Russia signs Bangladesh deal to import spent nuclear fuel from Rooppur power plant

Russia has signed a deal with Bangladesh to import spent nuclear fuel from Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 30 August 2017, 02:13 PM
Updated : 30 August 2017, 03:53 PM

Alexey Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, and Science and Technology Minister Yafes Osman signed the collaboration agreement in Moscow on Wednesday.

Rosatom said in a media release that the agreement stipulates provisions to reprocess the spent Russian nuclear fuel from the Rooppur NPP at subsidiary enterprises of the Russian corporation.

“Rooppur NPP will be equipped with two Russian VVER reactors, each with a minimum capacity of 1,200 MW. The VVER-1200 offered by Rosatom is a modern generation 3+ project which meets all post-Fukushima safety standards and international rules,” the release quoted Likhachev as saying .

Russia is helping Bangladesh to set up its first nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna to meet energy demands.

The first reactor with the capacity to produce 1,200MW is expected to go on stream in 2023, and the second one with the same capacity the next year.

The government approved the Tk 1.13 trillion nuclear power plant - the most expensive project in Bangladesh’s history - in December last year.

Russia is providing loans worth nearly Tk 910 billion ($11.38 billion) for the project. The government will fund the remaining Tk 220 billion.