PGCB, BTCL complete the work within the specified time, the power plant will be able to come into production at the specified time. The power plant has been designed in such a way that under no circumstances will its radiation cause any harm to the general public. The radiation monitoring area of this power plant is twelve and a half kilometers. The center has been designed in such a way that there is no risk of damage due to any natural or man-made calamities. Security aspects are ensured in such a way that in case of failure of one of the systems, the other system will be activated automatically. 23 monitoring stations have been set up in the project area to ensure that radiation from the center does not harm people. The day the uranium is loaded, the people will be informed about the level of radiation in the environment on that day. Automated radiation monitoring system will be introduced to alleviate human fears. Therefore, the design will not require monitoring outside the project area. Outside the boundary wall of this project area, the common people can live without any harm as they are living now.
Earlier on September 29, fuel uranium of the power plant was taken from Rooppur through strict security. This consignment of nuclear fuel was brought to Dhaka's Shahjalal International Airport by a special plane from a factory in Russia. The fuel is produced at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant (NCCP) in Russia. Rosatom is contracted for fuel supply and waste management of Rooppur. The Rooppur nuclear power plant of two units with a capacity of 2,400 MW is being constructed with Russian loans and technical assistance. Its cost has been estimated at 12.65 billion dollars or more than Tk 1 lakh 20 thousand crore. 90 percent of it was given as a loan from Russia.
(The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 5 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque)
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