Hasina wants speedy construction of Rooppur nuclear power plant

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wants a completion of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant within the stipulated time.

At a meeting of the project’s national committee on Wednesday, she directed the authorities concerned to see to a proper implementation of work on the plant.

Science and Technology Secretary Mohammad Sirajul Haque Khan apprised Hasina of the progress of the project.

After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim told reporters, “The meeting reviewed the progress of the power plant work, with the prime minister issuing several directives. She hoped that the construction would end within the deadline if the responsibilities were discharged properly and speedily.”

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) and Russian company JSC Atomstroyexport signed a contract on Dec 25 last year for the construction of a nuclear power plant at Pabna’s Rooppur.

Under the deal, the double-unit 2400-megawatt power plant will be constructed at a cost of $12.65 billion. The first unit is expected to go in operation by 2021. The plant’s life span will be 50 years.

The prime minister laid the foundation of this power project at Rooppur in October 2013. A bill was passed in parliament in August 2014 to establish a company to run the plant.

According to the law, the BAEC will own the plant while the Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh will run it.

The initiative to set up the nuclear power plant was taken in 1961.  Later in 1963, Rooppur was selected out of 12 proposed sites for the plant.

After the Awami League-led government came to power, it took a fresh initiative to implement the 50-year old proposal. A national committee was formed in 2010 to fast-track the setting up of the plant.

The same year a framework agreement was signed with Russia and the two countries signed an agreement in November 2011 to set up the nuclear power plant. The government had already acquired 262 acres of land for the plant’s construction.

To allay all apprehensions about the safety factors related to the plant, the government has said that it will be built with third-generation technology protected by five layers of security designed by Atomostroyexport.

As per the agreement, Russia will take back the nuclear waste generated by the plant.